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If you work in the cable industry, then you know it’s a world that speaks in acronyms. During the 2013 Cable Show held in Washington,DC, acronyms were definitely in use a lot.
First of all, everyone was (and still is) talking about CCAP (Converged Cable Access Platform). Why is CCAP such a popular topic? (Get ready for more acronyms.) Today, North American cable operators typically have switched digital video QAMs, video on-demand QAM, DOCSIS® QAMs, and broadcast QAMs coupled with DTI servers and combiners on racks. With this comes pressure on real estate space, rack space, power and heat. CCAP is meant to provide 50 percent savings on power and rack space with almost six times more cable modem termination system (CMTS) density. Furthermore, the ability to roll out an IP-based solution will further add demands to the current infrastructure in the already crowded head end.
Prior to the Cable Show, my colleague, Sunil Frida, director, Advanced Broadband Solutions, authored a blog postdiscussing how themigration to CCAP might not be as difficult as some might think. Sunil took a couple minutes in Washington, DC to answer some questions about CCAP and CommScope’s upcoming solution.
One step in the CCAP migration path is operating EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) out of the chassis. An EPON solution built into the CCAP chassis allows operators to move toward all-IP distribution network, or to satisfy the business services component. As you heard from Sunil’s interview, our upcoming CCAP solution includes PON; however, a stand alone PON solution like CommScope’s is a completely scalable end-to-end solution that provides operators with the bandwidth and additional service options they need for their subscribers’ business and residential services.
Tom Anderson, director of product management, Advanced Broadband Solutions, discussed our PON technology, and the news that CableLabs® announced the qualification of the first DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON (DPoE™) network devices. CommScope’s EPON solution achieved qualification status.
CableLabs and DOCSIS are registered trademarks and DPoE is a trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
