Entropic unveils world's first MoCA 2.0 solution

LAS VEGAS, USA: Entropic Communications Inc., a leading provider of silicon and software solutions that enable connected home entertainment, has introduced the world's first complete MoCA 2.0 solution.

Entropic's new chipset empowers a new revolution in home networking by answering the growing demand for powerful connectivity within the home. Further, Entropic's new solution will satisfy the long-term whole-home digital networking needs of service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and consumers by providing maximum throughput, enhanced reliability, new power management features, better security, and backwards interoperability to prior MoCA standards.

As the recognized pioneer in MoCA development and deployment, Entropic builds on its successful MoCA 1.1/1.0 products to make MoCA 2.0 the next key enabling technology that delivers a 'no excuses' whole-home network for high definition (HD) video and streaming media services - all over existing coax in the home. Offered as a complete end-to-end MoCA 2.0 solution with MAC, PHY, analog, RF transceiver and RF front-end functionality, it provides 400 Mbps of application throughput in its basic configuration, and is scalable to support 500 Mbps Turbo mode and 800 Mbps /1 Gbps in channel bonded modes.

These capabilities make it the highest performing home networking solution available today; delivering more than twice the speeds of existing MoCA solutions. Additionally, by using the latest 40nm semiconductor wafer processes, Entropic's solution transforms current coaxial infrastructure into a highly-efficient, affordable and reliably predictable whole-home entertainment network, ready to meet the new video delivery demands required by converging broadcast-broadband networks.

"Increasingly, consumers expect to be able to connect any device, anywhere, and at any time in their home. And it is this expectation that is driving the demand for more robust backbone solutions with exceptional bandwidth support to deliver consistent, reliable service," said Michael Palma, senior research analyst, Consumer Device Semiconductors, IDC.

"We're seeing leading US service providers adopting MoCA for home entertainment networking and believe that Entropic's MoCA 2.0 silicon advances the networking capabilities for these service providers and their customers."

Entropic's MoCA 2.0 solution provides new opportunities to service providers, OEMs, and consumers:

Service providers: With virtually unconstrained throughput available, operators can easily migrate to an all IP video home network to lower costs and create a more captivating consumer experience that could increase subscriber acquisition and lower customer churn.

Entropic's MoCA 2.0 solution is fully backwards interoperable with previous MoCA 1.x investments; allowing for the seamless deployment of new services - from multi-room DVR, backbone Wi-Fi extension and personal content sharing to streaming content from Video on Demand servers and offering support for 3DTV programming, service provider managed home routers, HD video conferencing and home security/surveillance systems.

OEMS: Always looking to bring higher value to service providers and consumers, Entropic's MoCA 2.0 solution enables service provider OEMs to offer innovative technology for advanced IP media gateways and feature-rich set-top boxes that support remote user interfaces.

For consumer electronics OEMs, Entropic's MoCA 2.0 solution offers an extremely reliable and high throughput connection for devices such as connected Blu-ray players, MoCA/Ethernet bridges, game consoles and televisions supporting over-the-top video, remote user interfaces and advanced Internet applications.

Consumers: With a whole-home MoCA 2.0 backbone, consumers can reliably share movies, videos, photos and other content throughout the home with zero hiccups, quickly connect to online applications such as YouTube and Facebook from their TV, access Netflix, Hulu and other over-the-top TV services without any pops or glitches and enjoy lag-free whole-home gaming experience.

"Major US service providers, from Verizon and Time Warner Cable to DIRECTV, recognize the value MoCA 2.0 brings to the connected home entertainment market," said Patrick Henry, president and CEO of Entropic Communications.

"We believe MoCA 2.0's benefits and features - for service providers, OEMs, and consumers - will enable it to be one of the most critical underlying disruptive technologies in whole-home networking."

Entropic MoCA 2.0 Highlights:
* Net throughput (MAC) rates of 400 Mbps over 16 nodes and 500 Mbps for two-node Turbo mode.
* Channel bonding to support 800 Mbps over 16 nodes and up to 1Gbps for channel bonded Turbo mode.
* Full backward interoperability with MoCA 1.1 and 1.0.
* Expanded range of operating frequencies: 500 MHz-1650 MHz.
* Low power modes - sleep and standby to address energy conservation initiatives.
* Improved reliability with packet error rates better than 1e-6 and a low latency of 3.5ms.
* The only home entertainment networking standard that works in all three pay TV segments: cable, satellite and IPTV.

The new Entropic MoCA 2.0 silicon/software solution will sample in the first half of 2011, with full volume production expected for Q1 2012.