Radio frequency and mixed- signal integrated circuits for cable and satellite broadband communications provider MaxLinear Broadband Group announced early last month that high-end medical and industrial appliance manufacturer Unitron Group has added one of Europe’s largest satellite operators as a customer of its digital single cable router multiswitch solution, which is based on MaxLinear’s EN5520 digital channel stacking switch (DCSS).

Unitron group business development director Joris Goemaere says: “A single EN5520 can support up to 32 tuners enabling multiple subscribers to be supported from a single integrated circuit, lowering overall subscriber acquisition costs and adding more flexibility to offer advanced multichannel services.”

Unitron, based in Poperinge, Belgium, chose the MaxLinear EN5520 solution based on its advanced feature set, says Goemaere, adding that the product boasts 32 programmable user bands and dual L-band outputs for complete end product flexibility with a single design. He explains that one EN5520 can be used across multiple MDU switch applications, reducing Unitron’s multiswitch development cost and enabling faster time to market with differentiated products.

Goemaere says: “MaxLinear has a proven record in the satellite outdoor units market as the global leader in traditional analogue CSS technologies and an innovator of DCSS solutions in deployment currently. “The Unitron group believes that MaxLinear’s EN5520 is the ideal choice for multidwelling unit switch applications at Tier 1 service operators, owing to its low power, rich feature set, small size and design flexibility.”

Goemaere explains that the 973x switches join Unitron’s existing 974x digital silicon-controlled rectifier switch family, which includes 4-, 8- and 16-output switch designs. He adds that each output can provide up to 16 user bands to support multiple tuners/demodulators over a single-cable architecture and that the advanced switches, based on EN5520, support deployments of multichannel programming and gateway receiver architectures in multidwelling-unit environments. He highlights that Unitron’s solutions are fully customisable for static or active transponder mapping and user band frequencies.

MaxLinear Broadband Group VP and GM Will Torgerson concludes: “The company is pleased that Unitron has selected our technology for its latest generation of switch products. “This new deployment leverages the benefits of EN5520 by enabling the rapid deployment of digital channel stacking technology by satellite operators in MDU environments and the adoption of new services by consumers. “A single EN5520 can support up to 32 tuners, enabling multiple subscribers to be supported from a single IC, lowering overall subscriber acquisition costs and adding more flexibility to offer advanced multichannel services.”