SEVERAL YEARS AFTER cable engineers first began developing the technology, large cable operators are starting to deploy next-generation devices aimed at fueling advanced video and broadband services.
The big MSOs are leveraging something called the Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) in their cable headends. These CCAP (not this CCAP) devices — which are big chassis designed to combine the functions of the now-separate cable modem termination system (CMTS) and edge QAM modulator in super-dense, more efficient, less costly machines – are now emerging from the labs and into field trials and commercial deployments in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Time Warner Cable became the latest MSO to enter the CCAP parade last week, joining Comcast, Cox Communications and several other major cable providers. The second biggest US MSO announced that it has started deploying CCAP devices from Casa Systems and Arris, two of the five major vendors vying for a share of this potential $2 billion equipment market. Specifically TW Cable is rolling out Casa's C100G CMTS and Arris’ E6000 Converged Edge Router.
"CCAP will provide the increased density and corresponding capacity needed to meet the growth of our Data services," said Howard Pfeffer, a senior vice president of Time Warner Cable. "The deployments have been extremely successful. We look forward to continued network growth, enabling the development of new and advanced services for our customers."
The Time Warner Cable orders represent major wins for both Casa and Arris. Casa's C100G was the first integrated CCAP device on the market capable of delivering MPEG video, IP video, and DOCSIS data services over a single RF port. For its part, Arris has already announced deployments of its E6000 edge router with Comcast, meaning the vendor has now notched CCAP orders with the two largest U.S. cable operators.
A third major CCAP equipment supplier, Cisco Systems, announced last week that it’s nearing lab trials with several large cable operators. Joe Cozzolino, senior vice president and GM of service provider video infrastructure for Cisco, said three “major” MSOs will begin the lab tests of the vendor’s new cBR-8 CMTS device by the end of November. Like the devices of several rivals, the cBR-8 is not fully ready for CCAP service yet. But Cozzolino expects it to be fully ready by the time its customers want to deploy it commercially in late 2014. “My goal is to have a Christmas present next year,” he said.
In an interview at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show in Atlanta, Cozzolino declined to name the three MSOs. But some educated guesses would be Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox, which rank among Cisco’s biggest customers and have been strong champions of CCAP.
Lastly, about a year after announcing its CCAP intentions, a fourth vendor, CommScope, debuted two CCAP chassis at the Cable-Tec Expo show last week. The company said the devices are already in the field with cable customers, although it also declined to name them. CommScope is starting down the CCAP path with two types of ultra-dense edge QAM devices. The first version is a nine-rack model called the CSP 640 with support for up to 9,600 downstream QAMs and an aggregate throughput of 640 gigabits per second. The larger CSP 1280 model supports up to 19,200 downstream QAMs and has an aggregate throughput of 1.28 terabits per second.
While the first significant deployments of CCAP products have now begun, major shipments aren't expected to start until next year. Industry analysts then expect the market to heat up through at least 2016.
– Staff
