Marvell pushes for super speedy Internet with Avanta: Superhero speed

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Amidst the glitz and glamor of Sunset Boulevard, rubbing elbows with stars in LA’s newest W hotel, little chip company Marvell Technology Group Ltd. told Hollywood to do what it does best; to dream.

 

Marvell told Hollywood to dream of blisteringly fast internet and seamless streaming. To dream of beaming not just high definition, but also 3D gaming and movies straight into the home along optical fiber and using its brand new Avanta broadband.

 

Optical access allows for a veritable technological leap forward, enabling high broadband throughput ranging from 100 megabits per second to 2.5 gigabits per second per home, which considering most internet junkies currently average at about 16 Mbps, is quite a feat.

 

Optical not only overcomes the difficulties faced by a copper-wired infrastructure, it shatters them, making the streaming of 3D High Definition content in real time, user-to-user and user to cloud interactive applications a no-lag pleasure.

 

Only catch? Not too many areas of the world have optical fiber laid down yet, but Marvell isn’t terribly concerned … after all, if a movement doesn’t start with imagining the possibilities, then what’s the use in dreaming at all?

 

Besides, by Marvell’s calculations, worldwide demand for optical access is expected to grow 250% in 2010, and as more and more people get access to broadband speeds they never imagined, it’s hard to believe the momentum would slow down.

 

Avanta itself is an optical access product for Gigabit Passive Optical Networks, Ethernet Passive Optical Networks and 10-Gigabit EPON.

 

Marvell claims Avanta can offer up to 20 times the bandwidth of traditional copper-based networking products, providing, of course, you have the fiber it takes.

 

Able to support tens of 3D HD interactive video streams at once, Avanta is also the first product to support the IEEE Audio-Video-Bridging draft specifications.

 

The first offerings in Marvell’s new line are single-chip for Single-Family-Unit devices, which apparently adhere strictly to the Marvell mantra of “cheaper, lower power, more energy efficient,” for what the firm deems a “radically reduced energy footprint.”

 

To achieve this, Marvell says it introduced multiple low-power techniques in the PON space – ranging from dynamic CPU speed throttling, sleep mode, low-power DDR3-SDRAM and IEEE Energy-Efficient-Ethernet draft-compliance.

 

IP bandwidth processing and CPU performance would also quadruple, according to Marvell’s estimates, using Avanta rather than DSL.

 

The dual-mode device with a Gigahertz-class CPU running all open-source software, and its plugcomputer.org eco-system certainly sets the future product bar high.

 

Simon Milner, GM of Marvell’s EBU noted that “with plentiful bandwidth, and ability to offer differentiated services, we believe CPU performance will be the key technology for Internet 3.0., a cloud centric, interactive Internet.”

 

So Marvell has a dream. Hollywood has seen Marvell’s vision. Now, the world just needs the infrastructure to turn both into a feasible and widespread reality.