SMC Networks emerged from CableLabs certification wave 99 with approval for the Veloxite D3G1604W, a DOCSIS 3.0 wireless gateway capable of bonding 16 downstream channels and four upstream channels.
The device is powered by MaxLinear’s MxL265 Full-Spectrum Capture receiver, making it capable of acquiring channels for bonding across the cable spectrum, up to 1 GHz. SMC confirmed that the model is uses the Intel Puma 6 D3 chipset. Intel also makes a “media gateway” version that bonds up to 24 downstream channels and eight upstream channels. Broadcom is cooking up a chip that bonds up to 32 downstream channels.
When fully-loaded, the 16x4 configuration in the newly-certified SMC D3 gateway to achieve max downstream speeds of 680 Mbps using 6MHz-wide channels, and up to 800 Mbps in EuroDOCSIS systems that use 8MHz-wide channels. The baseline specs show built in 802.11n Wi-Fi, but SMC notes that it has an option for 802.11ac, a new Wi-Fi standard that will support max speeds of 1 Gbps on the home wireless network.
Among known customers, Comcast has historically used SMC to support small business customers.
