Altera Expands OTN Solution Capabilities with Acquisition of TPACK

The acquisition enables Altera to accelerate and expand its OTN solutions roadmapto support the increasing pipeline of customer designs resulting from Altera’s successful acquisition in 2010 of Avalon Microelectronics, a leading OTN IP provider. Combining TPACK with Altera’s current OTN development team positions Altera for continued growth in FPGA-based IP solutions for the OTN equipment market, which is forecast to reach $13B by 2017, according to research firm Infonetics.

TPACK develops OTN solutions in the form of SoftSilicon technology to provide mapping, multiplexing and cross-connection of packets over an OTN network and pioneered standard chipset solutions similar to ASSPs, yet targeting FPGAs. SoftSilicon products are available today on Altera FPGAs and have been in production for years. TPACK products have successfully displaced ASSPs at leading OEMs at 10-Gbps, 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps. The acquisition of TPACK bolsters Altera’s portfolio of OTN solutions, including cost-optimized 20-Gbps OTN mappers for Metro applications and 10 x 10 Gbps OTN Cross-Connect using partial reconfiguration for Packet-Optical Transport Systems.

Altera has been collaborating with TPACK on joint marketing and development since 2007,”said Scott Bibaud, senior vice president and general manager, Communications and Broadcast Division, Altera. “The combined capabilities of TPACK and Altera accelerate our OTN solutions roadmap to support emerging applications beyond 100G. TPACK’s recent demonstration of partial reconfiguration on Altera Stratix V devices validates the advantages of programmable technology for high-density OTN applications requiring multiple client interfaces.”

Altera is leading the OTN industry’s evolution beyond 100G by delivering flexible solutions not possible in ASSPs with increased levels of performance and integration. Adding the TPACK technology and team of engineers will allow Altera to rapidly provide customers with flexible, scalable solutions in a fast-growing market with changing protocols and evolving standards. TPACK is located in Copenhagen, Denmark.