While that means it will be mid-May before we hear whether any cable modems have become the first to obtain the Docsis 3.0 stamp, it's unclear whether that will have much of an effect on cable operator deployment plans for the platform, which supports IPv6 addressing and uses channel-bonding techniques to produce shared data speeds of greater than 100 Mbit/s.
Among U.S. operators, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) has been the most open and aggressive, indicating that it expects to wire as much as 20 percent of its infrastructure for Docsis 3.0 by the end of 2008. (See Comcast Closes In on 100 Mbit/s.) Several other MSOs have dropped hints about tests and trials happening later on this year. (See RCN's 'Analog Crush' , Mediacom Adds $30M to '08 Capex, and Charter Hints at Docsis 3.0 .)
CableLabs spokesman Mike Schwartz noted that, while there are no 3.0-based products in Wave 57, "there's a good deal of [Docsis 3.0] product" already submitted for Wave 58.
Among suppliers, Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT - message board) confirmed last month it had put its flagship CMTS, the BSR 64000, in for "Bronze" qualification testing in Wave 58. (See Motorola CMTS Going for the Bronze .) By policy, CableLabs does not disclose which vendors submit products for certification and qualification testing.
According to the CableLabs certification schedule, Wave 58 got underway in late February, and results should be known by mid-May.
Wave 56, concluded late last year, marked the first official tests for Docsis 3.0. CableLabs has already awarded 3.0 Bronze or Silver 3.0 qualification to CMTSs from Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS - message board), Casa Systems Inc. , and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO - message board). Modems from Arris, Motorola, and Scientific Atlanta -- all based on silicon from Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN - message board) -- did not pass the first time through. (See Cisco, Arris & Casa Make the CableLabs Grade and TI Enters Docsis 3.0 Wave.)
Vendors, not CableLabs, made the decision to skip Wave 57 from a Docsis 3.0 standpoint. As for TI's role, the company said it passed on 57 so it could have some extra time to "shake, rattle, and roll" its modem software.
"I cannot comment for CableLabs, but I can say that TI made a conscious (and difficult) decision to forego the Wave and invest the additional three weeks or so to continue to exercise the software," said Peter Percosan, the executive director of broadband strategy for TI's Digital Connected Home Business unit, in an email to Cable Digital News. "As for the silicon, we continue to see no issues, which is very comforting."
TI also saved some money by holding off. The CableLabs fee for Docsis modem certification testing is $75,000. The fee rises to $175,000 for Docsis CMTS qualification testing.
So far, TI is the only chipmaker to develop and introduce cable modem silicon based on the full Docsis 3.0 specs. Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM - message board), another key silicon provider in the sector, has yet to make any formal announcements about its Docsis 3.0 product plans, though it has had some success in the interim with modem platforms that combine multiple Docsis 2.0 downstream channels. (See Broadcom Bonds With Docsis.)
"We've been very focused on [Docsis 3.0] and committed to it," says Jay Kirchoff, senior director of product marketing for Broadcom's cable TV business line. "We're working very hard to build the right product at the right cost point necessary for operators to compete in a marketplace that demands 3.0."
Kirchoff did not say when Broadcom will introduce a Docsis 3.0 modem chipset, but people familiar with the situation say they expect Broadcom to have something deployment-ready by the fourth quarter of 2008.
Cable Digital News will have much more about Broadcom's Docsis 3.0 plans as well as a broader market update in an upcoming story.
Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News
As the deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 picks up steam, the dramatic increase in data transfer speeds of the new specification have garnered the headlines. However, it may end up being the little considered benefits of DOCSIS 3.0 that have the most important impact on a cable operator’s business for years to come.
Before DOCSIS 3.0, practically every new service offering decision had a large investment price tag attached to it (both time and money). The pleasant change for MSOs with DOCSIS 3.0 is the fact that the inherent flexibility and scalability of the specification, as well as the years of previous investment in physical plant, will allow operators to apply a much simpler set of business rules to new service offerings. Rather than consider yet another plant rebuild, which would certainly be frowned upon by Wall Street, MSOs now can focus only on whether or not the customer base will appreciate and pay for DOCSIS 3.0-based products and whether these new services represent the most effective deployment of their spectrum. This simplification of their business rules makes MSOs both large and small more agile in the marketplace, ready to quickly take advantage of new opportunities.
SPEEDS, FEEDS AND FLEXIBLE INFRASTRUCTURES
In today’s hyper-competitive broadband marketplace, competing for subscribers simply on the basis of DOCSIS 2.0 data rates has become a tenuous proposition for many cable operators. Now though, thanks to channel bonding and the other performance-enhancing features of DOCSIS 3.0, the MSOs are not only in the game against recently announced fiber-based product offerings, but the speed and overall performance of cable operators’ services can be head-and-shoulders above competitive offerings.
The core enabler of DOCSIS 3.0’s higher data rates is the concept of channel bonding. Unlike DOCSIS 2.0, which is an architecture based on single channels, the DOCSIS 3.0 specification is able to combine four or more DOCSIS 2.0 channels to create a single DOCSIS 3.0 channel with data rates that start in the range of 160 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 120 Mbps upstream. The specification defines a minimum DOCSIS 3.0 logical channel as four bonded DOCSIS 2.0 physical channels, but there is no upper limit in the spec to the number of channels that can be combined. In addition, the physical DOCSIS 2.0 channels that make up a bonded DOCSIS 3.0 channel need not be contiguous in the spectrum or have identical performance parameters, such as QAM modulation settings or latencies.
Presently, digitally connected homes can be served quite effectively by bonding four channels together, yielding an aggregate data rate of up to 160 Mbps. This is the “sweet spot” for this segment, but a greater number of channels could be bonded together to support other demands in the marketplace, such as the lucrative business services segment. For example, six to eight channels could be bonded together to satisfy demand for business service offerings in the range of 240 - 320 Mbps.
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| Figure 1: These two spectrum charts show a typical breakdown of a cable operator’s spectrum today (top) and what it will become in the future as DOCSIS 3.0 is deployed (bottom two charts). Gradually, as more video is transported as IP data, such as IPTV, the portion of an operator’s spectrum devoted to IP will expand. |
The important thing to remember is that for the cable operators, DOCSIS 3.0 allows them to apply simple business rules to decide whether and how they will offer new services and not new technology or a plant rebuild. Because the maximum number of channels which can be bonded together is not defined, DOCSIS 3.0 channels with data rates as high or higher than 1 Gbps can be created. Data rates this high may be important for Internet access products, but they will be equally valuable when considering future IP-based products, such as IP television (IPTV).
CHANGING THE RULES
Certainly for competitive reasons, operators can’t ignore the faster data rates of DOCSIS 3.0. In fact, the requirement to offer much higher Internet access speeds will be the primary driver for initial deployments of the technology. But if the MSOs’ expectations for DOCSIS 3.0 ended here, they would be missing perhaps the most valuable aspect of the underlying technology. Because of the flexibility, scalability and agility inherent in the new specification, DOCSIS 3.0 can change the business model that operators follow and the rules that govern it.
Previously, the business model for every new service offering invariably came with a cost associated with additional capital investment in the operator’s infrastructure. Among other factors, the model would have to take into account just how quickly the investment in new network equipment or upgrades could be recovered from the revenue generated by the new service. The longer the payback on the capital investment, the less desirable would be the new service offering.
DOCSIS 3.0 turns this model on its head by minimizing new capital investment almost entirely from new service offering decisions. Of course, investments will be needed in new cable modem termination systems (CMTS) at the headend and cable modems in the home, but the network itself is left largely untouched. Because DOCSIS 3.0 has grown organically out of DOCSIS 2.0, and because of its flexibility, scalability, and spectrum agility, MSOs can continue to reap all of the benefits from the years of investment they have already made. Instead of the old model, MSOs can now apply new business rules to their decisions, rules that focus more on current spectrum utilization and do not include new capital investments.
IPTV offers a case-in-point. Perhaps the most common questions posed to cable executives today are: “When will you offer IPTV and how extensive will the network rebuild be?” The short answer is that once consumer demand is sufficient, the major investment will be the reclamation of currently allocated spectrum.
Initially, cable IPTV will likely be limited to video programming directly developed by the MSO. In this case, little to no additional CMTS capacity will be required. MSOs will be able to utilize their existing edgeQAM solutions to deliver directly to standard DOCSIS 3.0 modems, no specification changes required.
Once the operator makes the decision to extend the video offering beyond in-house programming – think YouTube-like Internet sources – additional CMTS capacity will be required.
Thanks to the flexibility of DOCSIS 3.0, it is likely that the initial launch of an IPTV product could be delivered over the same DOCSIS 3.0 footprint deployed to support the Internet access product. Flexibility is key to this equation. As IPTV demand increases, it is possible to add capacity as little as one channel at a time. DOCSIS 3.0 gives operators the ability to roll out new services like IPTV without the massive investment of a network rebuild. In fact, it is possible that no new video headend equipment (such as QAM modulators and others) would be needed to offer IPTV.
Of course, protecting operators’ investments in their networks is important, but protecting their investment in consumer premise equipment (CPE) like set-top boxes (STB), cable modems (CM) and other devices is just as important.
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| Figure 2: Today’s set-top boxes handle MPEG video and IP data separately, distributing each to the appropriate end-point devices. VoIP telephone calls are treated as data and distributed over the home’s existing telephone wiring. |
Service continuity and investment protection are paramount and new services based on DOCSIS 3.0 help make this possible. Current DOCSIS 2.0-based services, Internet access and telephony services will not be affected during the transition to DOCSIS 3.0. Interoperability is guaranteed because DOCSIS 3.0 has grown out of DOCSIS 2.0.
In addition, current video services will continue to function as customers have come to expect. In the customer’s eyes, the addition of an IPTV product will be similar to the addition of HDTV. The only changes, and they will indeed be minor, may be adjustments to the operator’s video tiers resulting from reclaiming spectrum and new low-cost CPE devices. It is important to note that both legacy and new-generation STBs will work on the same network and in the same homes. No in-home changes are required.
COMING SOON TO HOMES NEAR YOU
The assumption in the marketplace is that there actually is consumer interest in the new features and services enabled by IPTV technology and that consumers place an enhanced value on such offerings. This being the case, it is fair to assume that a consumer will be willing to pay a fee for this service, much in the same way that they now pay extra for HDTV. The value proposition will likely include enhanced interactivity, near limitless choices of MSO-offered video programming, much of it niche-oriented, as well as video programming coming from sources that the MSO has no direct relationship with.
Because of the perceived value of IPTV among consumers, subscribers likely would be interested in a DOCSIS 3.0-enabled STB. The important point for operators is that no new investment in the network would be required to deploy a new generation of STBs – just the opposite. Such a scenario would protect the investment the operator has already made in the infrastructure, allowing that investment to generate revenue for a longer period of time. The only thing that goes to the bottom line faster than lowering a cost factor is to eliminate the cost factor entirely, and that’s precisely what DOCSIS 3.0 does for decisions on new service offerings.
The typical STB today accepts MPEG video and IP data, but it distributes them separately to distinct end-point devices in the home. MPEG video streams coming from headend video servers are transferred to television sets and other display devices in the home. IP data coming from the Internet is directed through the STB to PCs and other computing devices in the residence. Telephony is treated as data but it is also handled separately through the STB and distributed to telephones throughout the home in the old-fashioned way, via existing phone wiring.
The backward- and forward-facing nature of the DOCSIS 3.0 spec allows DOCSIS 3.0 technology to perform the functions of a transport gateway for both MPEG video and IP data. Unlike current STB technology, a DOCSIS 3.0 transport gateway could abstract the source of all incoming signals. This means that IP and MPEG transport video will be delivered to connected televisions in exactly the same fashion. To the consumer, it will be “just TV.”
An additional benefit of a transport gateway is that it is also possible to deliver the entire video offering (IP and MPEG transport) to any IP-enabled STB in the home. The transport gateway manages the conversion of both IP transport to MPEG and vice versa in one low-cost CPE. Of course, the new devices connected to the home network would need an IP interface. For those that do not have one, such as current television sets, a small and inexpensive IP interface module could either be embedded in the device or sit next to it.
With this sort of arrangement in homes, consumers can organically grow their video entertainment, computing, storage, voice and other capabilities as they wish. Without threatening the operator’s value proposition, subscribers also have the ability to access video and other data streams from sources that the cable operator does not yet have a direct business relationship with, but which are available on the Internet.
A DOCSIS 3.0 transport gateway, like the one shown in Figure 2, would suddenly give MSOs the ability to approach decisions involving new service offerings with simple business logic unencumbered by questions of network rebuild expenses. New IP-based services can be quickly launched with little or no new capital investment in the network. The questions concerning a new service come down to basic business rules, such as quantifying subscriber demand, revenue potential and operational costs.
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| Figure 3: A DOCSIS 3.0 transport gateway would be able to abstract the source of the incoming MPEG and IP signals and deliver both as IP data to connected devices. With this type of arrangement, consumers can organically grow their video entertainment, computing, storage, voice and other capabilities as they wish. |
MAKING IT REAL
This vision of a transport gateway can be rationalized with the state-of-the-art in the cable industry and consumer electronics today. What emerges is a new type of STB that encapsulates all of the aspects of the home network shown in Figure 2 within a single enclosure.
This STB performs the functions of a transport gateway by protecting the investments operators have made while offering consumers an easy way of implementing all of the entertainment, voice communications and computing functionality they want. For example, instead of attaching a new storage device to a home network when the home’s music library has grown beyond its current disk space, the homeowner simply connects an additional storage module to the STB/transport gateway. The networking occurs inside the box.
As with an external IP home network, devices like computers would have to be IP-ready to connect to this new STB/transport gateway. For TV sets that are not IP-compatible, and most are not at this time, the small, inexpensive video handling module could either be installed between the transport gateway and the TV or it might be incorporated into the transport gateway itself, eliminating the need for an external module. Another alternative would be to embed it directly into the TV.
In fact, the transport gateway could be configured in a variety of ways to support various bundles of services and to protect the cable operator’s investment in network equipment. For example, a transport gateway may include QAM receivers for legacy video sources while the operator’s network transitions to IPTV.
REVOLUTIONARY EVOLUTION
DOCSIS 3.0 represents a revolutionary evolution for cable operators. It is revolutionary insofar as DOCSIS 3.0’s channel bonding and its blazingly fast data rates are catapulting the industry ahead of competitive technologies. But, at the same time, the transition to DOCSIS 3.0 is evolutionary. Operators can make this transition while they protect the capital equipment investments they’ve already made in their networks, lengthening the payback time on those investments and thereby increasing their rate of return. The evolution to DOCSIS 3.0 does not come with a capital equipment price tag associated with it.
As a result, operators will find themselves in a revolutionary position: they will be able to apply basic business rules of supply and demand to their service expansion decisions.
The primary goals of Docsis 3.0 Strategies: From Product Development to Service Deployment will be to:
- Assess the cable industry's progress on Docsis 3.0 to date
- Explore the technical, operational, and competitive issues raised by the development of Docsis 3.0
- Lay out the course that the cable industry will follow over the rest of the year
- Estimate the cable industry's costs of deploying Docsis 3.0
- Offer constructive and practical advice to cable operators on the way forward
- How ready is the cable industry's HFC plant for Docsis 3.0?
- How are cable operators planning to upgrade their networks for Docsis 3.0 rollouts?
- How much will it cost the cable industry to upgrade its plant for Docsis 3.0?
- What Docsis 3.0 cable modems, CMTSs, E-MTAs, set-top boxes, and other devices are equipment vendors testing and developing?
- When do MSOs plan to start testing and deploying Docsis 3.0 equipment and services?
- Which Docsis 3.0-enabled products and services are MSOs looking to introduce first?
- What are the capital and operating expenses of upgrading to Docsis 3.0 and launching the new products and services?
- How will cable operators price and promote Docsis 3.0 features and services?
When Deployed with Certified DOCSIS 3.0 CMTS, Cable Operators Assured of End-to-End DOCSIS® 3.0 VoIP and High Speed Data Solution
5/9/2008 - Suwanee, GA: ARRIS Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS), today announced that its Touchstone® 702G Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapter (E-MTA) has received DOCSIS 3.0 Certification in CableLabs’ Certification Wave 58. The 702G supports up to four bonded channels in both the upstream and downstream directions, allowing operators to offer up to 120 Mbps upstream and 160 Mbps downstream high speed data services. The 702G also supports two lines of PacketCable compliant carrier grade VoIP.
"This certification wave is another tremendous milestone for ARRIS and the cable industry, and the culmination of several years of effort on the part of cable operators and suppliers," said Bruce McClelland, President, ARRIS Broadband Communications Systems. "Cable operators around the world are demanding new innovative products that combine the many benefits enabled by DOCSIS 3.0 with the power of the voice and data bundle. The Touchstone 702G E-MTA, especially when combined with the C4 CMTS provides a platform for advanced applications for both residential and commercial services.” “We are delighted to be among the first recipients of DOCSIS 3.0 certification,” said ARRIS Chief Strategy Officer Tom Cloonan. “This honor marks the beginning of a new era for DOCSIS Cable Data services. Through the use of DOCSIS 3.0 Channel Bonding, MSOs will continue deploying high-capacity Internet service at lower cost to each of their subscribers without being constrained by the capacity of a single DOCSIS channel. As a result, many new applications will be enable that can capitalize on160 Mbps channels or higher.”arrisi.com
HORSHAM, Pa. – 12 May 2008 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced that it has achieved DOCSIS® 3.0 certification for the Motorola SURFboard® SB6120 and SBV6220 cable modems and DOCSIS 3.0 bronze qualification for the Motorola BSR 64000 cable modem termination system (CMTS)/edge router. The suite of customer premises equipment (CPE) and headend solution products successfully completed feature testing as part of the CableLabs® Certification Wave 58, based on the DOCSIS 3.0 CableLabs Project specification.
DOCSIS 3.0-based technology, including downstream channel bonding and IPv6, has been integrated into Motorola’s SURFboard CPE and CMTS to help cable operators offer whole-home, high-bandwidth media services. The Motorola SURFboard SB6120 and SBV6220 modems support DOCSIS 3.0 data functionality and are backwards compatible with DOCSIS 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 standards, allowing operators to deploy them today even ahead of an infrastructure upgrade to enable new advanced services.
In response to the explosion of consumer video applications, cable operators are looking to optimize their networks by delivering DOCSIS 3.0 technologies at the headend and in subscribers’ homes. Motorola CMTS and cable modems are being used in successful end-to-end channel bonding deployments worldwide. Motorola enabled the world’s first commercial channel bonding deployment through Starhub in Singapore, supports the first full-field deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 services for J:COM in Japan and delivers 100 Mbps high-speed data service to subscribers for Korea’s largest cable operators.
“Motorola has been a leader in DOCSIS technology from day one, working to provide innovative solutions that interoperate with equipment throughout our customers’ networks,” said Alan Lefkof, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola Broadband Solutions Group. “In addition to our cable modem certification and CMTS qualification, we offer customers the full knowledge of field experience in DOCSIS 3.0 implementations, complimented with our expertise in carrier-grade network and device management. We are committed to integrating bandwidth-expanding technologies into all of our SURFboard cable and digital voice modems, gateways and CMTS platform as well as to developing technologies and revolutionary architectures beyond DOCSIS 3.0.”
“The DOCSIS 3.0 specification establishes ways for cable companies to tie multiple 6 MHz transmission channels together to deliver data at speeds in excess of 160 Mbps to consumers,” said CableLabs President and CEO, Dr. Richard R. Green. “DOCSIS 3.0 also incorporates support for the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), allowing cable operators to expand their service offerings beyond current limits. We would like to thank Motorola for the support shown for our DOCSIS initiative."
Motorola’s SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 CPE portfolio enables operators to:
- Protect their installed base of high-speed data customers
- Deliver new high-value / high-bandwidth, multimedia services
- Deliver competitive, high-capacity commercial services to their business customers
Designed for service assurance, the Motorola SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 CPE are compatible with Motorola’s NBBS Device Management Platform and Motorola’s eCare for remote access customer component troubleshooting and configuration, eliminating unnecessary truck rolls.
Motorola’s commitment to invest in the BSR 64000 CMTS/edge router and to provide innovative solutions to cable operators in the battle over bandwidth is demonstrated by this recent accomplishment. The TX32 DOCSIS 3.0 Decoupled Downstream Module enables operators to:
- Quintuple downstream capacity of a BSR 64000 while maintaining full redundancy
- Reduce cost per downstream channel by up to 60%
- Simultaneously support of DOCSIS compliant 1.x, 2.0 and new DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems and feature sets
Motorola will be showcasing the DOCSIS 3.0 certified and qualified products at The Cable Show, May 18-20, 2008 at the New Orleans Convention Center, South Hall, Booth #1405.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 15, 2008 - Cisco today announced plans to showcase the continued momentum and execution of the Cisco® Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture at The Cable Show 2008. With the Cisco end-to-end network and progressive technologies, service providers can evolve into true experience providers, harnessing the power of the network to deliver next-generation video and data-based services and fulfill the consumer demand for more services on more screens.
The ability to deliver these personalized experiences anywhere, anytime, and to virtually any device creates a host of new Connected Life opportunities for accelerated service provider growth and enhanced customer satisfaction. At the show, Cisco will illustrate the ways in which the company enables service providers to protect and expand their business offerings while creating service growth opportunities. Highlights include:
- Solutions for the Connected Life
- Next-generation tru2wayTM set-tops, featuring DVRs with 320-GB hard drive option
- New switched tuning adapter, Model STA1520
- New modems: DPQ2160 data modem, DPC2202 voice and data modem, and the DPC3202 DOCSIS 3.0 voice and data modem
- tru2way applications
- New navigation options
- New IP-enabled services featuring the DRG2800 IP Services Gateway including:
- Ubiquitous content/personal content sharing within the Connected Home
- Unified communications
- Security, monitoring and automation
- IP video, data, voice and wireless solutions, including DOCSIS® 3.0 CMTS and voice/data modems
- Business services including Ethernet over DOCSIS and voice services for small and medium-sized businesses
- Solutions to extend and scale the network:
- Switched digital video
- Advanced compression/transcoding
- DOCSIS 3.0 downstream and upstream channel bonded solutions
- DOCSIS passive optical network for fiber-to-the-home greenfield deployments
- Content delivery system (CDS)
- Next-generation video-on-demand (VoD)
- Cross-platform video delivery
- Audience measurement
- Hyper-syndicated video
- Advanced Advertising via:
- Switched digital video
- VoD through Cisco Content Delivery System (CDS)
- Interactive advertising applications
Additional Programs
Cisco executives and industry experts will be among the featured speakers at the show. For a detailed list of speakers and topics, please click here.
Cisco launched today its Cable Show Podcast Series featuring video and audio podcasts, promoting thought leadership on industry hot topics including: Switched Digital Video, Advanced Advertising, Visual Networking, DOCSIS 3.0 and Video 2.0: Getting to 3 screens.
**To arrange an interview or booth visit with Cisco executives at The Cable Show 2008, please contact Sara Stutzenstein at stutzes@cisco.com.
The Cable ShowErnest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, La.
May 18-20, 2008
Booth 2811
cisco.com
