Skyworth Selects Entropic Communications Ethernet-Over-Coax for China MDUs

Skyworth Demonstrating Ethernet Over Coax Solution Featuring Entropic Silicon At China’s ICTC Conference

SAN DIEGO — Entropic Communications (Nasdaq:ENTR), a leading provider of silicon and software solutions to enable connected home entertainment, today announced that Skyworth (Hong Kong: 0751), a leading set-top box and TV manufacturer, has selected Entropic’s Broadband Access solution to develop an Ethernet over Coax (EoC) solution that will deliver high performance, scalable “last kilometer” connectivity to multiple dwelling unit (MDU) apartments in mainland China. Skyworth will be showcasing the EoC solution during the International CATV Technology Conference (ICTC) held October 26 through October 28 in Hangzhou, China.

Cable and telco service operator efforts to provide ubiquitous broadband services throughout China are fueling the need for a high-performance, cost-effective and future-proof technology to distribute high bandwidth from the fiber node to each unit of an MDU. By providing high bandwidth, bidirectional broadband access to each subscriber using existing coax wiring, operators can offer additional revenue generating services with minimal capital expense.

Entropic’s Broadband Access solution, comprised of its Access Network Controller and the Access Client silicon, was selected by Skyworth due to its ease of use, cost effectiveness and flexibility to be used in conjunction with other operator services. Skyworth believes Entropic’s Broadband Access solution, which provides for scalability of multiple channels on a single coax, will give MSOs an opportunity to offer additional revenue-generating services by maximizing connectivity coverage of cable subscribers in MDUs. These additional services could include video-on-demand (VOD), instant messaging and e-commerce applications directly to the TV.

“Enabling bidirectional access over existing coaxial cabling in large apartment buildings allows MSOs to offer value added services such as VOD and Internet connection to subscribers,” said Xue Liang, general manager of Skyworth. “Entropic’s Broadband Access technology is the best choice for Skyworth’s EoC product because of its high bandwidth and scalability. Entropic has proven itself to be the coax solution leader with its successful silicon deployments based on the MoCA(R) standard in the United States and we believe that their Broadband Access technology is the most cost-effective solution for the EoC market.”

“As a top-tier OEM in China, Skyworth’s selection of Entropic to deliver this new EoC solution to the Chinese market is a distinct honor,” said Patrick Henry, CEO, Entropic. “This design win validates our field-proven silicon, and will allow Skyworth to provide MSOs with a robust, high-performance solution, meeting their growing market demand to provide new services and increase ARPU.”

Entropic’s Broadband Access solution is based on its highly successful and field proven MoCA(R) (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) solutions, which enable a full mesh home network to be formed using existing coax cables and splitters. The Broadband Access solution leverages this technology for point to multipoint networks. A single Broadband Access solution provides over 250 Mbps of raw data bandwidth yielding over 100 Mbps of application throughput and was designed as a low-cost, easy-to-deploy solution using the existing coaxial cable infrastructure already found in MDUs and single family housing (SFUs).

The system is scalable with a single network controller supporting up to 63 clients, with rate control available on a per client basis. By operating above the regular CATV signals and providing frequency agility between 800 MHz and 1500 MHz, additional network controllers can be added to support even more clients to the network. In addition, delivering operator-class robustness and unmatched bandwidth over the longest reach, Entropic’s Broadband Access solution is the performance benchmark for delivering high bandwidth applications such as multiple streams of high definition (HD) video, premium broadband data access tiers, IPTV, and two-way interactive applications.

Availability

The Skyworth Ethernet over Coax compliant solution is expected to be available to MSOs during the first half of 2010.