Broadband Week for July 10, 2000: Com21, Microtune Ink RF-Tuner Agreement
By DAVID ILER July 10, 2000
Hot on the heels of similar announcements from the modem units of Motorola
Broadband Communications Sector and Cisco Systems Inc., RF-tuner maker
Microtune Inc. inked a deal with Com21 Inc. last week to develop
silicon-based RF-tuner products.
Com21 also made an undisclosed investment in Microtune, which has filed a
statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a $57.5 million
initial public offering, slated for September.
Citing a quiet period, Microtune officials declined to be interviewed for
this article.
Microtune and its modem partners will be working to develop its
next-generation, silicon-based "gateway" tuners, designed to be
low-power-consuming products conforming to both Data Over Cable Service
Interface Specification and PacketCable specifications.
DOCSIS and PacketCable are Cable Television Laboratories Inc. standards
efforts addressing data- and voice-service delivery over cable networks.
Microtune has guaranteed Motorola and Com21 volume deliveries of its RF
tuners, and it will provide Cisco with tuner modules for its next-generation
cable-access routers.
As the cable modem gets integrated into the broadband-telephone interface --
formerly known as the network-interface unit -- Microtune and partners hope
to carve a niche for components of that unit, which sits outside of the home
and funnels voice, video and data inside.
In addition to creating a little pre-IPO buzz for Microtune, the
announcements serve to highlight the significant role silicon-based tuners
will play as the BTI becomes the gateway for voice and data services,
Kinetic Strategies Inc. president Michael Harris said.
Currently, modems are outfitted with bulky "tuners in a can," or sheathed
analog tuners, Harris pointed out. These tuners tend to burn up a lot of
board space in a modem, while a silicon tuner is approximately one-fifth
their size.
Additionally, this year's shortage of RF tuners has been an "unexpected but
positive driver toward silicon," he added.
Potentially, silicon tuners offer better performance using lower amounts of
power -- an important consideration with network-powered telephony being the
preferred option for operators.
The silicon-tuner market promises to be hotly contended, as Microtune noted
in its SEC filing that every automotive radio, cable modem, PC/TV, set-top
box, VCR and TV requires a tuner.
The worldwide demand for tuners could hit 310 million units by next year,
according to analyst reports cited by Microtune.
In the cable sector, Harris cited Broadcom Corp., Conexant Systems Inc. and
Silicon Wave Inc. as other major players in the silicon-RF market. Last
month, Silicon Wave and Texas Instruments Inc. announced a reference design
incorporating Silicon Wave's tuner with TI's cable modem. "Microtune and
Silicon Wave are best positioned right now," Harris said.
He added that Com21 has historically done a good job of implementing RF
tuners.
While silicon tuners for cable modems are not commercially shipping right
now, Harris expects some to appear at a CableLabs certification wave,
possibly this fall.
So far this year, Com21 has seen strong growth, according to vice president
of marketing Buck Gee. He said 1999 sales were $95 million, while
first-quarter-2000 sales were $41 million.
Gee added that Com21 will announce cable-operator trials of its
voice-over-Internet protocol products later this year and into 2001. |
