Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) has unveiled a pair of processor chips designed to support gigabit speeds over copper lines, particularly in the Korean and Japanese markets. The GigaDSL devices include the QCO5700 for multiple dwelling unit (MDU) networks and the QCM5720 for customer premises equipment (CPE).
The company asserts the new chips, which will begin sampling this month, will support gigabit data rates over 100 m of existing in-building telephone lines.
"We are committed to driving leading-edge technologies to meet carrier's unique requirements, including in Japan and Korea," said Irvind Ghai, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. "With these new GigaDSL product offerings, we are able to meet carriers' broadband goals, complementing fiber deployment in time for major events, such as the 2018 Winter Games in Korea and the 2020 Summer Games in Japan."
Qualcomm says that it already has several customers for the QCO5700 and QCM5720, including Sumitomo Electronic, NEC, and Wave Electronics.
"We are going to make every possible effort to replace our 1-Gbps EPON FTTH products with 10G-EPON products in the FTTH market in Japan. The transition from VDSL to G.Fast (FDD) 'GigaDSL' is an important segment to realize this '10G upgrade' for telco carriers in order to complement the fiber deployment in MDU in Japan, and we are working closely with them and Qualcomm Technologies to deliver the solutions needed to make this a seamless transition," said Hiroaki Nishimoto, general manager, broad networks division, Sumitomo Electric.
"GigaDSL addresses the unique requirements of Japanese carriers with key capabilities including multi operator environment and interoperability with deployed VDSL CPEs," added Kazunori Sakai, general manager, network solutions division of NEC Magnus Communications, Ltd.
The new devices would appear to be in competition with G.fast silicon from Sckipio Technologies and Broadcom (see "G.fast chipsets from Sckipio Technologies debut" and "Broadcom debuts end-to-end G.fast offering"). An email to a Qualcomm media relations source asking for confirmation that the QCO5700 and QCM5720 are G.fast chips is awaiting a response.
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