Harmonic on Monday announced a new component to its CableOS virtualized cable access network software solution that promises to deliver gigabit-level upstream speeds for operators.
The San Jose, Calif.-based technology vendor said Comcast is the first operator to trial Ripple+. Comcast announced last week that it delivered symmetrical 1.25 gigabit-per-second speeds to a local-area Florida home using Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) with Remote PHY over DOCSIS-powered hybrid fiber-coaxial network.
Also read: Comcast Touts Trial Milestone: Symmetrical 1.25 Gbps Speeds Using DAA and NFV
“Upstream bandwidth demand continues to intensify as more people work from home and participate in distance learning," said Nimrod Ben-Natan, senior VP and general manager of cable access business at Harmonic. "Leveraging our latest CableOS cloud-native and distributed network edge platforms, the cable industry now has the tools to meet growing bandwidth demand and offer market-leading symmetric gigabit services today, without costly cable modem or set-top box replacement."
In the early weeks of the pandemic, people working, taking classes and using telehealth applications from home caused downstream traffic on cable networks to spike more than 20% and upstream use to rise more than 35%, according to data cited at today's opening of the Cable-Tec Expo.
Harmonic’s CableOS Ripple+ network edge platform delivers upstream and downstream bandwidth up to full spectrum to existing DOCSIS 3.1 modems and gateways.
Ripple+ enables operators to implement any hybrid fiber-coax spectrum split and note configuration, including 2x4 segmentation, spanning traditional node placement to fiber deep, with unified network edge hardware
Harmonic also touts the ability of operators to evolve from traditional HFC architectures to fiber-deep to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) PON deployments through simple module reconfigurations of the unified edge platform.
"We're excited to continue our work to evolve 10G technologies as we begin our efforts to extend those benefits to customers, and we value the important work Harmonic has done to support those efforts," added Elad Nafshi, senior VP of next-generation access networks at Comcast Cable, in a statement.
