Backed by its own silicon and design, Terayon Communication Systems Inc. will roll out its next-generation cable modem termination systems based in Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 1.1 and the developing DOCSIS 2.0 standard.
The Terayon BW 3000 series CMTS units will combine DOCSIS 1.1's quality-of-service and capabilities with the upstream throughput boost from the proposed DOCSIS 2.0's advanced physical layer technology. In turn, that will allow cable operators to expand their bandwidth capacity and better offer cable telephony, video conferencing and business services using their existing cable plant, according to Terayon.
The product line includes the $70,000 BW 3500, a full-chassis CMTS unit, and the $25,000 BW 3200, a compact, scaled-down CMTS. The BW 3500 has greater capacity for large, central headends, while the smaller 3200 could be used by small to medium cable systems, or as a network edge unit for a larger operator.
Units will be available in early 2002, with volume shipments planned for April.
Cable Television Laboratories Inc. just this summer announced that it would begin work on DOCSIS 2.0, an advanced physical layer specification that could triple upstream capacity. Terayon's CMTS units supports the A-TDMA and S-CDMA schemes, and can now offer advanced physical layer benefits, said director of product marketing Elisa Camahort.
"We really think that the primary driver behind DOCSIS 2.0 and our implementation of it is to enable more DOCSIS 1.1-based services to be delivered to more subscribers with more reliability and security over the same infrastructure," she said. "For the cable operators, there is a real bottom-line result, which is more dollars."
The units also can support older DOCSIS modems, so adding the technology doesn't require a refit.
"What's appealing to the operators is they don't have to do anything to their whole install legacy base of DOCSIS modems, and they can just start adding 2.0 modems to their network and get more throughput for the modems that are already there," Camahort said.
