Wireless Connectivity

Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway Teardown

20 September 2010
The following is an overview of a teardown analysis conducted by IHS Benchmarking.

Overview / Main Features

The Cisco DPQ2425 is a DOCSIS 1.0 cable modem gateway that also has integrated 4-line telephone adapter as well as 802.11 a/b/g access point.

Electronically, the Cisco is primarily a Broadcom design (BCM3368 cable modem chip / BCM5325 Ethernet switch IC / BCM3421 Tuner IC) making up the bulk of the core components. The DPQ2524 also features a lithium ion pack battery pack for backup power.

Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway Main ImageCisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway Main Image
Target Market

Cable service providers

Released

Unknown

Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Main PCB TopCisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Main PCB Top
Pricing and Availability

Pricing - Since most (if not all) cable modem/gateways are provided to consumers by the cable service providers, there is no known market price for these devices.

Availability - North America

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 258,000 units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Main PCB BottomCisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Main PCB Bottom
Cost Notes

Main Cost Drivers Representing ~60% of total materials cost

Pegatron - PB006 - Battery Pack - Li-Ion, 10.95V, 2200mAh, 24Wh

Asus - WL-120G - WLAN Mini PCI Card Value Line Item - IEEE802.11a/b/g

Broadcom - BCM3368KPBG - Cable Modem IC - Single Chip Solution, QAMLink, EuroDOCSIS 2.0

Power Supply Module Value Line Item

Broadtek - 4-Layer - FR4

Broadcom - BCM3421KML - Tuner - Single-Chip, Cable TV, DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 1.0/1.1/2.0

Broadcom - BCM5325EKQMG - Ethernet Switch - 5-Port, 10/100 Base-T/TX, w/ On-Chip Packet Buffer

Macronix - MX29LV640DBTC-90G - Flash - NOR, 64Mb, 3V, 90ns

Samsung - K4H561638J-LCCC - SDRAM - DDR, 256Mb (32M x 8), 200MHz, 2.5V

Zarlink Semiconductor - LE9520DDTC - Ringing SLIC - Dual, Differential or Single-Ended Ringing and Codec Interface, 15 to 70 Hz Ring Frequency Input


Total BOM Cost $58.68

Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway Cost AnalysisCisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway Cost Analysis


What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was likely assembled in China. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced in China.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as Ethernet Jacks), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Disassembly View 1Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Disassembly View 1

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The Cisco DPQ2425 has an overall component count of 782 (excluding box contents), of which 695 resides on the Main PCB.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for China.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

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Cisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Box ContentsCisco DPQ2425 Wireless Cable Modem Gateway - Box Contents



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