Saturday, June 9, 2012

Still waiting for Qualcomm's new HomePlug AV chipset, AR7420, yet another one chip solution

We are still waiting for Qualcomm's new HomePlug AV AR7420 chip announced September 2011.

The AR7420 is yet another one chip solution for HomePlug AV adapters designed to compete with Broadcom's  BCM60321 which is already winning business away from the Homeplug market leader Qualcomm. Like the BCM60321, the AR7420 integrates on one chip RAM, Flash, AFE, two Ethernet interfaces.


Broadcom wins devolo over with 40mn HomePlug AV Chip


Broadcom's press release trumpets their winning of devolo's, the world's leading manufacturer of power line communication products, business.

Broadcom's 40nm single-die BCM60321, enables HomePlug manufacturers to sell a very small adapter, with TWO Ethernet ports at a 30% cheaper solution cost. Broadcom has also made an effort on power savings with a standby mode using less than 0.5W. The BCM60321 is a second generation chip for Broadcom, who bought Gigle Networks in December 2010. It is fully interoperable with the previous devolo favorite solution from Qualcomm. Qualcomm has a chip, ATH7420, in the works to compete with the BCM60321 with the same level of integration, but it has not yet surfaced--end of June?