January 19, 2006 Petaluma, CA -- Teknovus, a provider of Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) chipsets for the deployment of IPTV in broadband access networks, has introduced its TK3713 optical network unit (ONU) chip. Used in FTTH access networks, the company says the TK3713 features a superior level of integration and provides all the features needed for single-chip, IPTV-capable ONU applications.
According to the company, TK3713-based ONUs require as little as one-quarter the board-space and one-third the power of ONUs using competitive devices; as many as three expensive discrete chips are removed from the design, and the chip's PQFP package reduces the ONU board layer count versus competing BGA packages. Also, Teknovus says the TK3713 supports and expands upon built-in Quality of Service attributes pioneered by the company, making the chip uniquely suitable for mass deployment in existing and new IPTV networks.
The company says the TK3713 is fully standards- compliant and is designed to interoperate with IEEE 802.3ah-compliant ONUs from other suppliers. Single-chip IPTV features, according to the company, include integrated Forward Error Correction (FEC), an ultra-low jitter SerDes, bidirectional encryption, multiple LLIDs per ONU, a line-rate packet-processing engine, and hardware-based SLA enforcement.
The company says the 130-nm System-on-Chip (SoC) is the first member of an extensible platform that offers a toolkit for cost-effective development of next-generation home gateway solutions. The platform includes carrier-proven firmware and reference designs. The company says its technical support facilitates the interconnection of its chips with those of its partners, including leading semiconductor vendors in the home-gateway market.
Teknovus says the next step in the development of the platform will be an extension to a higher bandwidth (10-Gbit/sec) NGEPON platform, which was communicated this week by Teknovus and its Japanese partner KDDI in a separate announcement.
"With the proliferation of bandwidth-hungry FTTH applications, especially IPTV, next-generation home gateways must step up the performance curve," observes Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research. "Teknovus is providing a leading-edge integration platform designed for the next wave of CPE to meet carrier requirements for cost reduction. The TK3713 single-chip ONU is positioned to do well as carriers worldwide roll out IPTV-enabled, triple-play networks."
"The service providers are now specifying FTTH solutions capable of handling advanced services that take full advantage of EPON-based access networks," concludes Dr. Rex Naden, president and CEO of Teknovus. "The TK3713 forms the foundation for highly-integrated, cost-effective solutions that meet these new requirements. Our unique support for IPTV will simplify service providers' deployment decisions."
The TK3713 ONU is now shipping.