Comtrend Takes Leadership Role In Residential IPTV Deployment

Comtrend Takes Leadership Role In ResidentialIPTV Deployment By Licensing Broadcom® PhyR™ Technology
Router/Gateway Manufacturer is First in U.S. to Acquire Broadcom’s Breakthrough Firmware Upgrade, Enabling Dramatically Improved Triple-Play Quality of Service
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comtrend Corp., a leading supplier of broadband, VoIP and data networking equipment, today announced it has become the first U.S. CPE equipment vendor to license and introduce the use of Broadcom Corporation’s (NASDAQ: BRCM) PhyR™ impulse noise protection technology, a major advancement that promises dramatically improved voice, data and video services for residential and business DSL customers. Comtrend intends to deploy PhyR (pronounced “fire”) technology across its lineup of ADSL2+ and VDSL2 routers and gateways, giving its carrier customers a competitive advantage in deploying next-generation triple-play services, particularly IPTV, over existing copper lines.
PhyR is an innovative data retransmission system that exists at the DSL physical layer. The technology, developed exclusively by Broadcom, increases impulse noise resilience by as much as ten times, while also lowering residual BER (Bit-Error-Rate) or packet loss.
With ADSL2+/VDSL2 equipment powered by PhyR technology, telecom carriers have a simple and inexpensive way to deploy IPTV and other advanced triple-play services with the assured quality of service. It also allows carriers to extend their network service area without loss of video quality.
“Deploying IPTV effectively requires a guaranteed amount of DSL data throughput as well as low latency and high Impulse Noise Protection, or INP,” said Joe Maier, Director of Technology for Comtrend. “Unfortunately, the standard interleaving approach to achieving INP imposes a high interleave delay, which negatively impacts throughput. PhyR is a true breakthrough because it significantly reduces the burden on DSL networks that would otherwise use a higher layer retransmission scheme, thereby increasing efficiency and enabling the high bit rate IPTV requires.”
In addition to its simple physical layer architecture, CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) powered by Broadcom® PhyR technology offers a number of practical business advantages. Premises-based tuning is eliminated, making network provisioning much easier. Firmware upgrades can be easily deployed through remote management; and because PhyR reduces the burden on networks that use higher layer retransmission schemes, network and upper layer applications are not impacted in any way.
“As triple play carriers are aware, IPTV can be extremely fickle. Even small disturbances or power surges can cause poor IPTV video quality,” noted Andrew Morton, Comtrend’s General Manager. “For the upcoming IPTV push to be successful, service quality must not only meet, but surpass, existing service quality. Comtrend PhyR-powered ADSL2+ and VDSL2 routers and gateways will meet that high standard.”
Comtrend is currently in test with its PhyR-powered equipment and expects to begin deployment in early 2008. For more information about Comtrend’s CPE for telecom and datacom use, visit www.comtrend.com.
About Comtrend Corp.:
With more than 6 million products installed, Comtrend is a leading global supplier of DSL equipment. Comtrend offers a broad array of leading edge, high-quality DSL products that embeds ADSL, ADSL2+, Bonded ADSL2+ and VDSL2 technologies to support; triple-play voice, video and data applications including IP-Video, VoIP, optional WiFi Drops and industry standard QoS with VLAN traffic assignment; IGMP snooping and IGMP proxy providing efficient traffic management and control in IP multicast applications. Comtrend is a global company with headquarters in Irvine, California, and offices in Madrid, Spain and Taipei, Taiwan. For more information, visit the Comtrend web site at: www.comtrend.com.
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