Sunday, October 24, 2010

Sigma Designs Shows its G.hn Chipset

Sigma Designs unveiled its G.hn chipset for home entertainment. The device, which is expected to start sampling early next year, will enable home networks that can run up to 3 Gbps using any wire (coax, phone lines and power lines) that is available in the home.


Sigma Designs notes that this level of in-home networking performance far exceeds the throughput of existing wireless technologies and is well-suited for media-rich applications, such as distributing HD video or telepresence sessions throughout a home.


Sigma's forthcoming CG5110 chip builds on the baseline G.hn spec approved by the ITU by implementing advanced MIMO techniques. Italso supports backward compatibility with today's mass deployments of HomePNA and
HomePlug AV.


"Sigma's new G.hn chipset delivers all the promise of G.hn: breakthrough performance in every way and yet helps service providers radically decrease their costs to install and operate home networks," said Gabi Hilevitz, vice president and general manager of Sigma Designs' Home Connectivity Group. "Until today, there was no universal solution for wired home entertainment networking. For each market, you had to develop a proprietary solution. Now, a single standards-based solution can cover the entire world and provide a highly reliable and
easy way to move rich content inside the home."http://www.sigmadesigns.com

  • Last year, Sigma Designs acquired CopperGate Communications for approximately $116 million. Founded in 2000, CopperGate offered silicon solutions that drive home entertainment networks based on HomePNA. Its technology portfolio spans across all three wire-types: coax, phone, and power. CopperGate was also one of the leading contributors to the next generation home networking standard, G.hn.