France-based vendor Sagemcom has joined a small but growing group of modem suppliers that have achieved DOCSIS 3.1 certification from CableLabs.
Sagemcom announced that the F@st 3890 cable media gateway, was certified by CableLabs during cert wave 116 at CableLabs, an achievement that is verified here.
Sagemcom introduced the F@st 3890 at last fall’s IBC show in Amsterdam. In addition to supporting D3.1 and D3.0-based traffic, the new model also integrates 4x4 dual-band 802.11ac WiFi. It was not immediately known if Sagemcom’s first D3.1 modem entry is powered by silicon from Broadcom or Intel (fellow chipmaker STMicroelectronics tossed its hat into the D3.1 ring last year, but announced in January that it was exciting the set-top and gateway business, and industry sources said that STMicro is looking to sell its DOCSIS technology).
CableLabs certified the first batch of DOCSIS 3.1 modems in January, giving the green light to products from Askey, CastleNet, Netgear, Technicolor and Ubee Interactive. It’s believed that all of those products use Broadcom chipsets.
CableLabs certification clears those products for retail distribution while also indicating that they meet interoperability requirements. MSOs typically require products to gain the CableLabs stamp before they purchase them for lease to high-speed Internet customers.
The initial wave of DOCSIS 3.1 modems are capable of supporting about 5 Gbps down and 1 Gbps upstream when fully loaded. The current D3.1 specs target capacities of up to 10 Gbps and up to 2 Gbps, though a new Full Duplex approach could enable cable operators to deliver symmetrical speeds via DOCSIS 3.1.
