April 13, 2006 Fremont, CA -- Centillium Communications has expanded its FTTP semiconductor product portfolio, aimed at the market for optical access transceivers. The company's integrated 2.5-Gbit/sec optical transceiver chipset families, dubbed Zeus 2 and Apollo 2, target GPON, EPON, SONET and enterprise applications.
Developed with CMOS process technology, both the Zeus 2 and Apollo 2 transceiver chipsets integrate a laser driver, limiting amplifier, automatic laser power control, digital diagnostic monitoring (DDM), and an on-board EEPROM.
The Zeus 2 transceiver chipsets enable the transmission of bi-directional burst-mode data traffic for rates up to 2.5Gbit/sec. These chipsets support CO and CPE applications for GPON, EPON, and A/BPON infrastructures and comply with IEEE 802.3ah and ITU-T G.983/G.984 specs.
The Apollo 2 transceiver line enables the transmission of point-to-point, continuous mode data traffic for rates up to 2.5Gbit/sec, covering Fast Ethernet, OC3/STM-1, OC12/STM-4, Gigabit Ethernet, and transmissions up to OC48/STM-16.
"Over the next five years, the PON transceiver market will grow at a 44% CAGR as network service providers worldwide transition from voice to a multimedia/IP TV business model. This transition will accelerate deployment of PON infrastructure," offers Steve Rago, principal analyst for research firm iSuppli's broadband and digital home practice. "Centillium's newest transceiver chipsets enable OEMs to create a base platform from which to address the global PON market. A silicon family that addresses multiple applications in a single footprint should aid OEMs in reducing their development costs and producing lower cost products for the service providers."
Centillium says that its next-generation optical technology enables the integration of a broad range of functionality into a small, standards-compliant package without the need for a separate microcontroller. The company says the devices' high level of integration and functionality can enable cost savings for optical module vendors in the design, manufacturing, inventory, and testing, as well as the long-term stability of the laser.
"Cost efficiencies associated with network operations are becoming critical to service providers as they increase optical deployments to meet growing demand for higher throughput," comments Didier Boivin, vice president of marketing at Centillium. "Centillium's newest additions to its transceiver product line provide advanced features such as highly accurate DDM to give service providers clear-cut visibility into network operation, a key factor in maintaining tight control over the health of their networks."