Entropic and Cortina develop advanced broadband router/headless gateway reference platform

USA: Entropic Communications and Cortina Systems Inc. announced their joint collaboration to accelerate the development of high performance customer premise equipment (CPE) including broadband routers and headless gateways, which enable advanced data and TV applications. The reference design addresses service providers' growing CPE needs as they offer higher broadband speeds, newer applications and IP-based video to enhance the user experience.

The collaboration leverages the power of Entropic's first-to-market, MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) 2.0 solution paired with Cortina's CS7542 scalable digital home multi-service platform. The Cortina CS7542 is the industry's leading dual ARM Cortex-A9 processor architecture with multiple enterprise-class acceleration engines.

The CS7542's acceleration engines significantly reduce CPU load for Wi-Fi 802.11ac/n performance, freeing up the Cortex-A9 processor to provide value-add services and a future-proofed solution for platform upgrades. Together, this CPE platform creates a powerhouse system to bring next generation data and video services into and throughout the home, with best of breed performance and service to the consumer.

Service providers and OEMs will now have access to a reference design that allows them to quickly develop products with the highest levels of performance and unsurpassed wire or wireless data throughput of 400 Mbps to 1,000 Mbps, depending on the requirements of the operator.

Entropic's MoCA 2.0 solution enables operators to offer the most reliable whole-home network backbone with backward interoperability to existing MoCA 1.x networks for multi-room DVR, streaming HD VoD content, and extending Wi-Fi coverage throughout the home to support streaming video and data services to tablets and other mobile devices, all on the same coaxial cable.