Ikanos, Sumitomo Electric team for Japanese broadband

Communications IC developer Ikanos Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: IKAN) says that it will supply its access and gateway chipsets, including the Fusiv gateway processor (see "Ikanos offers new Fusiv gateway processors"), to Sumitomo Electric to support broadband service deployment in Japan.

Sumitomo Electric will deploy the chipsets in its central office equipment and gateways aimed at the broadband service requirements of commercial venues such as golf courses, hotels, hospitals, schools, and other institutions.

"Sumitomo Electric is proud to partner with Ikanos to provide high-speed broadband that benefits all of our customers," said Dr. Hiroshi Hamada, general manager of the Network Products Department, Network Systems Division, at Sumitomo Electric. "The partnership of Sumitomo Electric and Ikanos is built on years of proven technology leadership by Ikanos and the resulting successful broadband service deployments throughout Japan. We take great pride in delivering market-leading broadband performance to customers throughout our service areas."

While it acquired the PON chipset assets of Conexant in 2009 (see "Ikanos to acquire Conexant's broadband chip line, including PON devices") and supplies devices for home gateways, Ikanos also is known for ICs that support broadband service provision over copper-based access infrastructure. Sumitomo Electric will use the devices in platforms that are part of such fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) infrastructures.

"Sumitomo Electric's dedication to performance and continuous innovation has allowed it to achieve impressive growth in its customer base," said Kourosh Amiri, vice president of marketing at Ikanos. "We're very proud to be counted as one of Sumitomo Electric's trusted suppliers, and to continue our partnership with Sumitomo Electric to accelerate broadband growth wherever it does business."

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