Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is now field-testing network systems based on the DOCSIS 3.1 specification and is preparing for deployment of the standard in 2016.
That was the message delivered by Jorge Salinger, VP of access architecture for Comcast, speaking Tuesday at the Cable Next-Gen Technologies and Strategies Conference in Denver, an event covered by Light Reading's Mari Silbey.
"The target for us is to be in the field establishing readiness in 2015," Salinger is quoted as saying. "Our overall goal is to be able to deploy DOCSIS 3.1 and gigabit-per-second in a broad scale starting in 2016."
Comcast is using custom-made electronics for its field testing, since DOCSIS 3.1-certified hardware isn't available yet. The tests involve deployment to select employee homes.
As Silbey notes, with its latest iteration the DOCSIS spec is moving away from 6MHz and 8MHz channels and to subcarriers based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM).
"We have OFDM signals running in one of our networks, in one of our head ends," Salinger said.
For more:
- read this Light Reading story
- read this DSL Reports story
Related links:
DOCSIS channel shipments increased 114% in 2014 to record 4.8M
CableLabs CEO McKinney discusses the DOCSIS 3.1 rollout, carrier-grade Wi-Fi and 4K
Comcast raises modem lease fees by $2 to cover DOCSIS 3.0 equipment costs