It may happen that very soon the biggest cable TV networks will be offering the Internet with the data rates higher than 100 Mbit/s. The reason is the new DOCSIS 3.0 standard which is being tested also in Poland. The PasjaGSM.pl claims that ultra-fast Internet links will have been offered by the cable TV operators by the end of this year.
Marcin Ułasik from VECTOR describes the DOCSIS 3.0 standard for all readers of PasjaGSM.pl.
What is the DOCSIS 3.0 standard? It is the next version of the fast data transmission standard for cable TV networks (Data Over Cable System Interface Specification). In comparison with the old versions the DOCSIS 3.0 allows:
- flexible configuration of the system including the network traffic reconfiguration and customer demands,
- usage of the up-to-date integrated circuits available on the market in order to reduce system costs,
- substantial increase of maximum data rate which can be offered for subscribers.
The general idea of the standard is “more services for less money” – the subscribers can be offered a broader bandwidth for lower subscription fee. The deployment moment is ideal – increasing demand for bandwidth, more content available in the Internet, higher resolutions of shared files.
The standard is half-baked – the providers announce that next year the proper technologies for 160 Mbit/s download and 120 Mbit/s upload will appear. In practice, the download and upload subscriber speed can be higher, and the cable modem providers announce software updates to the new standard of currently offered modems.
source: VECTOR
More and more cable TV operators decide to deploy the DOCSIS 3.0 I-CMTS data transmission system. The advantages of this solution have been noticed and appreciated by another Polish company – Sileman from Ruda Śląska – which, in cooperation with VECTOR, has deployed the system in own projects.
The DOCSIS 3.0 I-CMTS data transmission system allows you to offer Internet access services with data rates higher than 100 Mb/s and to use the IP protocol for video transmission (IPTV services). The new DOCSIS 3.0 standard helps the operator to reduce operational expenditures: the power consumption is reduced while the density, scalability and efficiency of the solution are increased.
Sileman together with ELSAT and SFERA TV is a part of the Silesian Multimedia Group. Sileman is an Internet and telephony provider in four towns: Ruda Śląska, Bytom, Mikołów and Radzionków. The company offers the services based on the backbone fiber network which is 80 km long and on the dedicated microwave links. The subscribers may access the services via Ethernet or the ELSAT cable TV network.
A very important element of the DOCSIS 3.0 standard is a CMTS controlling the subscriber cable modem operation. Sileman has two CMTS devices installed by VECTOR. The devices are ARRIS C4 cable modem controllers for advanced IP services. ARRIS C4 allows the operator offering the advanced services of telephony, data and video transmission through the convergent IP network for individual and business customers.
The possibilities offered by the new system are recognized by more and more companies offering telephony, TV and Internet services. The new deployments of the solution entitle us to say that the DOCSIS 3.0 system is a success in the Polish market.
source: VECTOR
In February 2009 VECTOR together with the telecom operator PETRUS for the first time deployed the fast data transmission system based on DOCSIS 3.0 I-CMTS.
The deployment included the creation of the migration plan as well as the system and network configuration for DOCSIS 3.0. In the next phase the old system was replaced by the new one.
The PETRUS company is active in a few towns in the central and northern Poland (Chojnice, Toruń, Człuchów, Miastko, Bytów, Czersk and Tuchola) where it offers services for several dozen thousand of subscribers. PETRUS belongs to the very exclusive club of companies which offer the Quadruple Play service (“four in one” – analog TV + digital TV + Internet + telephone).
“Among many advantages of introducing the DOCSIS 3.0 system in our company the most important one is the reduction of the transmission cost per one subscriber and the flexible configuration of downstream and upstream purchase. The introduced DOCSIS 3.0 standard allows us offering very fast data transmission services – up to 200 Mb/s for one subscriber”, said Mr. Marcin Granowski, the PETRUS Project Coordinator.
The key element of the DOCSIS 3.0 standard is CMTS, which controls subscriber cable modems. PETRUS has ARRIS C4 controllers installed by VECTOR. ARRIS C4 allows the operator offering advanced services of telephony, data and video transmission via convergent IP network for business and individual customers. VECTOR will deploy the DOCSIS 3.0 for other telecom operators in the near future.
source: VECTOR
VECTOR has been designing and deploying DOCSIS systems for many years. We offer turn-key solutions including hardware, software and service support, starting with designing the solution, through the system implementation and integration with the operator’s network and systems, and ending with system maintenance and support during its operation.
The DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS standard has evolved, offering in each new version the support of more and more advanced services:
- DOCSIS 1.0 – “best effort” Internet access services
- DOCSIS 1.1 – parameter guaranteed services, VoIP telephony
- DOCSIS 2.0 – symmetric transmission services (video conferences, P2P data exchange, private web pages)
The new standard version is DOCSIS 3.0, which offers very fast data transmission (up to 200 Mb/s) or Video over IP services with the Channel Bonding technology.
The deployment of a fast data transmission system can help a cable network operator to achieve many advantages:
- additional revenues thanks to the new interactive services offered to subscribers,
- service offer extension with new services responding to subscribers’ needs,
- TV network transformation into a broadband telecommunication network capable of sound, video and data transmission,
- the increase of the network operator competitiveness.
In order to deploy the DOCSIS 3.0 system, one needs not only proper headend equipment (ARRIS C4 CMTS), but also subsriber’s equipment (cable modems and multimedia terminals). VECTOR wants to offer all elements of the system, so it introduces new subscriber terminals compatible with the DOCSIS 3.0 system:
ARRIS Touchstone ® WBM750A/B Cable Modem 
- DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 3.0 RFI Network Interface
- Downstream band: 108 – 1002 MHz
- Single Wideband DS Tuner (100 MHz Capture Bandwidth)
- Upstream band: 5-42 MHz (A) or 5-65 MHz (B)
- Channel Bonding (4 DS x 4 US)
- Dual module (automatic D3.0 or ED3.0)
- 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet Interface + USB 2.0vInternal AC/DC power supply
- LED diagnostics (power supply, DS, US, Online, Link)
- CE/CB standard compliant
ARRIS Touchstone® TM702A/B Multimedia Terminal 
- DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 3.0 RFI Network Interface
- Downstream band: 108-1002 MHz
- Single Wideband DS Tuner (100 MHz Capture BW)
- Upstream band: 5-42 MHz (A) or 5-65 MHz (B)
- Channel Bondidng (4 DS x 4 US)
- 2 POTs Lines
- 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet Interface _ USB 2.0
- Dual module (automatic D3.0 or ED3.0)
- LED diagnostics (power supply, DS, US, Online, Link, Telephone 1&2)
- CE/CB standard compatible
All additional information can be obtained from your VECTOR representatives.
source: VECTOR
As much as the DSL folks would like to disbelieve, DOCSIS 3.0 is here today, works quite well, and will be ubiquitous in just a few years. Below are a few quotes indicating progress and expected penetration for DOCSIS 3.0.
From Broadcom’s 2Q09 earnings call (he means DOCSIS 3.0 when he refers to DOCSIS),
Scott McGregor, Broadcom’s CEO, said “Absolutely, I do believe we were seeing continued move over to DOCSIS. That’s more next year phenomena, but HD continues to be a phenomenon. People will buy a new TV set and they really want to get the better picture quality.”
Pike and Fisher have released a report covering DOCSIS 3.0, and they predict universal coverage in a few years. From their report summary…
We conclude that the top cable operators will have DOCSIS 3.0 covering 100% of homes passed by the end of 2013, and that MSOs can significantly shorten the time to achieve a return on their DOCSIS 3.0 investments by aggressively targeting business customers.
Comcast is going full speed ahead with DOCSIS 3.0. From DSLReports…
“We have raised our goal to roll out DOCSIS 3.0 to nearly 80% of our national footprint before the end of this year,” Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas tells us. “That would mean passing about 40 million homes and businesses with the new wideband offerings Extreme 50 and Ultra 22, in addition to doubling speeds for existing Premier customers for no additional cost,” he notes.
Source: fttxtra
DOCSIS 3.0 (sometimes DOCSIS 3) is a standard developed by CableLabs to upgrade Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks to deliver high bandwidth broadband Internet service. It is used by MSOs (cable TV companies) to compete against Telcos using FTTH and FTTN/FTTC with VDSL2. DOCSIS 3 is estimated to cost approximately $70 per subscriber in addition to the cost of a new DOCSIS 3 compliant cable modem required on the subscriber premises, which is inline with the cost of installing DSL in an existing OutSide Plant (OSP) cabinet. What DOCSIS avoids is drastic upgrades to an HFC network, and this is its fundamental appeal. Cable companies can deliver very high Internet access bandwidth for very little additional investment with the various DOCSIS standards, especially DOCSIS 3.
The most important thing about DOCSIS 3.0 is bonding cable TV channels for more bandwidth. Previous versions of DOCSIS only used a single channel and were limited in their throughput. With 4 channels, rates of about 160/120Mbps are possible. With 8 channels, rates of 320/120Mbps are possible. Of course, the cable companies with have to give up these analog video channels to devote them to DOCSIS 3.0, but this can be done incrementally, and it does not have to be done throughout the network all at once.
The equipment required to deliver DOCSIS 3.0 services is the Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) and the DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems on each subscriber premises. Both must be upgraded to support DOCSIS 3.0 over an existing HFC network, shown below before an upgrade. Note that the HFC network is unchanged with the upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0. The only change is in equipment that is installed in the headend and on the subscriber premises.
Source: fttxtra
I hope broadband competition in the New York City area is the wave of the future. The region, which is densely populated, has three Internet service providers vying for customers. And since Time Warner Cable announced yesterday that it will deploy DOCSIS 3.0 to the city, the area also will soon have competing super-fast broadband offerings from all three providers. Verizon touts its FiOS service there, and Cablevision already offers DOCSIS 3.0 and just launched speeds of 101 Mbps to Long Island residents.
A lot has been written about the merits of Verizon’s fiber to the home vs. AT&T’s fiber to the node and U-verse services, but we haven’t spent a lot of time on DOCSIS 3.0 deployments. Sure, it will provide ultrafast broadband, such as the 101 Mbps services that Cablevision is offering or the 50 Mbps that Comcast boasts. But for providers, the upgrade makes a tremendous amount of sense for business reasons beyond happy customers — so much so, that 45 percent of the country will have access to D3 rollouts by the end of this year, according to data from research firm Pike & Fisher.
For a relatively small investment, cable providers get upgraded to a faster service that has benefits such as IPv6 addressing capabilities. They also can offer fiber-like speeds to business customers without spending more money to deploy fiber. Cable providers have seen growth in residential services stay relatively flat, so they’re looking to business access and interactive advertising to grow. D3 doesn’t really affect advertising, but it is an attractive offer to dangle in front of corporate users.
Source: gigaom
Comcast can now put another point in its DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade wins column. The MSO announced this week that it completed its DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade in its greater Chicago area market, including Northwest Indiana. In July, Comcast reported it had upgraded about 50 percent of its nationwide HFC network to DOCSIS 3.0, and it remains confident it will pass 80 percent of its total homes and businesses with DOCSIS 3.0 by the end of 2009. This projection is up from the initial 65 percent target Comcast set in February.
And it appears that Comcast is well on the path of achieving its 80 percent penetration goal. The MSO’s DOCSIS 3.0-based service is currently available in 11 U.S. cities, including: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, parts of Connecticut, Fort Wayne, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, the Twin Cities and Seattle. Subscribers can choose from two DOCSIS 3.0 service sets.
Cable’s DOCSIS 3.0 race is certainly on. Comcast’s fellow cable brothers Cox Communications, Canadian operator Rogers and the U.K.’s Virgin Media have been making DOCSIS 3.0 waves lately. Similar to Comcast, Cox has also taken a tactical approach to its DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts by launching its wideband service in not only Verizon’s FiOS territories (Fairfax County, Virginia and Rhode Island), but more recently Qwest’s FTTN territories in Phoenix. Meanwhile, Rogers launched its wideband service in parts of Toronto last week.
Of course, DOCSIS 3.0 is not just a large MSO’s game. With its conversion to all-digital video complete in its major metro markets, competitive cable operator RCN said it will begin rolling out DOCSIS 3.0-based services initially in its New York and Boston markets this fall.
source: fiercetelecom
The DOCSIS architecture consists of two primary components.
1) A cable modem located with the customer and,
2) the cable modem termination system operated by cable service providers. The second function is to perform as a Hi Speed way station for multiple cable modems and then communicate with the system network. DOCSIS defines protocol for bi-directional signal exchange between these two components through the use of cable.
source: tech-faq
Introduction
Cable modems and technology based on Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS®) and EuroDOCSIS allow very high speed data communications over a cable network. You could say that DOCSIS and EuroDOCSIS technology is to cable what DSL is (tries to be) to a traditional telephony network.
Worldwide cable operators have transitioned from a traditional core business of TV entertainment programming to a position as full-service providers of video, voice, and data telecommunications services. EuroDOCSIS is among the fundamental technologies making this transition possible.
EuroDOCSIS defines interface specifications for cable modems, cable modem termination systems and embedded cable modems within a TV set-top box (DVB-C). It is based on the CableLabs DOCSIS® specifications.
There is no difference between EuroDOCSIS and DOCSIS other than the physical specification of a European cable network compared to a US cable network. One frequency channel on a European cable network has a spectrum of 8Mhz, while a US cable network uses 6 Mhz per channel.
EuroDOCSIS 3.0: A lot more speed
The latest version of EuroDOCSIS -version 3.0- is a breakthrough technology for European cable operators and consumers. It already allows data speeds of 160 Mbps downstream and 120 Mbps.
Most remarkable about EuroDOCSIS 3.0 is that it bundles minimum 4 frequency channels of the cable network together whereas previous versions of EuroDOCSIS used only one frequency channel. This makes EuroDOCSIS 3.0 at least 4 times faster than the previous EuroDOCSIS version. As EuroDOCSIS 3.0 has no limit in how many channels it can bundle, the speed for data communications via cable will progressively increase to a multitude of 160Mbps/120Mbps.
EuroDOCSIS 3.0 also responds to the increased demand for IP addresses by integrating the new Internet Protocol version 6 (IP vs6). The demand for more IP addresses is generated by an array of new Internet enabled devices (laptops, PVRs, mobile phones, etc.).
World standards for cable
Cable Europe Labs joined forces with CableLabs to develop the new DOCSIS 3.0 / EuroDOCSIS 3.0 specifications. This has allowed to integrated the specific needs of the European cable operators in this technology from its inception.
The development of DOCSIS 3.0 / EuroDOCSIS 3.0 is an important step forward in the development of world standards for cable technology. For the first time, the DOCSIS and EuroDOCSIS specifications were published in the same document and released at the same time.
Thanks to greater consistency across cable technologies developed for Europe, North America and other regions in the world, consumers will enjoy rapid deployment of innovative broadband technologies, as well as lower prices.
For vendors, standardised cable technologies reduce development risk and allow to invest more research and development in new high-level and cost-efficient cable products.
Previous versions of EuroDOCSIS
The four successive versions of the EuroDOCSIS cable modem, EuroDOCSIS 1.0, EuroDOCSIS 1.1, EuroDOCSIS 2.0, and now EuroDOCSIS 3.0, provide increasing levels of capabilities and functionality, while maintaining multi-vendor interoperability and full cross-version compatibility of EuroDOCSIS.
EuroDOCSIS 1.0
Basic specification derived from DOCSIS 1.0 offering best-effort data communication.
First certification wave mid 2000.
EuroDOCSIS 1.1
Adds service flows that enables quality of service and adds enhanced security based on certificates. First certification wave end 2001.
EuroDOCSIS 2.0
Offers enhanced upstream throughput using advanced (A-TDMA and S-CDMA) modulation techniques. First certification wave end 2003.
EuroDOCSIS 3.0
Introduces channel bonding in the up- and downstream, enhanced security, IPv6.
The first set of specifications is already available.
source: cableeurope