PMC-Sierra, Entropic ally to extend reach of fiber for cable operators

SANTA CLARA & SAN DIEGO, USA: PMC-Sierra Inc. and Entropic Communications Inc., a leading provider of silicon and software solutions to enable connected home entertainment networking, are collaborating to develop an innovative and cost-effective solution for delivering >100Mb/s broadband connectivity to each customer in MSO fiber deployments.

The companies will demonstrate this concept during the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver, Colorado, October 28-30, 2009.

As the demand for greater bandwidth grows, cable operators are evaluating the advantages of using PON technologies as an efficient method of driving fiber deeper into their networks.

By combining PMC-Sierra'’s high-speed standard-compliant EPON and 10G EPON solutions and Entropic’s Access solution, MSOs will be able to cost-effectively extend the reach of their networks while using the existing coax infrastructure to deliver high-speed connectivity to single-family homes and multiple-dwelling units.

The partnership leverages Entropic'’s successful Access technology deployed in emerging and rapidly growing Ethernet over Coax (EoC) markets worldwide, which enables high-performance bidirectional communication over coax for MSOs.

The joint demonstration will showcase Entropic'’s EoC combined with PMC-Sierra’s highly scalable PON solutions, featuring a seamless fiber to coax solution using PMC-Sierra’s PAS8011 10G EPON OLT, which serves up to 32 ONUs and terminates to Entropic’'s Access network controller, which supports up to 63 homes with >100Mb/s of aggregate throughput over the existing coaxial network.

In addition, the demonstration will show the full network management capabilities of Entropic’s Access and PMC-Sierra’s MSO management software suite.

“Our Broadband Access solution offers a unique and cost-effective way to extend the reach of existing fiber over coax cable,” said Vinay Gokhale, senior vice president, marketing and business development, Entropic.

“By working with partners such as PMC-Sierra, we are able to further our mission to bring high-speed access and connected home entertainment networking solutions to the worldwide market.”

“We continue to strengthen our position as the dominant FTTH silicon solution provider addressing the EPON, GPON, 10G EPON and 10G GPON markets, and we are working with partners like Entropic to bring this expertise to the MSO space,” said Raphael Sankar, vice president and co-general manager of PMC-Sierra’s FTTH division. “This demonstration, along with our MSO management software suite, shows our commitment to this growing market.”