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Ikanos Communications, Inc. and Aricent (News - Alert) have reportedly launched a production-ready platform for advanced next-generation broadband access products. Aricent's Converged Access Solution software has been combined with Ikanos' (News - Alert) Fusiv Vx180 communications processor to enable service providers and network equipment manufacturers to rapidly deliver next-generation access devices. These devices will support the multimedia, telephony and storage requirements of the digital home.

 

Aricent's software for WiMAX (News - Alert) and Long Term Evolution, along with wireline broadband access technologies, integrates seamlessly with Ikanos' Fusiv communication processors. This in turn enables a unified platform for advanced wireless broadband access devices.

 

According to Craig Garen, chief operating officer at Ikanos, it is the demand for advanced wireless and wireline broadband services that drives the need for faster development of advanced customer premises equipment. Garen said that Ikanos is advancing the development of equipment through its collaboration with Aricent. This will in turn expand the mechanism by which multimedia services are delivered to the digital home.

 

Ikanos' Fusiv Vx180 is a low-power, single-chip communications processor that incorporates a MIPS-based CPU core. It provides VoIP capabilities and security. The Fusiv Vx180 also delivers advanced processing power, wire speed performance and best-in-class quality of service.

 

In addition, the Vx180-based production-ready platform integrates with home networking technologies such as 802.11a/b/g/n, MoCA, HomePNA (News - Alert) and HomePlug. The unique distributed architecture of Fusiv Vx180 incorporates accelerator processor engines for data path functions, which ensures that the maximum main CPU processing power is available for customer applications.

 

A comprehensive control plane software solution, Aricent CAS is designed for equipment manufacturers to simplify product development and shorten the time to market for new residential and small business multi-service gateways. In fact, CAS can reduce time to market and development costs by up to 76 percent when compared with completely organic approaches or integrating different software products from multiple vendors. CAS integrates all the key software components needed for building multi-service, broadband enabled gateways.

 

The Ikanos/Aricent gateway software stack enables the creation of multiple products based on a single software platform. This, in turn, eases the need to develop software in house or integrate various software products from multiple vendors.

 

The integration of Fusiv Vx180 and Aricent's CAS software enables service providers to deploy new offerings cost effectively. According to C P Murali, senior vice president at Aricent, the company is focused on providing OEMs with comprehensive software frameworks and services to reduce development risk and costs.