FiberHome, BroadLight, and Oplink Join Vitesse FTTx Ecosystem

Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (Pink Sheets: VTSS), a leading provider of advanced IC solutions for Carrier and Enterprise networks, today announced the continued expansion of its FTTx (Fiber-to-the-Home, Building or Premise) Technology Ecosystem. The newest members include FiberHome, Oplink and BroadLight. This Ecosystem is an industry forum for companies across the entire Passive Optical Network (PON) hardware spectrum to accelerate deployment of next-generation 10G-PON FTTx platforms. The new members join an impressive list of participating companies and PON technology innovators including Anritsu, CyOptics, Emcore, ETRI, Hisense Broadband Multimedia Technologies, Huawei, NEC Electronics, NeoPhotonics, Opulan, Source Photonics, ZTE, and Vitesse.

Over the past year, Vitesse, along with its many FTTx Ecosystem members, substantially advanced 10G-EPON deployments, as evidenced by 10G-EPON field and lab trials around the globe. These trials include China Telecom and China Mobile, NTT in Japan, KT in Korea, France Telecom in Europe, as well as Verizon and Time Warner in North America, among others. In the specific case of China Mobile, Vitesse and ZTE published a technical case study describing the challenges and solutions necessary for successful 10G-EPON deployments.

"Because of the fast growing GPON and EPON segments, the PON market grew rapidly during 2009, with port shipments up roughly 30% to 50% year-over-year. The overall PON market is forecast to continue to grow rapidly for the next several years, as the shift from copper- to fiber-based broadband access drives growth in this market,” according to Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, broadband and video, Infonetics Research. "As for next-generation PON technologies, there are already many 10G-EPON field trials underway, and we expect 10G-GPON (XG-PON) trials will heat up later this year. Vitesse is one of the leading IC vendors in this space, and its FTTx Technology Ecosystem effort will help drive activities in this space moving forward.”

New FTTx Technology Ecosystem Members

FiberHome is a pioneer in the development and deployment of EPON networks for worldwide carriers with solid technological strength and brand superiority in the FTTH market. "We have worked closely with Vitesse for Carrier Ethernet chipsets on many our platforms over the years. With our superior technology and excellent support, FiberHome is providing ‘win-win’ solutions on the next-generation FTTx to the market,” said Zhuang Yang, vice president, FiberHome Technologies.

Oplink is a leading provider of comprehensive optical components, transceiver modules, and subsystems for optical networking applications. "We are pleased to participate in the FTTx Technology Ecosystem to promote next-generation end-to-end PON solutions. Oplink, through the acquisition of OCP, is a leading supplier for wide scale EPON deployment. Now we are working closely with companies such as Vitesse, and customers on development of next-generation PON module solutions to serve this rapidly growing market,” said Dr. Rang-Chen (Ryan) Yu, vice president of business development, Oplink Communications.

BroadLight is a pioneer and the leader in GPON System on Chips (SoC). BroadLight’s devices and software deliver the majority of today’s BPON and GPON chipset solutions worldwide. "As the first company to successfully sample a GPON SoC, BroadLight is taking the lead in a rapidly growing market that is predicted to be the largest PON growth segment in the next few years,” stated Didi Ivancovsky, founder and vice president, marketing at BroadLight. "Our relationship with Vitesse is significant because our flagship GPON and XGPON System on Chips combining with Vitesse market leading fiber and copper based Physical-layer devices will enable ITU-T PON equipment vendors across the globe to rapidly deliver GPON and XGPON solution and services at affordable prices.”

"We are pleased to announce another round of the FTTx Technology Ecosystem expansion with three important market leaders, FiberHome, Oplink and BroadLight, joining the roster,” said Gary Paules, product marketing manager at Vitesse. "Vitesse is committed to driving the deployment of next-generation PON deployments worldwide by coordinating close working relationships among our stellar group of Ecosystem members.”

To read the Vitesse-ZTE case study and learn more about the FTTx Technology Ecosystem visit: www.vitesse.com/fttx.

Demonstrating XG-PON Solutions at OFC/NFOEC 2010

Vitesse will showcase in Corporate Village room #2945, Hall D, an XG-PON1 link (10G downstream, 2.5G upstream) at OFC/NFOEC 2010 Expo, March 23-25, 2010 in San Diego, Calif., at the San Diego Convention Center. The demonstration will feature Vitesse’s expanded PON portfolio including Vitesse laser drivers, transimpedance amplifiers, limiting amplifiers and SerDes products in continuous and burst mode configurations for use in optical line terminal (OLT) and optical network unit (ONU) applications.

About Vitesse

Vitesse designs, develops and markets a diverse portfolio of high-performance, cost-competitive semiconductor solutions for Carrier and Enterprise networks worldwide. Engineering excellence and dedicated customer service distinguish Vitesse as an industry leader in high-performance Ethernet LAN, WAN, and RAN, Ethernet-over-SONET/SDH, Optical Transport (OTN), and best-in-class Signal Integrity and Physical Layer products for Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI, InfiniBand®, Video, and PCI Express applications. Additional company and product information is available at www.vitesse.com.

Vitesse is a registered trademark in the United States and/or other jurisdictions of Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders.