COLOGNE, GERMANY – Cisco unveiled its ‘Infinite Broadband’ Remote PHY solution (RPHY) for Cable Access networks Tuesday at ANGA COM, billed as the answer to cable operator's demands for broadband improvements that support new applications like OTT streaming video and 5G mobile backhaul.
Cisco said that RPHY combines the CableLabs standards Remote PHY with DOCSIS 3.1 to expand capacity of the cable HFC plants. It builds on the Cisco cBR-8 converged broadband router and GS7000 node platforms, allowing for a reduction of power, cooling and hub site sizing, providing significant total cost of ownership benefits.
RPHY, which has been shipping since April 2017 with deployments at a number of customers, is the foundation for Cisco’s virtualization and Full Duplex DOCSIS strategy, the company added.
“We’ve seen huge success with our cBR-8 platform after just two years,” said Cisco service provider infrastructure group VP and GM Sean Welch, in the news release. “R-PHY is the next step in the evolution to an all-IP network that is faster, more scalable, and simpler to operate. R-PHY provides a foundation for further network evolution, such as Infinite DOCSIS and Cloud Native technologies, allowing our customers to reduce the total cost of ownership, while keeping their cable networks competitive for the future."
Cisco added that it is also planning to provide for interop testing between the OpenRPD vendors using a third party testing facility. Among the companies planning to participate in the interoperability test are Teleste, Vector and Kathrein.
