Cortina updates 10G EPON, EPON/GPON chips

Communications semiconductor developer Cortina Systems, Inc. has unveiled several new PON silicon devices. They include the CS8124 Quad 10G EPON OLT with integrated advance traffic management, the CS8160 10G EPON ONU for multiple-dwelling unit (MDU) applications, and the CS8232 Dual Mode EPON/GPON ONU with home gateway capabilities.

Cortina touts the CS8124 10G EPON OLT as the first quad 10G EPON OLT on the market. It supports both SIEPON and Version 1 of the DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON (DPoE) standards. It offers four ports of 10G EPON MACs, SerDes, and an IEEE P1904.1 SIEPON-compliant power saving engine. It also features a traffic management core based Cortina’s fielded CS8022 1G EPON OLT design that supports Layer 2 switch and VLAN processing. For mobile backhaul applications, it also supports IEEE 1588v2, IEEE 802.1AS, and 1PPS+ToD timing synchronization.

The CS8160 10G EPON ONU system on a chip (SoC) device pairs with the CS8124 to support 10G EPON services to MDUs. It supports 2048 queues and 256 subscribers. It offers the same support for IEEE P1904.1 SIEPON sleep modes, DPoE, and mobile backhaul synchronization schemes as the CS8124.

The CS8232 EPON/GPON device enables ONU vendors to develop either home gateways or bridging ONUs that would be equally at home in EPON and GPON networks. Cortina expects this capability to prove popular in markets, such as China, where both EPON and GPON are being deployed. The device supports such OAM schemes as IEEE 802.1ag and Y.1731 CFM. It also offers a variety of integrated power saving modes, including IEEE 802.3az EEE, IEEE 1904.1 SIEPON, and G.supp45.

The CS8232 EPON/GPON ONU device is currently sampling; the other chips should reach the sampling stage in June. The chips’ arrivals should be well timed. "Global PON equipment revenue shot up 27% in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, led by healthy increases in EPON and GPON shipments with 10G EPON growth expected to start in 2012 and increasing over 2013-2016," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research. "This growth requires chip and system vendors to supply operators with a diverse range of products, such as bridge to gateway ONUs and in the central office an upgrade pathway to high density solutions. Cortina is releasing products targeted at the sweet spot of the market growth."

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