Arris, the world's largest vendor of in-home cable equipment, launched its first DOCSIS 3.1 modems. The company is selling the new gadgets to both MSOs and directly to consumers.
Built for cable operators, the Touchstone CM8200 will allow data rates of more than 5 Gbps downstream and 2 Gbps upstream, Arris said. The device includes switchable filters with full 204 MHz upstream and 1218 MHz downstream support.
Simultaneously, the company's new SURFboard SB8200 offers the same silicon and performance as the MSO model, but is targeted to retail customers. The device sports 32x8 QAM channel bonding capabilities on DOCSIS 3.0 cable networks.
According to research firm IHS, Arris is the world's largest supplier of cable network hardware both in operators' networks and in customers' homes. In the customer premises equipment (CPE) market segment, which includes modems, gateways and other in-home equipment, IHS said Arris commanded 36 percent of the global CPE market in the second quarter, ahead of other vendors including Technicolor and Netgear.
A number of other modem manufacturers are also ready to deploy DOCSIS 3.1-based models. As Multichannel News reported, Askey, Castlenet, Cisco Systems, Human, Netgear, Sagemcom, Technicolor and Ubee Interactive all presented DOCSIS 3.1 modems at CableLabs' recent interop. Rollout announcements for some of these products are expected that this week's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans.
Arris' deployment of DOCSIS 3.1-capable CPE comes after the company already integrated DOCSIS 3.1 wherewithal into its E6000 edge router.
The DOCSIS 3.1 standard is the latest version of the transmission technology used by most of the nation's top cable operators. It can support up to 10 Gbps download speeds and will allow the nation's cable operators to compete against fiber providers.
"Our new line of DOCSIS 3.1 devices extends our industry leadership, making Arris the obvious choice for future-proofing investments in cable networking and delivering on the full promise of gigabit," said Larry Robinson, president of CPE at Arris.
Meanwhile, on the video services side, Arris also announced that TDS Telecommunications is deploying its Moxi Whole Home Solution in 11 Southwestern markets.
Arris' whole-home solution combines a multi-room DVR, Wi-Fi, DOCIS 3.0 data rates and telephony service, along with the Moxi video interface. Arris has successfully deployed Moxi with other smaller cable operators, including WideOpenWest and Buckeye Systems. The solution competes with TiVo to serve smaller and medium-sized operators looking to deliver advanced video interface experiences to customers.
For more:
- read this Multichannel News story
- read this other Arris press release
Related articles:
From Comcast to Arris: Winners and losers in the cable industry's move to DOCSIS 3.1 and 1 Gbps speeds
Arris sees 18% drop in CPE revenue as U-verse and FiOS business craters
DOCSIS channel shipments up 48% in Q1, but revenue drops, says IHS Infonetics