Casa Systems has notched another win in the percolating Chinese cable market, securing a deal to supply cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) to Beijing Gehua CATV Network, a tier 1 that has 4.98 million “registered” users and 3.8 million digital TV subs.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Casa Systems confirmed that the MSO is purchasing the vendor’s DOCSIS 3.0-qualified C3200 CMTS, a three rack-unit high platform that’s capable of bonding 16 downstream and 16 upstream channels. The operator said it picked Casa following a vendor bakeoff as it looks to scale its network to support both IPTV and residential broadband services.
Casa was recently selected by Guangzhou Digital Media Group to supply its flagship product, the C10G, a chassis that’s designed to support densities envisioned by the Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP), an architecture that will combine the CMTS and edge QAM functions.
China is expected to be a hot zone for new cable technology deployments as the nation moves ahead on a next-generation broadband initiative aimed at helping the MSOs equip themselves to compete against the region’s powerful telcos.
While traditional DOCSIS gear will play a role, equipment that supports a flavor of the specs called C-DOCSIS is likewise expected to make its mark in China and in other emerging cable markets. C-DOCSIS uses a stripped-down, non-routing network device called the Coax Media Converter (CMC) in tandem with traditional DOCSIS 2.0- and DOCSIS 3.0-certified modems.
As part of a plan to expand its international presence, CableLabs recently completed the integration of C-DOCSIS with the primary DOCSIS specifications.
