CableLabs® Completes DOCSIS™ 2.0 Specs, Enabling More Advanced Modems
Louisville, January 16, 2002—CableLabs® has finished specifications for an advanced
generation of cable modems called DOCSIS™ 2.0. The specs were completed by year
end, as promised, and test plans are now being finalized to allow for interoperability
testing in the first quarter this year and possible certification testing in the
third quarter pending product maturity.
"CableLabs' work in the cable modem
arena has added immense value to the cable industry's broadband business and to
the industry's consumer offerings," said Mark Coblitz, Senior Vice President of
Strategic Planning for Comcast Corporation. "The modem effort has reinforced cable's
role as the leader in broadband service deployment," he added.
"Once again
our DOCSIS team, under Rouzbeh Yassini, has met another difficult milestone, allowing
cable operators to continue advancing their customer service offerings," said CableLabs
President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green. "I am very proud of this team and its achievements."
Yassini added: "Silicon and product suppliers already are hard at work with
CableLabs to develop necessary automated test execution packages and test equipment
that will be used to perform interoperability, certification, and qualification
of the products." Yassini is executive consultant to CableLabs and is CEO of YAS
Broadband Ventures.
DOCSIS 2.0 builds upon the capabilities of DOCSIS 1.0
and DOCSIS 1.1 and adds throughput in the upstream portion of the cable plant—from
the consumer out to the Internet—creating a network that has 27 megabit per second
(Mbps) capacity in two directions. That tripling of data capacity enables services
such as videoconferencing and peer-to-peer applications. DOCSIS stands for Data
over Cable Service Interface Specification.
DOCSIS 2.0 enables operators
to create new services for both home and business use, including symmetrical and
critical applications. The specification enhancements are also geared towards providing
an even more robust communications channel than was available with the current versions
of the DOCSIS Specification, which provides additional functionality and support
for lifeline services.
Cable operators and some suppliers have been working
on DOCSIS 2.0 since late 1998. Specifically, DOCSIS 2.0 will include two modulation
techniques: S-CDMA (synchronous code division multiple access) and A-TDMA (advanced
frequency agile time division multiple access).
In addition to more upstream
channel capacity, DOCSIS 2.0 will be compatible with DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 cable modems
(CMs) and cable modem termination systems (CMTSs), will increase protection against
electronic impairments that occur in cable systems, and will further enhance and
augment the international DOCSIS standard (ITU J-112), which has been adopted world-wide
and provides international interoperability of data signals.
About CableLabs
About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded
in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development
consortium, CableLabs delivers innovations that enable cable operators to be the
providers of choice in their markets. Cable operators from around the world are
members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org, www.ebif.tv
and www.tru2way.com.
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