Mindspeed intros Comcerto 1000S processor for service offload platform (SOP) boxes

NEWPORT BEACH, USA: Mindspeed Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for network infrastructure applications, announced that its communications convergence processing (CCP) business unit is extending its Comcerto 1000 family of SoC processors to enable a new category of customer premises equipment (CPE) hardware that will make it easier and more cost-effective for service providers to deliver value-added connected home applications without requiring the installation of enhanced set-top boxes (STBs) or multi-function broadband home routers (BHRs).

In order to support emerging service-provider-managed, connected home business models, Mindspeed is helping to define a new class of SOP Box CPE hardware that will enable subscribers to receive value-added, gateway-enabled cloud applications with no changes to their existing CPE infrastructure. Mindspeed’s single-core M83160 and dual-core M83240 processors are the first in a family of Comcerto 1000S application-specific SoC processors optimized for the cost, speed, bandwidth and compact footprint that are required for powering this new type of CPE hardware.

“Carriers and service providers need a simple, low-cost delivery platform for connected home applications that can be used with any existing router and access technology, whether DSL, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) or cable,” said Raouf Y. Halim, Mindspeed's CEO. “We are working with equipment manufacturers, carriers and other value-added service providers to apply the performance and ultra-low power consumption of our proven Comcerto 1000 fiber-to-the-home gateway processors to this new CPE platform, which will meet the unique requirements for provisioning emerging value-added services.”

Comcerto 1000S processors deliver a variety of features that are important for SOP Boxes, including dual-core redundancy to ensure mission-critical service reliability, and both IPSec and secure sockets layer (SSL) hardware encryption to support secure transfer of user and usage information. SOP Boxes are expected to be roughly the same size as an external hard drive, and will feature an Ethernet connection to the router and a number of USB ports to accommodate various application client devices.

The Comcerto 1000S processors will be supported by Mindspeed’s OpenMind ecosystem, which includes a complete OSGi and Java application-development framework to speed SOP Box development for a wide range of connected home applications.