Qualcomm Atheros Announces Industry’s Lowest Power Ethernet Passive Optical Network Chip for Broadband over Fiber Networks and Power Grids

Qualcomm Atheros Inc., has announced the QCA8829, the industry’s most integrated, ultra-low power 1 Gigabit (1G) Ethernet passive optical networking (EPON) chip solution, optimized to enable next-generation optical broadband access to homes and businesses. The QCA8829 is a first-of-its-kind chip that will help to advance the development of fiber to the home (FTTH) by supporting multiple standards, including those supporting cable operators’ optical broadband in North America, provisioning for smart grid applications over PON in China, and EPON infrastructures in markets worldwide.

Standards supported by this chip solution include the North American Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS®) Provisioning of Ethernet (DPoE) 1.0 specification, IEEE 802.3ah EPON specification, the China State Grid EPON specification, and the China Telecom (CTC) EPON specification. The chip solution is specifically tailored to meet the evolving needs of telecom carriers, cable operators and utility providers.

“The QCA8829 is an exciting next step for Qualcomm Atheros in providing groundbreaking access technology,” said Dr. Zheng Liu, vice president and general manager, access business unit, Qualcomm Atheros. “Qualcomm Atheros is providing a simplified system design that provides low energy consumption and cost while outperforming comparable devices. Combining these attributes with support for four major industry standards will help our customers develop PON products quickly and affordably to support access services worldwide.”

Qualcomm Atheros’ high-performance technologies address the increasing bandwidth requirements of delivering multimedia and IPTV content to homes and enterprises. With Gigabit-speed EPON solutions, service providers can deploy next-generation FTTH broadband access with optical line terminals (OLTs) for networking from the central office, and full-featured optical network unit (ONU) system-on-chips for implementation in home/premises gateways.

The QCA8829 offers simplicity and a low system cost for new applications. With power consumption of less than 200mW for grid applications with Gigabit Ethernet (GE) PHY sleep mode enabled and less than 600mW when running full 1 Gbps throughput with GE PHY enabled, customers will be able to create new low power designs and deliver superior performance. The 76-pin package size fits into a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical module, simplifying system design for plug-and-play connection with an Ethernet switch or IP router. By reducing device costs and increasing network performance, Qualcomm Atheros is helping to reduce both capital and operational expenditures for customers.

Samples of the QCA8829 and reference design kits are available now. Volume shipments will be available in the fourth quarter of 2011.