Arris has announced a broad-reaching deal with Australia’s NBN Co. to provide Full Duplex-capable, DOCSIS 3.1-powered broadband services to 3 million of the cable operator’s subscribers by 2020.
Under the agreement, Arris will supply its E6000 Gen 2 CCAP platform and its OM4100 OptiMax 4x4 segmentable nodes, as well last its CM8200B DOCSIS 3.1 modems.
Related: Arris to Be ‘More Selective’ With Its Set-Top Box Business
Arris will also provide its ServAssure NXT network management platform, as well as the resources of its global software and devices services team.
“They’re able to add bandwidth and pay 65% - 75% of what they paid before,” noted Dan Whalen, president of Arris’ Network & Cloud division, in an interview with Multichannel News. “They’re able to do more using less power and less space.”
Whalen noted the preponderance of fiber competition in the Australian region. The ability for NBN to provide the gigabit symmetrical services enabled by Full Duplex DOCSIS will be a significant competitive boost for the operator, Whalen said.
He compared the Down Under market to Latin America and the Caribbean, noting a shortage of technologists in the region familiar with next-generation HFC network. NBC, Whalen said.
“There’s a lot of fiber-to-the-curb and fiber-to-the-home, but but not a lot of people to support DOCSIS," he said.
This has benefited Arris’ growing Global Services unit, Whalen added, which is being called upon by NBN to help manage the network.
“They’re looking for someone to step in and manage the end-to-end operation of their network,” he explained.
Related: Arris Hit Hard By Shortages of Capacitors, DRAM
At least on the CPE side, Arris has been troubled of late, as all companies working in the electronics business, by shortages of components, including memory chips and capacitors.
SNL Kagan analyst Jeff Heynen said he believes the impact of these component shortages should be short-lived. “Though it will have an impact on how quickly DOCSIS 3.1 devices can be deployed,” he added in a direct tweet to Multichannel.
For his part, Whalen downplayed the effect of the shortages in Arris’ Australian DOCSIS 3.1 deployment.
“I feel pretty comfortable that we have workarounds,” he said.
