Altera and Commsonic Plan First Complete Multi-Channel FPGA-Based Universal Cable Modulator
High Wycombe (UK) and Cambridge (UK)
6 September 2005
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) and Commsonic Limited today announced a partnership to deliver the industry's first multi-channel single-chip FPGA solution, integrating the entire forward error correction (FEC) and modulation chain for digital broadcast over cable. The solution is fully compatible with the ITU-T J83 Annex A, B and C standards adopted in Japan and North America, and the European Digital Video Broadcast - Cable (DVB-C) standard. The solution will enable broadcast OEMs to deliver highly cost-effective equipment that targets intelligent video networks for "on-the-fly" reconfiguration of bandwidth-on-demand, resulting in networks with the highest performance and flexibility at the lowest possible cost.
The two companies also plan to develop professional modulators/demodulators for the DVB satellite version 2 (DVB-S2) and DVB satellite (DVB-S) standards as well as other cable, terrestrial, and satellite applications before the end of the year.
"The innovative DSP and RAM architectures in Altera's Stratix II and Cyclone II FPGAs are very well suited to our technology because they consistently deliver a higher symbol rate per gate than is possible with other comparable platforms."
said Commsonic director Paul Rudkin.
"For example, we believe that Stratix II FPGAs may be the only cost-effective route to achieve the 300-Mbps throughput target we have set for our FPGA DVB-S2 demodulator."
Commsonic has already developed single-channel modulators for DVB-C and the COFDM-based DVB terrestrial (DVB-T, DVB-H) standards that are optimized for Stratix II and Cyclone II FPGAs. Altera will demonstrate the Commsonic solutions during this year's International Broadcast Convention (IBC2005) in Amsterdam at booth number 10.420 beginning Sept. 8.
"Many leading manufacturers have realized the advantages of Altera's broadcast solutions and products and are now relying on Altera-based platforms to create and deploy flexible, future-proof and cost-effective products for the broadcast industry."
said Todd Scott, senior director of Altera's digital consumer and broadcast business unit.
"Commsonic's highly integrated cable modulation family is providing another major step forward in broadcast equipment size reduction."
About Commsonic
Commsonic provides technology, IP and specialist design services in the area of broadband communications. The CMS0024 Multi-channel Cable Modulator is the latest core in the company's portfolio of broadcast physical-layer intellectual property (IP), which spans single-carrier (QAM) and multi-carrier (COFDM) modem technology and codecs for forward error correction.
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About Altera
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property and technical services, Altera provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide.
