News Release from: STMicroelectronics
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 14 October 2004
Chipset enables ADSL modems on a budget
The Unicorn II USB ADSL chipset cuts overall modem system cost to the lowest in the industry.
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The Unicorn II USB ADSL chipset cuts overall modem system cost to the lowest in the industry. The new product enables manufacturers to produce an ADSL USB modem package below the magical Eur 10 barrier. In addition to slashing overall system cost, the Unicorn's overall physical layer and throughput performance makes it a best-in-class product.
Compared with its predecessor Unicorn I, the bill of materials of the Unicorn II has been reduced by more than 20% due to the integration of external components.
With a component count of less than 135 external devices, the complete system solution can easily fit on a small, two-layer, single-sided PCB, reducing overall PCB cost by 40%.
"This product is a major advance in ST's digital technology roadmap, leapfrogging two generations of USB ADSL chipsets", said Christophe Rollin, Director of the Access Terminal Business Unit, Telecom Group, STMicroelectronics.
"The Unicorn II chipset forms the core of an ADSL customer premises equipment (CPE) modem based upon ST's unique, field-proven architecture already deployed in many countries".
"ST's experience has enabled us to design a truly cost-effective product that meets the demands of the market".
The Unicorn II chipset comprises a digital chip (ST70138) with integrated discrete multitone (DMT) engine, USB (Universal Serial Bus) controller and USB physical-layer interface (PHY), and the MTC20174 which integrates the analogue front end (AFE), line driver, and digitally controlled crystal oscillator (DCXO).
Due to the controller-less nature of the architecture, an external SDRAM is not needed in the bill of materials.
The chipset is supplied with field-proven software drivers for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems and comes with a comprehensive, tested, and fully customisable driver suite that also includes several diagnostic tools, helping operators and ISPs to reduce their help-desk cost.
An available, complete reference design that includes schematics, PCB layout, bill of materials, and documentation completes the offering.
The Unicorn II chipset is sampling now and will be available for mass production during Q4 2004 at a $7 unit pricing for quantities of 10,000 units.
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