Conexant Introduces Industry's First Octal ADSL Chipset with Single-Chip Analog Front End and Low-Power Line Driver.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

DSLCon Asia

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2000

The Chipset Reduces Total System Cost And Simplifies Board Design, While Its Accompanying Reference Design Cuts Months of System Hardware

Development

Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CNXT) Monday announced the industry's first octal (8-port) asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) chipset to integrate each port's analog front end (AFE) and line driver (LD) into a single device.

Conexant's solution is also the first of its kind to include a reference design that can be used directly as a line card in central-office DSL access multiplexers (DSLAMs) that deliver high-speed Internet access services.

Priced below $20 per port in OEM quantities, Conexant's latest AccessRunner(TM) ADSL central-office chipset streamlines system design to cut total per-port system costs while reducing power requirements, eliminating analog crosstalk problems and dramatically reducing time-to-market schedules.

It is aimed at the growing market for low-power, high-density solutions that enable fast market entry for both new equipment suppliers and established competitors. Conexant introduced its new AccessRunner 9009 solution at the DSLCon Asia conference at the Hong Kong Convention Center, Aug. 28-31, 2000.

Conexant's AccessRunner 9009 solution supports 8 Mbps full-rate ADSL technology as well as 1.5 Mbps G.lite ADSL technology, which eliminates the need for telephone companies to install splitter equipment or special wiring at the customer premises. The company's low-power, high-density central-office ADSL solution is designed for use in DSLAMs, digital loop carriers (DLCs) and multi-tenant units (MTUs). These systems provide the core technology for concentrating a number of ADSL subscriber lines into asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) for transport over the broadband Internet infrastructure.

"Conexant's AccessRunner 9009 chipset is a full-featured octal solution that occupies a compact 1.3 square inch of board space per port. Also, with a system-level focus to reduce cost and increase density, the chipset integrates many analog and digital components and eliminates the need for three out of four power supplies normally used for line drivers," said Babak Nabili, senior product line manager for Conexant's ADSL central-office products. "At less than $20 per port, this is the lowest cost solution on the market and the only one for central-office applications to include a complete reference design that significantly reduces system development time."

Conexant's AccessRunner solution occupies the same board space as competitive solutions for all the functionality from the tip-and-ring telephone circuit interface to the universal test and operation physical interface for ATM (UTOPIA) section. However, AccessRunner rearranges the analog section to eliminate complex board-level routing of the analog signals from a multi-port AFE to individual line drivers.

Instead, all of the AFE functionality has been integrated directly into each low-power line driver device, creating a highly efficient, low-power design. In addition, Conexant's line driver uses only a single +12V power supply, unlike competitive solutions that require four power supplies.

Conexant's AccessRunner 9009 solution supports all of the latest standards for ADSL, including ANSI T1.413 Issue 2, ITU G.992.1 (G.DMT) and ITU G.992.2 (G.lite). It also provides the low overhead framing, fast start-up and retraining capabilities necessary for G.lite operation. Conexant is dedicated to achieving widespread interoperability between client and central-office ADSL solutions, and is a driving member in all interoperability tests including those conducted by the ADSL Forum and the University of New Hampshire.

The AccessRunner 9009 chipset implements all the functions related to set up and control of ADSL lines within the chipset, relieving the host controller of close supervision of such tasks. Furthermore, the chipset offers a simple and comprehensive application programming interface (API) to allow the host controller to configure and monitor the chipset. This API is shared with Conexant's ZipWire(TM) and ZipWire2(TM) family of single-pair, high-bit rate DSL (SHDSL) products, allowing the customer to minimize the software development effort when developing both ADSL and SHDSL solutions.

Conexant is the world's leading provider of solutions for symmetrical data transmission at 1.544 Mbps over a single pair of copper wires in support of the industry's G.shdsl standard.

The AccessRunner 9009 is the first in a planned family of ADSL solutions that will build on Conexant's early advances in analog integration to provide even higher levels of integration in the digital portion of the solution. Conexant also offers a family of client-side ADSL solutions, including a cost-effective ADSL/G.lite solution with an integrated universal serial bus (USB) interface, and a PC residential home gateway solution that integrates ADSL, V.90 dial-up, home phoneline networking and Ethernet-ready functionality into a single robust solution.

The AccessRunner 9009 is available in sample quantities now, with volume production scheduled for the first quarter of 2001. The single-chip AFE and line driver is packaged in a 48-pin exposed thin quad flat pack (ETQFP), and the digital portion of the solution including digital signal processing (DSP) and controller functionality is packaged in a 17mm x 17mm chip-array ball grid array (CABGA).

The accompanying end-to-end system reference design includes schematic, build-of-materials (BOM), Gerber design files and a complete data sheet, plus an evaluation module for performance evaluation and driver development, along with complete and fully tested software drivers and example code.

About Conexant Systems Inc.

With a revenue run-rate of approximately $2 billion per year, Conexant is the world's largest independent company focused exclusively on providing semiconductor solutions for communications electronics. With more than 30 years of experience in developing communications technology, the company draws upon its expertise in mixed-signal processing to deliver integrated systems and semiconductor products for a broad range of communications applications.

These products facilitate communications worldwide through wireline voice and data communications networks, cordless and cellular wireless telephony systems, personal imaging devices and equipment, and emerging cable and wireless broadband communications networks. The company aligns its business into five product platforms: Network Access, Wireless Communications, Digital Infotainment, Personal Imaging, and Personal Computing. Conexant is a member of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 Indices. For more information, visit Conexant at www.conexant.com.

Conexant's Network Access Division provides semiconductor system solutions across a broad range of telecom and datacom infrastructure platforms and applications, including network processors, multiservices access processors, wide area network (WAN) solutions, digital subscriber line (xDSL) technologies, and optical networking IC solutions. By building upon today's broadest line of ICs and expertise in high-speed analog and digital connections, Conexant is well positioned to drive telecommunications infrastructure expansion. For additional information visit www.conexant.com.

Definition of Technical Terms

Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) -- See Digital Subscriber Line.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) -- High-speed networking technology that allows transport of fixed-length cells without allocating physical channels for specific connections. ATM supports simultaneous transfer of voice, data and video traffic, and works in both LAN and WAN environments.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) -- A broadband communications technology used for high-speed Internet access. Symmetric DSL (SDSL) supports traffic at the same speed to and from the user site. Asymmetric DSL (ADSL) pairs a high-speed download rate with a slower upload rate.

DSL Access Multiplexers (DSLAM) -- A device which takes a number of ADSL subscriber lines and concentrates these to a single ATM line.

G.lite -- A variation of ADSL that allows simple installation of an ADSL modem on the client side by eliminating the splitter. It also offers a lower data rate of 1.5 Mbps downstream and 512 Kbps upstream.

Line Driver -- A line driver amplifies the ADSL signal that is to be transmitted on the line.

Port -- A port, in the context of central office modems, is defined as the circuitry required to transmit and receive the ADSL signal for one ADSL line.

Single-Pair High-Bit Rate DSL (SHDSL) -- Another term for high bit rate DSL 2 (HDSL2), which provides symmetrical transmission at 1.544 Mbps over a one-wire pair (versus two wire pairs for HDSL).

Single-Pair Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) -- An xDSL technology providing symmetrical bandwidth over a single-wire pair. Also referred to as symmetrical digital subscriber line.

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