January 7, 2010

Broadcom Announces DOCSIS 3.0 SoC

Broadcom announced its next generation DOCSIS/Euro-DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution.

Focused on data and voice modem applications, the new single-chip Broadcom BCM3382 solution improves RF performance with its second generation of integrated tuners while also implementing advanced power management functionality. These improvements enable manufacturers to develop high performance DOCSIS 3.0 products for voice and data applications in a cost-effective design.

"Leveraging our high performance and cost-optimized DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 3.0 product family, the Broadcom BCM3382 reduces power requirements and overall costs further enabling mass deployments of DOCSIS 3.0 data modems and eMTAs," Jay Kirchoff, Broadcom senior director of product marketing, said in a statement.

Cable service providers are using DOCSIS 3.0 products to manage faster line speeds for delivering competitive high-speed data, voice and IP video services. New services supported by the increased bandwidth include IPTV, secure virtual private networks (VPNs) for telecommuters, full-featured IP telephony, video conferencing, local web hosting, and peer-to-peer networking applications, such as music downloading and file sharing.

The highly integrated BCM3382 reduces box size, power requirements and overall bill-of-materials (BOM) cost, while increasing performance by adding packet processing ability and enabling over 500 kpps (kilo packets per second) of total throughput.

The BCM3382 SoC solution also features:

•    Bonding support for up to eight simultaneous DOCSIS channels delivering twice the speed of other DOCSIS 3.0 solutions at a lower system cost while extending the useable life of cable modems.
•    A second-generation integrated wideband tuner, with an extended bandwidth of 96MHz.
•    IP video hardware support that allows cable providers to deploy low cost IP video to PCs and IP set-top boxes (IP STBs) without costly changes to the existing infrastructure.
•    A powerful processing architecture that enables line speed data rates and the ability to maximize the total system performance of a DOCSIS or EuroDOCSIS 3.0 system.
•    Integrated dynamic power management controllers that provide a very efficient power management system capable of managing and shutting down unused system components in real-time.
•    An integrated voice subsystem, including an audio processing module, high voltage generator and battery management unit, that enables the lowest BOM cost for eMTA (embedded multimedia terminal adapter) applications.

Broadcom's BCM3382 is now sampling to early access customers.