Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation Enables Next Generation FTTH Networks with World’s First GPON-Compliant PMD Chipset

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation Enables Next Generation FTTH Networks with World's First GPON-Compliant PMD Chipset

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation today extended its commitment to the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) market by introducing the GPON PRO family of physical media dependent (PMD) devices including the industry’s first GPON OLT burst mode receiver solution. With new FTTH installations ramping, PON ICs are expected to become a $275M market by 2009 per industry analysts. The new chipset offers designers a complete PMD IC solution to enable BPON, EPON and GPON networks with measured performance that exceeds published specifications for those standards.

First GPON-Compliant OLT Chipset

In passive optical networks, the Optical Line Termination (OLT) is located within a service provider’s central office and supplies Internet, video or voice content to multiple Optical Network Units (ONUs) near end users. One bi-directional optical fiber beginning at the OLT is separated into tributaries for each ONU using a passive splitter. While downstream communication from the OLT to each ONU operates using a continuous flow of data, upstream communication from each ONU to the OLT operates in timed bursts. This places special requirements on the ability of the OLT receiver to interpret these bursts.

The VSC7718 TIA and VSC7728 Post Amplifier, designed to be used in conjunction with one another, together form a complete receiver solution for GPON and EPON Optical Line Termination (OLT) applications. Applying the technical expertise gained from over 10 years of developing PMD devices for the communications market, internal validation efforts show that Vitesse successfully met the technical challenges faced in designing an OLT receiver solution to enable the GPON market.