A year after Cisco Systems used INTX in Chicago to trot out its next-gen cable access platform, the vendor announced ahead of this year’s confab in Boston that the cBR-8 is approaching 100 customers worldwide, with 30 already in deployment.
Cisco said cBR-8, a high-density Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) product Cisco is now also referring to as its “Giga box,” is also employing DOCSIS 3.1, the industry’s new multi-gigabit CableLabs spec for hybrid fiber/coax networks.
The device, Cisco added, is deployed with operators in countries and regions that include the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, and is now being used to deliver services to more than 7 million pay TV subs. Recent wins include Midco, which has kicked off 1-Gig trials in Fargo, N.D., with plans to expand trials to Sioux Falls later this year. Quickline AG, meanwhile, has completed a migraiotn to the cBR-8 and is using it to help 21 cable operators deliver multi-Gigabit services for 400,000 customers in Switzerland.
Per a blog from Todd McCrum, senior director, strategy and product management at Cisco’s Cable Access Business Unit, the cBR-8 hardware shipping today also supports “Evolved CCAP” functionality, which includes DOCSIS 3.0, voice and MPEG video, plus DOCSIS 3.1 downstream and upstream and remote PHY.
Cisco is battling for dominance with other suppliers in the cable access market. Among individual companies, Arris held 53% of total revenues in the category at the end of 2015, followed by Cisco (26%) and Casa Systems (15%), according to SNL Kagan. In March, Jeff Heynen, senior research analyst for SNL Kagan, said Cisco has been picking up momentum in recent quarters as the cBR-8 gets into the field.
