Cores power passive optical networking

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Mar 14, 2007

Kawasaki Microelectronics is extending its reach into the exploding passive optical network market with its MIPS-based Topaz advanced computing subsystem for SoCs.

Kawasaki Microelectronics (K-micro) is extending its reach into the exploding passive optical network (PON) market with its MIPS-based Topaz advanced computing subsystem for SoCs.

Powered by MIPS32 24Kc and 24Kf processors, Topaz enables PON designers to bring high-performance applications to market more quickly and efficiently.

K-micro was the first MIPS Technologies licensee with 24K silicon.

According to a recent PON, FTTH, and EAD Equipment report from Infonetics Research, worldwide PON equipment sales are expected to surge to $3 billion in 2009, up 432% from $565 million in 2005.

After more than doubling between 2004 and 2005, the number of worldwide PON subscribers is expected to continue to swell from 4.1 million in 2005 to 38.0 million in 2009.

"In an increasingly competitive PON environment, the ability to deliver complex, high-performance products to market quickly and cost-effectively is critical to a company's success", said Brad Holtzinger, Vice President of Worldwide Sales at MIPS Technologies.

"K-micro's MIPS-based Topaz platform provides an ideal design environment for advanced PON applications".

"The 24K core family is acknowledged throughout the industry for its superior performance, reliability and low power consumption".

"K-micro has developed an effective platform to enable our customers to easily implement additional functions such as home gateway, home networks, VoIP, wireless LAN in their SoC designs", said Hideki Yoneda, Executive Vice President of Business Development, K-micro America.

"After analysing our requirements, we concluded that the 24K cores were vital to our PON strategy moving forward".

The low-power 24K cores offer 660MHz performance in a 90nm G process, minimising design time and reducing product costs.

They are ideal for home entertainment applications as well as portable, battery powered consumer devices.

The 24Kf core includes an integrated, high-performance IEEE754-compliant floating point unit which has a certified EEMBC basic floating-point score of more than 1300 iterations per megahertz.