Conexant inks deals to co-develop set-top boxes with Liberate, Next Level

Conexant inks deals to co-develop set-top boxes with Liberate, Next Level
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Looking to take a new approach in its consumer-broadband chip business, Conexant Systems Inc. here today will announce plans to co-develop set-top-box products with Liberate Technologies Inc. and Next Level Communications Inc.

Under the terms of the deal between Conexant and Liberate, the companies will co-develop a next-generation, set-top box platform for use in satellite, terrestrial, and cable applications.

One of the first OEM customers for this platform is Next Level, which is developing a next-generation, residential-gateway product based on very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) technology.

The announcements represent the beginning of a new direction for Conexant's consumer-broadband chip efforts, said John Graham, vice president of marketing for computer products in the company's Digital Infotainment Division (DID). Based in San Diego, DID develops chips for cable-modem, direct-broadcast satellite (DBS), fixed-wireless, set-top box, and related applications.

"Traditionally, we've sold products on a component-level basis to OEMs," Graham said. "This has changed. We are taking more of a systems-level approach to the market," he said.

The company is altering its strategy to capitalize on the long-awaited convergence in the market, he said. This is especially true in the set-top box business, where a range of broadband, home-networking, satellite, and other technologies are being migrated into one access-oriented system in the home, he added.

As a result, DID will play a more important role for new-and possibly improved--Conexant company. In September, Conexant announced plans to split the company into two parts: infrastructure and personal networking.

The new infrastructure company will consist of the company's wide-area networking chip lines, while the personal-networking organization will encompass its analog-modem, wireless-chip, as well as its broadband-IC products, including those from the DID operation.

The DID organization alone projects that its sales will jump from $185 million in 1999, to $290 million in 2000, to $390 million in 2001.

To help propel that growth, the company has forged agreements with Liberate and Next Level. In one deal, Conexant and Liberate of San Carlos, Calif., will co-develop a line of set-top plaforms in order to help OEMs and network operators bring out their products more rapidly, according to Graham.

The box, to be available in early-2001, will consist of Conexant's chips for satellite, cable, related applications, such as its tuners, MPEG-2 devices, cable-modem ICs, among others.. Liberate will contribute its TV Navigator software, which enables Internet-access and other features.

This platform is being used in a new gateway product from Next Level, based in Rohnert Park, Calif. Next Level's box will be used in a high-end broadband application like VDSL. In Next Level's system, Broadcom Corp. will supply the VDSL-based chip set, while Conexant will offer the MPEG-2 IC and other components.