Arris Group Inc. is introducing a Digital Multimedia Termination System, a souped-up cable-modem termination system that can deliver MPEG-2 video, DVB-C-based digital video and DOCSIS-based IP digital multimedia content.
The new product marks the beginning of the blending of Internet protocol and Moving Picture Experts Group-formatted content, traditionally housed and delivered in separate cable infrastructures.
The Q5 DMTS combines Arris’ quadrature amplitude modulator, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification and Euro-DOCSIS 2.0 cable-modem termination system technologies with MPEG and DVB video, for the delivery of digital video broadcast, VOD, IP multicast, IP Unicast and DOCSIS data content to a variety of MPEG-2 and IP set-tops used by broadband providers in the U.S. and Europe.
“Digital multimedia delivery is rapidly moving into a phase where proprietary video delivery architectures must seamlessly operate in parallel with emerging IP multimedia architectures, such as those based upon the DOCSIS set-top gateway and PacketCable Multimedia specifications,” said Arris Broadband president Jim Lakin in a prepared statement.
Arris said cable operators can lower their capital costs by leveraging existing IP transport and switching resources at headends and hubs. The integrated downstream multiplexer and block converted QAM channels provide a migration path for wideband high-speed data applications, Arris said, which can demand as much as 38 megabits in a single downstream channel.
The Q5 is a two-rack unit device with four Ethernet ports and a flexible mix of up to six hybrid fiber-coaxial transport modules.
The Q5 also allows for DOCSIS set-top gateway support and has the capacity to deliver 575 simultaneous constant bit rate video streams to MPEG-2 set-tops.
Arris said the DMTS will be available for third-quarter trials, with product shipments slated for year-end.
