Ikanos Communications introduced a programmable chipset aimed at extending FTTx deployments from a neighborhood site into homes over a final stretch of existing single copper pair. Carriers could deploy fiber to the neighborhood, curb, or building and take advantage of last-mile copper for 100 Mbps connections supporting voice, high-speed data and video, including High Definition Television (HDTV).
Ikanos estimates that its strategy could greatly accelerate mass provisioning of FTTx services, while cutting CapEx per subscriber to as low as $300
The Ikanos Fx family includes the four-port Fx 7030 and Fx 10050 chipsets, designed for systems to complement Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), Optical Network Units (ONUs), routers, switches, and fiber concentrators; and the single-port Fx 10050S, for Subscriber Located Equipment (SLE). All Fx chipsets are programmable to integrate into either ATM or Ethernet/IP infrastructures. The Ikanos chipsets provide on-chip QoS. The Fx chipset supports all the standard ATM QoS mechanisms, including CBR, VBR-rt, VBR-nrt, UBR, and ABR. At the physical layer, the chipset supports two distinct traffic paths that can be separately configured during provisioning and assigned different speeds and QoS levels, both to ATM and Ethernet/IP traffic.
Ikanos said its Fx family of chipsets supports asymmetric or symmetrical applications and is micro-programmable in flexible 64 kbps increments. The Fx 7030 delivers speeds up to 70 Mbps downstream and 30 Mbps upstream or symmetric speeds of 30 Mbps, while the Fx 10050 provides 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream or symmetric speeds of 50 Mbps.
Sampling is underway. Prices range from $26 to $30 per port depending on volume. http://ww.ikanos.com
- Separately, Ikanos Communications reported shipping over two million ports for its programmable chipsets over the past 18 months. The company said it doubled its port shipment from 1 to 2 million ports since late October 2003, when Ikanos first publicly announced shipment status. Ikanos said it has seen a tremendous uptake for its chipsets in Asia and Europe.
