Broadcom Corporation announced VDSL2 35b and G.fast bonding support for two new protocols under development in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). With support for these new standards, Broadcom is enabling DSL network operators with a long-term roadmap for competitive high-bandwidth services with minimal investment to their physical plants.
For operators with a significant investment in Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC) architectures, the new 35b protocol is an optimal solution to leverage the benefits of VDSL2 vectoring at higher data rates. By engineering the tone structure of 35b to remain consistent with the field-proven VDSL2 17a protocol, this new standard increases aggregate DSL performance by up to 100%, without disturbing widely-deployed G.Vector crosstalk cancellation technology.
Broadcom is the first commercial silicon supplier to support the new standard with an end-to-end solution in production today, via the previously-released BCM63138 integrated residential gateway and BCM65235 Central Office DSP.
"We are pleased to see the industry responding to operators' requests for a high-bandwidth roadmap for cabinet architectures, "said Greg Fischer, Broadcom Senior Vice President and General Manager, Broadband Carrier Access. “Broadcom's quick introduction of end-to-end technology in support of 35b will have a very meaningful impact in time-to-service for this important new protocol."
For operators working from a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) or distribution point unit (DPU) network architecture, the new G.fast protocol remains a compelling alternative to avoid or defer the expense of installing fiber directly to the home. To maximize the distance over which multi-gigabit copper services may be delivered, the ITU recently developed a multi-line bonding amendment to the G.9701 standard.
By aggregating multiple copper pairs into a single logical link, bonding provides a path to increase rates well beyond 1Gbps, an important objective for many providers in competitive broadband markets. Broadcom is supporting an end-to-end solution for G.fast bonding utilizing the existing BCM65244 Central Office DSP with the newly-released BCM65249 bonded CPE PHY device.
"As customer appetite for gigabit broadband increases, we are looking at all available tools to economically deliver these service rates," said Mu-Piao Shih, Chunghwa Telecom President. "With Broadcom's strong commitment to the G.fast standard, including the new G.fast bonding standard, we are seeing the potential to deliver a cost-effective, long-term gigabit roadmap for copper networks."
