Comcast has established a successful 10 Gbps network-to-modem connection using virtualized CMTS and the Full Duplex version of the new DOCSIS 4.0 standard, the cable company announced Thursday from the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers‘ once-again-virtualized Cable-Tec Expo conference. 

"Our team implemented Full Duplex (FDX) DOCSIS 4.0 capabilities into a CMTS, or 'virtualized' vCMTS, which is an essential component of our network and will be a critical link to delivering 10G," said Elad Nafshi, senior VP of next generation access network technology at Comcast. 

Also read: Comcast Touts Symmetrical 1.25 Gbps Speeds in Utah

Nafshi said that In order to complete the full connection, DOCSIS 3.1 modems were configured to operate in the FDX band. 

"What makes this accomplishment truly groundbreaking is that it proves our ability to upgrade our existing vCMTS platform via a software upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0 Full Duplex and gives us the ability to deliver multi-gig upload and download speeds," he added. "We are continuing to work on our next breakthrough which will be the development of a full 10G cable modem. 

At last October‘s Cable-Tec Expo, Comcast announced successful 1.25 Gbps symmetrical transmission using a virtualized cable modem termination system and Full Duplex.

Casa Systems saw a 4.1% spike in third-quarter revenue to $71.5 million and said tariffs placed by the Trump Administration on select Chinese electronics imports are not hurting its business.

“I'm pleased to say that these tariffs have not--and we expect will not--have a significant impact on our business in 2018,” said Shaun McCarthy, interim CFO for Casa, speaking during the company’s third-quarter earnings call last week. (A transcript was provided by Seeking Alpha.)

Related: Casa Systems Files for $150M IPO

“We have completed our review of our supply chain and are not expecting a significant impact to our costs for 2019,” McCarthy added. “We have a flexible manufacturing and supply chain and plan to monitor developments in this area to minimize the tariff-related impact to our cost profile going forward.”

Andover, Mass.-based Casa makes cable modem termination systems and converged cable access platform equipment for the cable industry.

Related: Arris Says Trump Tariffs Will Add $200M/Year to U.S. Broadband Equipment Costs

McCarthy’s comments came a week after Arris told the FCC that the tariffs could drive up the annual industry cost for broadband components by $200 million a year.

Casa Systems, a maker of cable modem termination system and converged cable access platform gear and software, is aiming to raise up to $150 million in an IPO, according to an S-1 filed on Friday (November 17).

Casa Systems said it plans to list its common stock on the NASDAQ market under the “CASA” symbol. Underwriters for the offering include Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Raymond James & Assoc., and Stifel, Nicholas & Co.

Founded in 2003, Andover, Mass.-based Casa cut its teeth on field programming gate arrays (FPGAs) alongside its eventual development of DOCSIS 3.0 CMTSs in 2008, an integrated CCAP in 2012, a DOCSIS 3.1 chassis in 2015, and, last year, its move into the distributed access architecture (DAA) and Remote PHY arena.

RELATED: Cable-Tec Expo: Gearing Up for Remote PHY

Casa, which has also been investing heavily into wireless systems, competes with vendors that include Arris, Cisco Systems, Harmonic, Huawei, Vecima Networks, and Nokia, which recently acquired virtual CCAP startup Gainspeed.

RELATED: Nokia Closes Gainspeed Buy

With an eye toward network virtualization, Casa has also developed Axyom, a software-powered architecture for a range of core and access network functions for fixed and wireless networks. Its Axyom software platform, for examples, supports apps such as security gateways, small cells and WiFi gateways, and the evolved packet core.

Casa, which has been holding its own over larger rivals such as Arris and Cisco in the cable tech sector, said its products are now commercially deployed in more than 70 countries by more than 400 customers. Examples or major customers include Charter Communications, Rogers Communications and Mediacom Communications in North America; Televisa/IZZI Mexico, Megacable Mexico and Claro Telmex Columbia in Latin America; Liberty Global, Vodafone and DNA Oyj in Europe; and Jupiter Communications and Beijing Gehua CATV Networks in the Asia Pacific region.

Though most of its revenues come way of its cable access (CMTS and CCAP) products, Casa has been branching into wireless technologies and products.

RELATED: Casa Systems Builds Wireless Annex

“We believe that the shift to software-centric ultra-broadband networks and fixed and wireless network convergence presents us with a compelling market opportunity,” Casa said in the S-1. “We intend to maintain our technological leadership through the enhancement of existing products and the development of new products in both our current and adjacent markets.”

Per the S-1, Casa pulled in revenues of $233.6 million through the first nine months of 2017 (with $125.3 million from North American customers), up 7.7%, and net income of $59.6 million, up 22% versus the corresponding year-ago nine-month period

For all of 2016, Casa had revenues of $316.1 million and net income of $88.7 million, up 16% and 30.5%, respectively 

Update: Casa has been heavily reliant on revenues from the operations that were formerly Time Warner Cable, the MSO acquired by Charter in May 2016. Through the first nine months of 2017, former TWC accounted for 36% of Casa’s revenues (and 23% for all of 2016). By comparison, Liberty Global accounted for 11% of revenues for the first nine months of 2017, and 10% for all of 2016. Sales to Rogers accounted for 11% of Casa’s revenues for all of 2016.

As of Sept. 30, 2017, Casa had cash and cash equivalents of $183.51 million, and long term debt of $298.14 million.

Casa had 664 full-time employees as of Oct. 31, 2017, with 347 located in the U.S.

Jerry Guo founded Casa and serves as its president and CEO. Before founding Casa, he was VP of broadband at River Delta Networks, a CMTS startup acquired by Motorola in 2001 for $300 million. Before that, he was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories’ research division. 

In 2016, Guo was paid total compensation of $5.3 million, including salary, bonus, stock awards, option awards and other compensation factored in.

Guo currently owns 2.39 million shares of Casa, or 15.9% of the company. Among other backers, Liberty Global Ventures Holding has a 6% stake.

Arris shares could face pressure after one of its key manufacturing partners whiffed on its fiscal Q2 financial results, according to Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold.

Plexus sales for the period were $604.4 million, down $30 million, or about 5%, below expectations. The largest portion came way of Plexis’s Networking & Communications segment, which came in at $16.8 million, about 13.4% below estimates. Plexus also forecast June sales of between $595 million to $625 million, well below consensus for $688 million.

This is all of potential concern to Arris, Leopold said, because it uses Plexus to manufacture its cable modem termination system (CMTS) platform, which represents the largest piece of Arris’s Network and Cloud unit. Arris is responsible for about 10% of Plexus sales.

“The announcement could present risk to ARRIS’ 1Q17 results; however, past results from Plexus have not always aligned with ARRIS’ results by quarter,” Leopold wrote.  “The weak Plexus results may already reflect the lower outlook reported by ARRIS last quarter.”

Leopold also pointed out that Arris is undertaking a CMTS “product refresh, so a pause has been ongoing,” and doesn’t see much risk to his firm’s Q2 2017 estimate for Arris, which stands at $1.63 billion, reflecting a 10% increase version the previous quarter, and 6% year-on-year.

Despite the potential risk from Plexus's Q2 results, Leopold maintained his “Strong Buy” rating on Arris shares.

Cisco Systems said industry vet Sean Welch has been appointed vice president of cable access, the unit that focused on cable modem termination systems as well as newer, high-density converged cable access platform (CCAP) products.

Welch succeeds Brett Wingo in that role. Wingo, the company said, has moved to Cisco’s Services Organization, led by VP of Services Joe Cozzolino.

Welch most recently was president and CEO at Kwicr, a cloud-based mobile network acceleration service. Before that he was SVP/GM of video infrastructure solutions for Arris, and also held VP/GM roles with Motorola, where he was focused on video and data solutions for service providers. 

Softness in the cable broadband access market continued into the second quarter of 2015, as global revenues dropped 2% versus the previous quarter, IHS said in a new report that keeps track of spending for cable modem termination systems (CMTSs), edge QAMs, the Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP), and coaxial media converters (CMCs).

IHS said revenues for that product group totaled $465 million in Q2 2015, while DOCSIS channel shipments in North America dropped 25% after rising 13% in the previous quarter. “[R]evenue was also down 19 percent due to a slowdown among a handful of larger operators,” IHS said

On the brighter side, global revenues in the second quarter actually rose 12% on a year-over-year basis. Additionally, spending on CCAPs, high-density, lower power consumption chassis that combine the functions of the CMTS and edge QAM, grew 34% in the first half of 2015 versus the prior year period (see chart). 

Operators spent heavily in the second half of 2014 and are now in the process of getting those products and that additional channel capacity deployed, Jeff Heynen, IHS’s research director for broadband access and pay TV, explained.

He noted that the effect of potential mergers (Charter Communications’ pending acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, for example) “did have some impact on purchasing, especially in North America.”

IHS also expects spending to pick up in the second half of 2015. Heynen added that the market is still waiting for the cBR-9, Cisco Systems’ new CCAP, and expects volume to pick up once that product becomes more widely deployed.

Heynen said slowness in the first half of the year will cause pent up demand and see shipments pick up in the fourth quarter as operators “go gangbusters on buying new cards and new licenses.”

He is also seeing some steady growth in the coax media converter market, which is picking up some steam in China and other emerging cable markets in the Asia Pacific region. That product category, now part of the overall Cable DOCSIS specifications, is opening up a total addressable market that will primarily benefit China-based suppliers such as Huawei and Sumavision. CMC product revenues represents 6% of the market in Q2 2015, up from less than 3% of the market a year ago, according to Heynen.

On the vendor front, Arris led the cable broadband access market in Q2 with 54% share of revenues, followed by Cisco (21%) and Casa Systems (15%), according to IHS.

ZCorum, a supplier of managed diagnostics tools and software for broadband providers, said its return path analysis tool now supports Arris’s DOCSIS 3.0-based Arris C4 cable modem termination system (CMTS).

ZCorum said the extended support for Upstream Analyzer follows an initial release that was optimized for Cisco Systems CMTSs.

“Providers with an Arris C4 and our Upstream Analyzer software can now clearly see ingress in the return-path spectrum without special equipment, and without the need to be at the headend,” Scott Helms, ZCorum’s VP of technology, said in a statement. “This makes it easier and faster for technicians in the field who are tasked with tracking down noise in the plant.”

ZCorum said its Upstream Analyzer uses technology from Nimble This and CableLabs to collect and display upstream spectrum data directly from the CMTS, as opposed to requiring cable operators to use proprietary equipment to take those measurements.

"Using the CMTS as a return-path spectrum analyzer has several advantages,” added Brady Volpe, president and founder of Nimble This, a developer of DOCSIS Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) tools. "There's no additional equipment or cabling needed, so it's simple to deploy, it’s cost effective, and the data is 100% accurate.  Also, because the CMTS knows when cable modems are transmitting, you can easily isolate any noise that's under the DOCSIS carrier."

ZCorum said it’s showcasing Upstream Analyzer and other DOCSIS network management tools at The Independent Show, which kicked off Sunday in Boston. 

Representing the next step in the evolution of DOCSIS-powered cable broadband networks, CableLabs recently released a new family of specs that cover a range of “distributed” architectures for the Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP), a high-density system that combines the functions of the cable modem termination system and the edge QAM and will play a key role in the industry’s all-IP transition.

The new distributed architectures, which expand on today’s more centralized deployments,  will provide “significant scale advantages and flexible deployment options supporting…both DOCSIS 3.0 and DOCSIS 3.1 networks,” Karthik Sundaresan, a principal architect at CableLabs, explained in this blog post about the new specifications, which aim to facilitate multi-vendor interoperability.

The distributed approach, Sundaresan wrote, fits with the software-defined networking (SDN) and networks functions virtualization (NFV) initiatives operators are pursuing, and will run parallel to a wide range of wireless infrastructure architectures.

He noted that distributed DOCSIS deployments are already underway in some markets that use  C-DOCSIS, a modified approach that was originally developed for China’s cable market that has since been formally integrated with CableLabs’s broader DOCSIS initiatives.

CableLabs, Sundaresan explained, is specifying several different Distributed CCAP Architectures (including Remote PHY and Remote MAC-PHY) and will release the set of technical reports and specifications throughout this summer.

The specs will apply to DOCSIS and CCAP vendors such as Arris, Cisco Systems, Casa Systems, Harmonic and Huawei, as well as Gainspeed, a startup that is developing a “virtual” CCAP.

CableLabs issued the Remote PHY family of specifications last month (the technology is covered via six specs and one technical report describing the overall architecture). Labeled as “MHAv2,’ they represent an evolution of the original Modular Headend Architecture specifications.

Remote PHY  paves the way for an integrated CCAP to be separated into two components -- the CCAP Core and the Remote PHY Device (RPD) – along with an interface that weaves them together using “pseudowires.”  

A common location for an RPD, which contains elements such as the downstream QAM and OFDM modulators, upstream QAM and OFDM demodulators, is the optical node, located at the junction of the fiber and coax plants, Sundaresan wrote.

Sundaresan said vendors have begun architecting ASIC designs, device platforms and software to implement the RPD and CCAP-Core devices. The specs for the OSS that will manage the devices are under development and will be released this summer.

The first quarter represented a mixed bag for cable broadband access network equipment suppliers as DOCSIS channel shipments climbed but overall revenues in the category dipped due to aggressive pricing and a surge in software licenses, according to a new report from IHS that tracks shipments of cable modem termination system (CMTS), converged cable access platform (CCAP) and edge QAM products.

Thanks to ongoing upgrades, DOCSIS channel shipments rose to 1.8 million in Q1, up 14% from the previous quarter and up 48% from the year-ago quarter, but revenues tied to combined shipments of CCAP, CMTS, CMC and edge QAM equipment fell 7% sequentially in the first quarter, to $474 million.

"The cable broadband market got off to a mixed start in the first quarter,” Jeff Heynen, research director for broadband access and pay TV at IHS, said in a statement. “Despite the first quarter typically being a slow one, DOCSIS channels increased yet again. But revenue was down due to a combination of aggressive pricing and a higher proportion of software licenses.”

While the scuttled Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger was expected to dampen the cable access market in North America, “the overall cable broadband market remained healthy, setting the stage for a strong 2015,” IHS said in its report.

Among vendors, Arris dominated the market in the first quarter, due in part to the early availability of the E6000, Arris’s integrated CCAP, IHS said. Arris rival Cisco Systems introduced its integrated CCAP, the cBR-8, in May during the INTX show in Chicago, noting that shipments were underway with MSOs such as Comcast and Altice Group.

Update: Heynen said Arris represented 51% of revenue share in the product category (CMTS, CCAP, edge QAM and CMC equipment) in the first quarter,  followed by Casa Systems (18.8%) and Cisco Systems (18.7%). 

Arris posted lower first quarter numbers as the company continued to face uncertainty and “headwinds” amid M&A activity involving some of its biggest customers.

Of note, Comcast and Time Warner Cable broke up their proposed merger, while AT&T and DirecTV are still in the process of tying the knot.

“As we indicated on our previous earnings call, we've seen overall spending levels down from prior periods primarily due to the distractions and uncertainties associated with industry dynamics,” Bob Stanzione, Arris chairman, president and CEO, said on Wednesday's earnings call. "However, we feel great about our position in the market. We're going through a period of change that is having what we feel is a temporary effect on our business." 

Stanzione said it will “take us a while” to determine how the Comcast/TWC news will affect Arris later in the year, but believes Arris is “very well positioned in both Comcast and Time Warner with their next generation projects, and I think that we'll see business begin to improve as the year goes on.”

Arris posted Q1 revenues of $1.21 billion, down $9.8 million (1%) from the year-ago quarter, and down $48.2 million (4%) from the previous period. Adjusted net income was 44 cents per diluted share, versus 47 cents in the year-ago quarter. Those results were in-line, as analysts were expecting revenues of $1.22 billion, and a profit of 44 cents per share. 

Product Update

Arris saw decreased demand from some customers deploying stand-alone HD digital set-tops coupled with progress made with more capable video gateways with customers such as Comcast, Verizon Communications and TWC, Larry Robinson, president, customer premises equipment at Arris, said. Arris said it surpassed 4 million video gateway unit shipments in Q1.

On the network end, quarter-over-quarter CMTS revenues dropped 10% and were down moderately from record level shipments in the previous quarter, Bruce McClelland, president of network & cloud and global services, said.

Sales of E6000, Arris’s new flagship converged cable access platform (CCAP) that will factor heavily into the vendor’s DOCSIS 3.1 strategy, rose 41% year-on-year, but were down slightly from Q4 2014.

McClelland said Arris successfully completed several DOCSIS 3.1 interop events at CableLabs and expects lab and field trails to start later this year.

M&A Action

Arris also addressed two recent acquisition deals – the $135 million purchase of ActiveVideo Networks (through a joint venture with Charter Communications), and the proposed $2.1 billion play for U.K.-based Pace plc.

Stanzione said the ActiveVideo deal is expected to close “in the next few days,” and reiterated that the Pace merger, expected to close in the second half of the year, will increase Arris’s scale, international presence and give it a larger entry into the satellite video segment. The combo of Arris and Pace into the “New Arris,” to be incorporated in the U.K., is poised to have revenues of about $8 billion.

Arris was again asked about the antitrust risk posed by the Pace deal, which will combine the world’s top two set-top box makers.

“We're fairly confident based on the advance we've gotten from the experts in the area that will be able to clear that hurdle,” Stanzione said.

Stanzione also downplayed fears that the set-top will fade from existence.

“I would ask the question, what's going to replace them?  I think the answer to that question is… that there is a transition going on from video set-top boxes to advanced gateways,” Stanzione said. “We don't think it [the set-top box] goes away.”

Looking ahead, Arris expects Q2 revenues of $1.27 billion to $1.31 billion, and non-GAAP earnings of 53 cents to 58 cents per share.

Driven by broadband speed upgrades, shipments of DOCSIS channels rocketed to a record 4.8 million worldwide in 2014, a year-over-year increase of 114%, according to Infonetics Research’s latest report on the cable access tech market.

Cable access gear – a category that includes cable modem termination systems (CMTSs), converged cable access platforms (CCAPs), edge QAMs and coaxial media converters – grew 27%, to $1.7 billion, in 2014. Fourth quarter revenues totaled $493 million, an increase of 11%.

Shipments in North America were particularly strong, rising 139% in 2014, with revenues jumping 35%.

But it wasn’t a rosy year for all makers of DOCSIS-powered networking gear. While Arris dominated the market with 48% of global revenue in the sector and Casa Systems turned in a record year, with a revenue increase of 195%, Cisco Systems “had one of its most disappointing years for CCAP/CMTS sales,” Infonetics said.

Infonetics noted that 2014 will be remembered as a “transitional year” as MSOs started to switch from traditional CMTSs to provisional deployments of CCAPs, which are higher-density, power-saving platforms that will combine the functions of the CMTS and edge QAM and pave a path toward an all-IP infrastructure.

From 2013 to 2014, CCAP revenue increased 997% percent, to $1.4 billion, while CMTS revenue dipped 84%, to $155 million, according to Infonetics.

"The continued growth of DOCSIS channel shipments is a strong sign of multiple system operators' (MSOs') ongoing investment to ramp DOCSIS bandwidth and services like IP video by splitting optical nodes and reducing service group sizes via CCAP," said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research, in a statement, noting that channels expansion will continue as operators prepare for DOCSIS 3.1 and remote-PHY platforms, though most growth will come from CCAP products.

But there are bumps in the road, with the pending merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable threatening to exacerbate usual first quarter slowness. With that in mind, Infonetics expects DOCSIS and edge QAM channel shipments to drop 7% in Q1. 

Arris remained the top dog from a revenue perspective in a global cable access market that raked in $445 million in the third quarter of 2014, up 8% versus the previous quarter, according to a new report from Infonetics Research.

That figure factors in worldwide revenues for cable modem termination system (CMTS), converged cable access platform (CCAP), edge QAM and coax media converter (CMC) equipment. CCAP is a next-gen high-density platform that combines the functions of the CMTS and the edge QAM, while the CMC is a stripped down form of a CMTS that is becoming popular in China and other markets that are focusing on more distributed architectures. The CMC was historically tied to C-DOCSIS, an architecture that has been integrated with the CableLabs DOCSIS specifications. 

Of that combined equipment market, Arris pulled down 50% of the revenues in the third quarter of 2014, followed by Cisco Systems (30%), Casa Systems (18%), and Harmonic (3.5%), according to Infonetics.

Cisco, once the market’s leader, could start to catch up when it releases the cBR-8, its next-gen, integrated CCAP product, for general availability. 

“Everyone is waiting for the cBR-8,” Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics, said.  “Once it’s ready, the market is going to go gangbusters.”

Not that the market’s doing shabbily now. Although shipments of total upstream and downstream DOCSIS channels, at 1.2 million, were down some on a sequential basis in the third quarter of 2014, they were up 95% versus what was shipped globally a year ago, according to Heynen.

Additionally, CCAP revenues rose 7% in the third quarter, to $360 million, versus the previous quarter. Heynen said the shift to CCAP is currently most acute in North America.

Infonetics expects the number of DOCSIS channels shipped globally to nearly triple from 2013 to 2015. According to the research firm’s current projections, about 4.5 million DOCSIS channels will ship this year, and surge past 6 million in 2015.