SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The delivery of rich digital content to the home and small office via fiber takes a major step toward reality today with the introduction of the MSC7120 from Freescale Semiconductor – the industry’s first voice-enabled Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON) SoC.

The multi-core MSC7120 integrates a Power Architecture™ CPU, a StarCore™ DSP and a data path engine to deliver a complete PON sub-system in a single device. It addresses the high data forwarding throughput requirements of several applications including the delivery of “Triple Play” (voice, video and data) broadband services to the home or small business.

The MSC7120 was developed jointly with Alcatel-Lucent, the dominant supplier of GPON equipment worldwide. Work on the part initiated in 2005 after the companies agreed to collaborate on delivering compatible, interoperable and cost-effective GPON technology to the market.

“As a market leader in GPON, we see this announcement as an illustration of how GPON technology is evolving and maturing,” said Mike Dobbs, senior vice president for Alcatel-Lucent’s Access Division. “Freescale has a proven technology and this important step now enables the network appliance community to provide industry-compatible GPON devices at an affordable cost.”

Freescale Semiconductor Inc.