Chief technology officers from Comcast and Liberty Global were among those cheering the closure of Intel’s acquisition of Lantiq, a maker of broadband access and home networking silicon.

Intel, which makes chipsets for cable set-tops and gateways as well as DOCSIS modems, announced the deal in February, noting that it will help it broaden its play into the “Internet of Things” and provide a boost to “smart routers” for the connected home.

“This acquisition enables us to extend our success in cable home gateways into DSL and fiber markets giving us full coverage of broadband access methods around the world,” Intel’s Gregory Bryant explained in this blog post. “The teams are already developing innovative ways to use our combined IP to create new products to benefit our customers, which we’ll share more about in the coming months.”

Dan Artusi, Lantiq’s CEO, now reports to Bryant -- the corporate vice president in Intel's Client Computing Group, and GM of desktop client platforms -- and lead Intel’s new Connected Home Division.

MSOs that work closely with Intel weighed in on the deal.

“We’re pleased to see Intel growing their gateway business with the purchase of Lantiq," Tony Werner, Comcast’s EVP and CTO, said in a statement. “As Comcast continues to scale our networks to gigabit speeds, we look forward to having the benefit of a common architecture across multiple access technologies that shortens development time so we can quickly deliver ultra-fast broadband experiences to our customers.” 

“We’re glad to see Intel expanding their portfolio of technologies with the Lantiq acquisition,” added Balan Nair, EVP and CTO of Liberty Global. “The combined group will be a leading supplier for broadband technologies with a comprehensive range of solutions to help us deliver ever faster connectivity to our customers.”

Arris, which makes devices that rely on Intel silicon, said the combo will bring benefits to its connected home platforms, Charles Cheever, Arris’s consumer premises equipment CTO, said.

When the deal was announced, Intel said more than 100 operators worldwide had deployed products powered by Lantiq, which has been focusing on DSL technology, including G.fast,  an emerging standard designed to bring 1-Gig capabilities to DSL. 

Already strong in the cable modem and gateway market, Intel will look to expand more deeply into the world of DSL, FTTP, WiFi, LTE and the broader “Internet of Things” by snapping up Lantiq, a maker of broadband access and home networking silicon.

Intel did not disclose the financial term of the deal, but expects to close it within 90 days. Intel said the deal will deepen its ability to power a new class of “smart routers.”

Intel said more than 100 operators around the world have deployed Germany-based Lantiq’s DSL technologies, noting that the company has also been developing products for GPON and G.fast, an emerging standard designed to bring 1-Gig capabilities to DSL. Of recent note, Lantiq has been identified as one of several vendors that have awarded design wins to Sckipio, a startup that specializes in G.fast silicon. Last year, Dan Moloney, the former president of Motorola Mobility, joined board of Lantiq, a former unit of Infineon that was acquired in 2009 by Golden Gate Capital.

Intel, which got into the DOCSIS and cable gateway game in 2010 through the acquisition of Texas Instruments’ cable modem business, believes the purchase of Lantiq will position it to support a broader variety of access technologies.

"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, in a statement. "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."

"Intel and Lantiq share a common vision about the evolution of the connected home and the intelligent network," added Lantiq CEO Dan Artusi. "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."