MaxLinear AnyWAN URX850, URX851, and MxL25641 Intel Atom SoCs target broadband routers and gateways

MaxLinear has just announced the availability of the first three AnyWAN broadband SoCs featuring Intel Atom cores with the MxL25641, URX850, and URX851 processors designed for 5Gbps and 10 Gbps broadband routers and gateways, usually referred to as CPEs (customer premise equipment).

When I first read the news of MaxLinear releasing Intel Atom SoCs, I could not quite compute how it was possible, as I can’t remember any third-party releasing Intel processors and I thought it might be a system-in-package instead. But MaxLinear keeps calling those Intel Atom SoCs, and the reason is that the company acquired Intel’s Home Gateway Platform Division in 2020.

MaxLinear AnyWAN x86 SoCs key features and specifications:

• AnyWAN URX850/URX851 (for 10Gbps systems)
  • CPU – 4x Intel Atom CPU cores @ 2 GHz
  • Memory – Up to 16GB LPDDR4 or DDR4
  • Storage – eMMC 5.1 flash
  • Networking
    • 4x 2.5GE PHYs
    • XFI WAN
    • Packet processor for full CPU offload, 10Gbps IPsec accelerator
    • URX851 Only – 10Gbps PON MAC for FTTx
  • High-speed peripherals
    • HSIOs (high-speed I/O) – URX850: 9x; URX851: 8x
    • 4x PCIe gen3
    • 4x XFI/PCIe gen4
    • 2x USB 3.2 gen2 (10 Gbps)
  • Audio – Voice DSP and PCM/SPI interfaces for FXS and DECT support
  • Active power management with a dedicated energy processing unit
  • Package – FCBGA-837 (24×26mm)
• AnyWAN MxL25641 (for 5Gbps systems)
  • CPU – 2x Intel Atom CPU cores @ 1.7 GHz
  • Memory – Up to 4GB LPDDR4 or DDR4
  • Storage – eMMC 5.1 flash
  • Networking
    • 10Gbps PON MAC for FTTx
    • XFI WAN
    • Packet processor for full CPU offload, 5Gbps IPsec accelerator
  • High-speed peripherals
    • 9x HSIOs
    • 4x PCIe gen3
    • 4x XFI/PCIe gen4
    • 2x USB 3.2 gen1 (5 Gbps)
  • Audio – Voice DSP and PCM/SPI interfaces for FXS and DECT support
  • Active power management with a dedicated energy processing unit
  • Package – FCBGA-577 (17x17mm)

The MxL25641 does not have any native Ethernet interfaces, so I assume PCIe and HSIO can be used for that purpose instead. MaxLinear explains the Atom SoCs can be used for all sorts of WAN connectivity including Fiber, Copper (e.g. xDSL), Cable (DOCSIS), 5G FWA, as well as 10Gbps and 5Gbps Ethernet. In the local network/customer premise, the router or gateway could provide Wi-Fi 6/6E, Wi-Fi 7, local 2.5GbE or/and 10GbE, MoCA, and/or  G.hn (home networking up to 2 Gbps), as well as Voice FXS for VoIP telephony.

The company can also provide the AnyWAN Hardware Development Kit URX851 and AnyWAN Hardware Development Kit MxL25641 for earlier development, and the solutions can run Yocto-based prplOS (formerly known as prplWRT) and RDK-B, or MaxLinear UGW (Universal Gateway Software) based on OpenWrt. Since the AnyWAN processors are mostly designed for OEM and ODM manufacturers, there’s very little information available publicly.

A few more details may be found on the product page and press release.

Thanks to TLS for the tip.

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.