Despite all the commotion surrounding Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 since CableLabs announced an initiative to develop it last month, the technology is far from prime time, says Light Reading's Alan Breznick.
And even if the fully symmetrical, multi-gigabit technology ever were to be baked enough to be a significant component of cable network infrastructures, that probably wouldn't happen until at least the end of the current decade.
"That's because CableLabs unveiled the proposed fully symmetrical, multi-gigabit version of DOCSIS 3.1 unusually early in the spec-crafting process," Breznick said. "Instead of waiting for the promising new technology to emerge successfully from the preliminary 'innovation' phase, CableLabs executives brought it out for view at their winter meetings in Orlando before submitting it to key MSO members and vendors for critical analysis, vetting, and validation. So, like numerous other 'innovation' projects that CableLabs is now working on, Full Duplex has not yet advanced to the more concrete R & D phase, which typically takes three to four years."
You can read the rest of Breznick's interesting — if not buzz-killing — column here.