Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE: 6503), a world leader in communication systems, and Passavé, the leading provider of Fiber the-Home (FTTH) semiconductor solutions, have partnered to drive greater penetration of low-cost, fiber-based Gigabit Ethernet services to consumers in Japan. Through the partnership, Mitsubishi will supply a complete access network solution that combines Passavé´s optical line terminal (OLT) and optical networking unit (ONU).


Passavé´s second generation Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) chipset is the only field-proven EPON solution, tested by a large number of customers and carriers and proven to be fully compliant with the newly ratified IEEE 802.3ah standard. Passavé silicon is also the first to be tested and proven to support the requirements for field deployment by Japan´s major carriers. These requirements include sophisticated encryption and high-efficiency dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA).
Japan is the world leader in deployment of fiber-based Internet access, and through the support of Mitsubishi Electric´s EPON solution, Japan´s leading carriers are aggressively expanding their already large FTTH build-outs.

"Mitsubishi Electric is a leader in Japan´s new generation of FTTH systems, re-defining Internet access together with Japan´s major carriers," said Ariel Maislos, president of Passavé.

"It is a great honor to be chosen by such a world leader."
"Passavé´s field-proven devices give Mitsubishi Electric a strong competitive advantage when deploying Gigabit EPON in volume in the world´s most demanding market," said Kiyoshi Shimokasa, General Manager, Optical Communications Network Department, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. The Mitsubishi-Passavé partnership coincides with a surge in demand for FTTH in Japan. According to Japan´s Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT), Japan listed more than 1,140,000 FTTH connections in March, 2004, marking an increase of greater than 99,500 subscribers from the previous month. In the previous quarter, monthly increases in FTTH subscribers averaged above 80,000. Industry watchers expect even higher rates of adoption as the cost of FTTH equipment continues to plunge.