Broadcom offers VDSL2 35b, G.fast bonding support

Broadcom Corp. has included VDSL2 35b and G.fast bonding support for two new standards under development in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The added capability will allow Broadcom to enable DSL network operators with a long-term roadmap for competitive high-bandwidth services with minimal investment to their physical plants, stated the company.

For operators with a significant investment in Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) architectures, the 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 standard increases aggregate DSL performance by up to 100 per cent, without disturbing widely-deployed G.Vector crosstalk cancellation technology, noted Broadcom.

Broadcom claims to be the first commercial silicon supplier to support the latest standard with an end-to-end solution in production, via the previously-released BCM63138 integrated residential gateway and BCM65235 central office DSP.

For operators working from a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) or distribution point unit (DPU) network architecture, the latest G.fast protocol remains a compelling alternative to avoid or defer the expense of installing fibre directly to the home. To maximise 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 1Gb/s, an important objective for many providers in competitive broadband markets. Broadcom is supporting an end-to-end solution for G.fast bonding using the existing BCM65244 central office DSP with the BCM65249 bonded CPE PHY device.

Broadcom's BCM63138, BCM65235, BCM65244 and BCM65249 are all in production.