Lantiq Announces Family of Gigabit Speed Gateway Processors with Industry Leading Performance, Flexibility to Support New Digital Home Services

MUNICH and NEUBIBERG, Germany, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Lantiq, a leading supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies, today announced the addition of three single-chip Gigabit Ethernet gateway solutions to its XWAY™ xRX family. The new GRX series meets the Gigabit processing requirements of DOCSIS3.0, VDSL2 and xPON access technologies and provides best-in-class performance for wireless connectivity, such as concurrent operation of 802.11n WLAN at 2.4 and 5 GHz with aggregate throughput up to 270 Mbps (Megabits per second). The highest performance device in the family, XWAY™ GRX288, achieves routing throughput up to 2 Gbps to meet the requirements of xPON connectivity.

The new XWAY™ GRX168, GRX188 and GRX288 ICs are based on the same architecture as Lantiq's successful XWAY™ ARX100 and VRX200 ADSL2+ / VDSL2 solutions, with a 32-bit MIPS CPU core and separate 32-bit Protocol Processor Engine (PPE).  The IPv6-ready PPE offloads all data routing from the CPU for optimal throughput at much lower system clock speeds than alternative chips and supports Quality of Service (QoS) features that enable smooth handling for concurrent serving of IPTV, voice lines, and data on wired or wireless LANs.  The common architecture of the xRX family allows system builders to produce a complete portfolio of home gateway solutions using Lantiq's Universal Gateway (UGW) software platform, which minimizes development time and cost.  

With the GRX series, system developers can quickly produce platforms that support innovative new home network services deployed on an independent gateway device or delivered independently from typical broadband services.  This emerging category of "Over-The-Top" services may be linked to a residence's broadband gateway via Ethernet/Gbit Ethernet, WLAN, or the emerging G.hn standard.

"As the range of applications running on or beside residential gateways broadens, system developers face challenges to meet operator requirements and match device functionality to suit specific customer needs within tight time and budget constraints," said Ulrich Huewels, Senior Vice President and Head of the Customer Premises Equipment Business Unit at Lantiq. "The GRX family provides full flexibility for our customers to design a range of solutions while controlling R&D spending. Lantiq continues to deliver on its promise: one investment, many applications."

Lantiq's UGW software, the primary development platform for customers, is a production-ready Linux-based software package that complies with all carrier requirements for service deployment.  Features include full support of IPv6 addressing and TR-069 with its widely adopted broadband service management functions.  This reduces development time and cost for standard features and allows the system provider to concentrate resources on differentiation of the gateway feature set and value-added applications. Lantiq's TR-069 implementation is certified by Motive to be interoperable with the industry leading ACS vendor's implementation, further helping system integrators achieve timely market introduction for new products.  

The UGW package also includes pre-integrated drivers for Lantiq's extensive offering of companion chips for use with xRX ICs. Lantiq is uniquely able to provide practically all of the system level silicon required in a complete solution design, including 802.11n WLAN supporting carrier-grade video, Fast and Gigabit Ethernet Switch and PHY (Physical Layer), DECT/CAT-iq™, VoIP and analog voice.  

Additional common features across the GRX family include integrated data encryption for IPsec and energy savings features that enable designs to meet the recently defined 2011/2012 requirements of the European Union Code of Conduct (CoC) on Energy Consumption of Broadband Equipment.  Lantiq's continuous effort to increase energy efficiency will put customers in ideal position to also meet 2013/2014 CoC requirements that are currently under definition.  Each IC also features a full suite of device interfaces for memory (DRAM and FLASH), PCI, SDIO and UARTs in support of differentiated applications and end products.

Specific Product Features

The XWAY™ GRX288 achieves routing throughput up to 2 Gbps to easily meet the requirements of xPON connectivity. In conjunction with Lantiq’s WAVE300, the gateway solution demonstrates WLAN throughput of up to 270 Mbps in concurrent mode. Together with the PPE the routing subsystem forms a 1.4GHz CPU cluster, offering an equivalent of 5 Giga Instructions per Second (GIPS) of processing power.

The integrated Ethernet switch can be flexibly configured as either four Fast Ethernet or two Gbit Ethernet ports, while support for additional off-chip PHYs enables up to five Gbit Ethernet ports in a system design without the need for an external switch. Other features include support for either DDR1 or DDR2 memory and a PCI Express port. The wide range of interfaces grants full flexibility to system integrators to combine the GRX288 with any solutions on the market that fit their cost and performance needs.

The XWAY™ GRX188 adds support for VoIP via Lantiq’s SLIC 100 (Subscriber Line Interface Circuit IC) and COSIC Modem, the company’s DECT/CAT-iq™ solution.  The added voice service can deliver HD quality even when very heavy routing tasks are performed by the multi-service gateway.

The XWAY™ GRX168 solution targets Gigabit Ethernet routers with or without the support of WLAN. Two USB 2.0 ports provide additional connectivity and support for common peripherals. In addition to the UGW package, Lantiq offers also a dedicated video bridge solution with its WAVE300 802.11n WLAN IC, which supports up to four HD streams in parallel.

Availability, Additional Information

The GRX family of devices is now available (GRX288 in sample quantities).  Lantiq also offers several reference designs, including a video bridge and multi-service gateway configurations.  For more information about Lantiq's GRX family of products, please visit: http://www.lantiq.com/GRX  

About LANTIQ

Lantiq offers a broad and innovative product portfolio for next-generation networks and the digital home. The company has a global team of about 1,000 experts in Europe, North America, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions. The company is headquartered in Neubiberg just outside of Munich, Germany and specializes in broadband communications encompassing analog, digital and mixed-signal ICs along with comprehensive software suites. Lantiq is a fabless company and its semiconductor solutions are deployed by major carriers and in home networks in every region of the world. Further information is available at: http://www.lantiq.com

SOURCE Lantiq