ViXS Systems said two chips – the XConnex 1000 and XConnex 1030 – obtained certification from the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), cleaning the way for its networking silicon to find a home in video gateways and whole-home DVR products.
ViXS said its two-chip MoCA combo consists of a radio frequency transceiver and a system-on-chip (SoC) that integrates the Media Access Controller and the Physical Layer. The duo also supports MoCA 1.0/1.1 and MoCA 2.0, the latest version of the platform that can pump out up to 800 Mbps of throughput on a home’s coax-based network.
The company added that it has also integrated its MoCA silicon with its XCode media processing family, starting with the XCode 5195, a gateway SoC that can simultaneously transcode six high-definition video streams.
"We are excited to have ViXS join a growing list of semiconductor system solution providers endorsing MoCA as the leading home networking technology by developing this new product line," said MoCA president Charles Cerino, in a statement. "ViXS is a great example of a company able to provide standalone and integrated solution using MoCA technology to better serve multiple domestic and international markets."
According to MoCA’s list of certified products, other chipmakers to gain the stamp from the organization include Broadcom, Entropic and Intel. Of that group, Intel appears to be more a partner than a competitor to ViXS. In January, ViXS announced it is developing a reference design that will pair Intel's Puma 6 DOCSIS 3.0 chipset with ViXS's video transcoding and MoCA 2.0 chips.
And ViXS is not just battling one of its rivals, Entropic, in the MoCA market; they’re also squaring off in the courts. In May, Entropic filed a suit alleging that ViXS is infringing on two of Entropic’s “core home networking patents.” ViXS responded by saying the suit is without merit and called the timing of the suit “questionable.”
Earlier this month, Toronto-based ViXS posted a first quarter loss from operations of $3.6 million (72 cents per share) on revenues of $8 million. The company also revealed this month that BSkyB had made a “strategic investment” that was part of a recent round that raised C$57.4 million.
ViXS said it has deployments or design wins with DirecTV, Comcast, and EchoStar for its place-shifting Slingbox products, along with Arris, Cisco Systems, Sagemcom and LG Electronics.
