CableLabs has released a new series of specifications covering distributed architectures for the Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP).
CCAP combines the functions of cable modem termination systems with edge QAM. It's becoming an increasingly relevant technology, as the cable industry migrates its networks to exclusively IP-based technologies.
In June, CableLabs publicly issued the Remote PHY family of specifications, which describe more distributed architectures than the previously centralized CCAP platform.
In a just-published blog post, CableLabs principal architect Karthik Sundaresan wrote that distributed CCAP architectures including Remote PHY "provide significant scale advantages and flexible deployment options for both DOCSIS 3.0 and DOCSIS 3.1 networks," providing greater interoperability among vendors.
Sundaresan said that the distributed approach is compatible with software-defined networking (SDN) and networks functions virtualization (NFV) approaches, and will operate with a number of wireless architectures.
Distributed DOCSIS systems are already deployed in markets like China, he added. The specifications will be used in products made by DOCSIS and CCAP vendors including Arris, Cisco, Casa, Huawei and Harmonic.
"As operators look to optimize their network deployments in each of their cable plants in each of their markets, it will be very interesting to see how and where these distributed CCAP technologies will be deployed in each operator's HFC networks," Sundaresan wrote. "It is indeed an exciting time to be working on the access network technologies and being part of the evolution it is going through."
For more:
- read this CableLabs blog post
- read this Multichannel News story
- read Converge Digest story
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