Late arriving chips push DSL pioneer into Intel deal. Intel is back in the DSL business more than a decade after losing about $2B without bringing a DSL chip to market. Lantiq is a solid company with excellent engineers around the world.

Not long ago, CEO Christian Wolff was planning for a $1B IPO. Imran Hajimusa was exhibiting spectacular demonstrations of world-beating performance WiFi, some of the first publicly shown vectored VDSL and more. The chips haven't made it to market. Update 3/03 Vectored VDSL chips for modems are shipping, although other chips are not. 

 I wrote then

  Lantiq has a nice demo of 4 simultaneous HD TV programs playing wirelessly over 802.11n, a technology they bought from Metalink. It's 3 x 3 MIMO, with great results in the lab. Playing TV around a home wirelessly would find tremendous demand, and Imran believes they have production ready chips that will make that practical. Lantiq is also enthusiastic about G.hn, finally a standard, which is designed to inexpensively carry data over twisted pair, coax, powerline, and probably everything except barbed wire.

The old voice chips are selling as are some of the network processors. Intel persuaded some reporters that the purchase would be crucial to "connected homes" and the Internet of Things. They are nice buzzwords but don't reflect Lantiq's product line.

Silicon Valley died several years ago but no one has noticed. There have been almost no chip startups in the valley for years. Giants like AMD and LSI are no more. Companies like Intel have moved most of their jobs out of the valley. Growth has been slow for a decade and Chinese chipmakers have captured most of it. Software companies like Google, Apple and Facebook are booming so the economy of the valley hasn't tanked. But it's not based on chips anymore.

15 years ago, Siemens Infineon was one of a dozen DSL chip providers. Since then, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Motorola and nearly all the rest failed. Ikanos absorbed Conexant which absorbed Globespan which absorbed Virata and is ready to be absorbed as well. Siemens spun off Infineon which spun off Lantiq. Lantiq survived most of them but now is gone. 

Kirk Skaugen would do well to quickly make offers to Christoph Schierstaedt (inside) and Matthew Schmidt (outside), two of the best pr people in telecom. 

Lantiq people: send me (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) your memories as a letter to the editor and I'll be happy to publish them.

 Here's Intel's pr. No info has leaked about the price but it was a very small fraction of what they were hoping four years ago.

 Intel to Acquire Lantiq; Advancing the Connected Home

Accelerating into Smart Gateways and Intelligent Access Networks

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Transaction positions Intel to further drive broadband network technologies that enhance connected experiences in the home.

• Lantiq would enable Intel to extend its existing home gateway business into the telecom residential gateway and access network markets, where Lantiq is a leading provider.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and MUNICH, Feb. 2, 2015 – Intel Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lantiq, a leading supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in approximately 90 days. Deal terms were not disclosed.

Smart gateways and intelligent access networks are important elements in Intel’s efforts to make everything smart and connected, best with Intel. This acquisition would expand Intel’s success in the cable residential gateway market and broaden its offering to other gateway markets, including DSL, Fiber, LTE, retail and IoT smart routers.

"By 2018, we expect more than 800 million broadband connected households worldwide," said Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group. "Intel has been a global leader in driving broadband into the home and to connected compute devices. The combination of our cable gateway business with Lantiq's technology and talent can allow global service providers to introduce new home computing experiences and enable consumers to take advantage of a more smart and connected home."

The combined team would have a comprehensive range of connectivity solutions and home cloud technologies for OEMs, service providers and companies innovating new applications for the home. Together with Intel’s IoT solutions, Intel® Security products and Intel-based client devices, Intel can deliver exciting new connected experiences for consumers.

"Intel and Lantiq share a common vision about the evolution of the connected home and the intelligent network," said Dan Artusi, Lantiq CEO. "Together we can drive the transformation of the broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) as it becomes a smart gateway that connects an increasingly diverse roster of devices and services in the home."

Lantiq is based in Munich, Germany, and is a leader in state-of-the-art broadband access technology. More than 100 global operators have deployed Lantiq's DSL solutions. Lantiq has over 2000 patents related to broadband communications and offers technologies including xDSL solutions with vectoring and G.Fast; fiber-based technologies such as Fiber to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) and GPON; comprehensive gateway home networking and DSLTE systems; ultra-efficient network processors; and comprehensive Ethernet and voice solutions.