Date: 04/08/2010

40nm GPON fiber access processors from BroadLight

Fabless highspeed communication semiconductor IC vendor BroadLight has released new GPON processor family coded BL23500, which the company claims is the first 40nm set of semiconductor devices designed for the fiber access mass market. Broadlight says that these processors provide a cost effective implementation with lower power consumption and lower cost of manufacturing of any chip in its class.

The BL23500 implements a powerful MIPS controller, the RunnerGrid Network Processor, and a VoIP DSP creating a fiber grade. According to Broadlight this innovative architecture best meets both the GPON CPE platforms requirements and the emerging GPON residential gateway market requirements.

"The exploding fiber access deployments demand a new, distinct class of price-leading fiber access GPON processors" said Raanan Gewirtzman, BroadLight's CEO. "Our innovative architecture enables fiber class services, top performance and a high quality of experience at the lowest cost".

The device utilizes Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) for better link speeds and provides power saving modes that are designed for optimal performance at low energy costs.

"Lower power consumption is a big selling point for operators looking for highperformance, low-cost, mass-market solutions" said Jeff Heynen, Directing Analyst for Broadband and Video at Infonetics Research. "BroadLight's 3rd Generation 40nm GPON processor family is an optimized solution taking operators' needs into consideration, and applying them to innovative new fiber access processors that deliver service processing capabilities, field proven interoperability, and low power consumption at very low costs."

Availability: The BL23500 family will be available in Q4 2010.