Motorola Mobility will use next week's Cable Show to show off enhancements to its DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem termination system -- claiming to double total downstream capacity -- and host one of the first demos of the next-generation High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard in the U.S.
The vendor will showcase the Supervisory Routing Module (SRM) 10G, a new combined control, switch fabric and network interface card for the BSR 64000 CMTS that increases the platform's IP ingest capacity sixfold and provides a 20 Gigabit per second interface. The module is slated to be available to customers in the third quarter of 2012.
The SRM10G will let Motorola deliver the highest-density CMTS on the market, when combined with the TXPlus software upgrade to the TX32 decoupled downstream module that provides 64 downstream channels per card, the company claims. A fully loaded BSR 64000 will deliver 384 downstream and 288 upstream channels per CMTS (in a 17-rack-unit chassis), and 768 downstream and 576 upstream channels in a standard rack.
The SRM10G "will extend the runway of the BSR even further," said Floyd Wagoner, director of product marketing in Motorola Mobility's Network Infrastructure Solutions group.
In addition, the APEX3000 universal edge QAM platform, which provides up to 1,536 QAM channels per 4-RU chassis, now supports the CableLabs Downstream External PHY Interface (DEPI) spec for modular CTMS. That lets operators use the APEX3000 with other vendors' modular CMTSs, including from Cisco Systems, Wagoner said.
Another upgraded product on display will be the CherryPicker digital insertion platform, which will add a 10 Gbps interface. Motorola expects a fall 2012 release to the CAP-1000 standard configuration that includes 10-Gig support -- a tenfold increase in I/O capability.
The CherryPicker demo will also include a demonstration of EBIF interactive TV elements delivered to legacy set-top boxes. "Basically it's a very thin client on top of the application layer," Wagoner said.
Meanwhile, Motorola will stage a demo of HEVC video compression, also referred to as H.265, which is designed to shave bandwidth as much as 50% compared with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 at comparable quality. The vendor will have a side-by-side comparison of HEVC and MPEG4 AVC/H.264.
"It's a brand-new encoding platform," Wagoner said, noting that HEVC will appeal initially to wireless operators.
Also at the show, Motorola will tout its network DVR offering -- which not only provides virtually unlimited storage for consumers but also paves the way for "a true TV Everywhere experience," to deliver video to any device over any network, according to the vendor.
On the HFC front, Motorola will highlight the VSN200 1-GHz 2X2 Optical Node. Designed to let MSOs more easily boost hybrid fiber-coax network capacity, the module fits into the vendor's existing housings for legacy 750 MHz and 870 MHz nodes. In addition, the company plans to demo energy-efficient devices, including the Connected Home Gateway, introduced at the 2012 CES, and the DCX3600 Video Gateway.
