AIROHA Announced RDK-B Support for Broadband SoC to Help 1st Tier Operators Migrate from DOCSIS to Fiber

Broadband IC chip solution for RDK-B GPON shows the company's strong support for the open-source platform

HSINCHU, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Taiwan's premier IC design house, Airoha Technology, a subsidiary of IC giant MediaTek, announced today that it had started to deliver to its customers a Broadband System-on-Chip (SOC) solution powered by RDK-B, an open-source platform that standardizes key functions of customer premise equipment (CPE).

As an active member in the RDK community, AIROHA has helped to set and develop Passive Optical Network (PON)-related solutions to enable operators to navigate to an all-fiber environment. RDK-B allows operators to continue to use their existing equipment and software, built upon the legacy coaxial cable and DOCSIS interface standards, to maximize capital investments, and leverage the quality of work that they already providing to the customers.

With 20+ years of presence in the European market, AIROHA has accumulated a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges that the European service provider industry has been facing when migrating to fiber. The company has made every effort to address the pain points of its operator customers and is committed to RDK-B as the best path for broadband operators to achieve a seamless transition from DOCSIS to fiber. AIROHA's RDK-B GPON SoC solution has been adopted by several 1^st tier European broadband network operators and has helped them migrate to PON smoothly together with their legacy DOCSIS assets.

Fiber migration is imperative and inevitable for European MSOs

In past decades, Europe's broadband networks have relied heavily on xDSL or Coaxial cables, which are both essentially copper lines with varied technologies. While facing a continual rise in their customers' demands for increased bandwidth, European operators recognize the growing need to upgrade their infrastructure, and many are at a decisive turning point.

In 2021, the European Commission (EC) published the "2030 Digital Compass: the European Way for the Digital Decade," which stated goals for every European household to have access to high-speed internet coverage by 2025 and gigabit connectivity by 2030. As such, many operators have turned to the deployment of all-fiber PON to accommodate their digital transformation initiatives throughout European Union countries.

AIROHA takes the lead in supporting RDK-B PON open platform and helps MSOs transform smoothly and quickly

Although the latest versions of DOCSIS standards include support for PON, the coaxial cable, due to its physical constraints, cannot match the speed of fiber connections. As 10G-PON technology is reaching maturity and 25G/50G-PON is looming, the cable industry in Europe now is taking a harder look at PON options to traditional technology. The mounting pressure for maintaining competitiveness has driven them to adopt a fiber architecture.

AIROHA's support for RDK-B PON solutions is designed to enable operators to expedite the process of cable transformation. AIROHA is committed to becoming the best long-term partner for its customers and helping its customers improve competitiveness.

AIROHA's RDK-B PON has been adopted by Western Europe Tier-1 operators with successful commercialization

AIROHA is changing the status quo by working with major players in the industry to adopt its innovative technologies. The CPE devices provided by AIROHA's operator customers will come preinstalled with RDK-B and software customized by AIROHA that will facilitate easy upgrades and allow the cable operators to continue to use their existing management systems and applications on the new chipset platform.

This should drastically reduce the cost of migration and allow operators to manage different OLT (Optical Line Terminal) equipment under the same system architecture while enjoying the benefits brought by fiber. AIROHA has helped several Tier 1 cable operators in Western Europe deploy RDK-B powered chipsets to upgrade to fiber quickly and smoothly.

For broadband, RDK software provides common support for routing, Wi-Fi, device management, diagnostics, DNS, and IoT interfaces, such as Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee. By standardizing these functions, service providers can develop and deploy applications and services, across various hardware platforms. A key to RDK's growing adoption is that device provisioning, data diagnostics, reporting, and telemetry are consistent across all RDK software profiles, enabling service providers to manage video and broadband in a uniform way.

Seeking for a paradigm-shift

AIROHA, with its technology capability and service breadth, fully understands the pain points that broadband carriers have been facing during their digital transformations and has already provided solutions in the United States and in Western Europe, aimed at setting new benchmarks for fiber migration. Centered on an engineering culture that puts customers first, AIROHA will continue to work closely with broadband operators who share the same forward thinking.

Building a healthier and robust ecosystem for the fixed broadband industry

Jason Briggs, President and GM of RDK, said, "Airoha Technology is a global leader in chipset solutions for the broadband industry, and we are delighted that they have made RDK software a centerpiece of their strategy. Thanks to Airoha Technology, CPE manufacturers now have more choices to acquire chipsets that come pre-integrated and shipped with RDK-B as the default software stack to help operators transition to fiber."

Bomin Wang, Executive Vice President and GM of Fixed Network Business Group, Airoha Technology, said, "AIROHA's successful case in Europe has demonstrated the company's ability to help its customers upgrade infrastructure via a fast and reliable path, while also providing compatibility and interoperability at the same time to shake off the shackles of the traditional technologies. The changes do not come from chance but from our customers' will to change, and the close cooperation between all of us involved in the partnership. We invite more enterprises to join the ecosystem to bring about more changes and opportunities for users and enterprises to benefit from technology."

About Airoha Technology 

Airoha Technology Corp., one of MediaTek's subsidiaries, is a fabless semiconductor company providing industry-leading IC solutions of highest performance, extendibility, interoperability and lowest power demand. With more than 1,100 staff coming from MediaTek's former IoT department and a number of IC design houses merged or purchased by MediaTek, AIROHA has aggregated unparalleled technology resources and experts of over 20 years experiences in wireless and wired communications. Many of our team members have maintained presence in the market since 2001 with their specialized domains including Bluetooth, Satellite, Broadband, and Ethernet.

Sticking to its corporate ethos that puts customer's interests first, AIROHA is committed to shortening product development and service deployment time, reducing total operational cost of its customers and delivering best user experiences to consumers. AIROHA has a broad customer base including most notable brands in the aforesaid market areas. Our corporate vision is to allow as many consumers and businesses as possible to enjoy the opportunities and benefits brought by digital transformation and enabled by our innovative technologies.

For more information, please visit www.airoha.com