Free Selects Marvell

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. announced that French service provider, Free, a subsidiary of Iliad, will integrate a suite of Marvell processors, switching and Wi-Fi technologies to power the new Freebox Revolution multi-service gateway.

          Freebox Revolution

By incorporating Marvell technologies, the Freebox Revolution, invented and pioneered by Free from the ground up, delivers an expansive set of services necessary to make the always-on home entertainment experience a reality for Free customers throughout France.

"Free is a highly innovative and advanced service provider, and we are pleased that the Freebox R&D team selected Marvell for this forward-thinking initiative. Marvell is delivering seamless continuity across all the connected devices in our lives to provide anytime, anywhere access to high quality content and applications," said Weili Dai, Co-founder of Marvell. "Advanced home gateway technology such as the Freebox Revolution serves as a powerful digital control center with the ability to deliver immersive entertainment and infotainment experiences to connected devices ranging from mobile phones and tablets to information appliances and smart furnishings. Our collaboration will enable Free customers to experience our shared vision of the always-on, mobile lifestyle."  

The new Freebox Revolution multi-service gateway combines home media server and gateway technologies and offers Freebox player capabilities, such as Blu-ray movie playback, smart TV and gaming services. Together, these solutions can access fiber or xDSL network and utilize the Marvell ARM-based Kirkwood System-on-Chip (SoC), Link Street Gigabit Switches, Marvell Smart Wi-Fi 802.11n 3×3 450 Mbps Dual-band technology, and Alaska Gigabit Ethernet PHY transceivers. By combining these technologies with open source Linux driver support, Free is able to deliver powerful and efficient embedded network attached (NAS) storage functionality, media streaming features, and an array of cloud- and local-based applications while providing performance and reach, all in a green solution that reduces power consumption in comparison to today’s industry standard technologies.

"Marvell is delivering a full suite of technology that is enabling Free to break free from the mold and bring our concept of the Freebox Revolution to life to the benefit of our customers," said Maxime Lombardini, CEO, Iliad. "With Marvell technology, we can continue to provide new and exciting services at a highly competitive price point. We appreciate the technology and support Marvell is providing as a key partner in our Freebox Revolution initiative."

The new Freebox Server was on display at the CES Marvell booth.

Read also:
Freebox Revolution: Best Set-Top Box in the World
With 250GB HDD and Blu-ray drive, at €36/month, in France only