Arris has announced its downstream module upgrade, significantly increasing the downstream density of the DOCSIS 3.0 C4 CMTS. Adding increased downstream density gives cable operators the ability to deliver more bandwidth per subscriber at a much lower cost than previously possible.
For customers, it will provide higher speed service tiers, especially for eight channel bonded services – enabling speeds up to 304 Mbps for North American DOCSIS (Annex B) and 400 Mbps for European DOCSIS (Annex A). Additionally, the C4’s support for IPv6 is critical for the industry since the supply of available IP addresses has shrunk significantly while the demand for new addresses keeps rising.
With this second generation DOCSIS 3.0 capability, the capacity of the 16D CAMs can be increased to 32 Annex B or 24 Annex A downstream channels. Arris provides a comprehensive programme to simplify the process of upgrading existing 16D CAMs to the XD CAM.
Arris has also announced C4 software release 7.4, which provides IPv6 support as well as support for DOCSIS 3.0 Multicast traffic. Operators will be able to deploy IPv6 and, by combining Multicast IP Video with DOCSIS 3.0 channel bonding, will be able to deliver IP Video in the most efficient way possible.
UPC Broadband has been a lead innovator in the deployment of advanced high speed data services and is excited about these new product enhancements: “The introduction of DOCSIS 3.0 services has been an incredible success for UPC and our customers, and has been essential in attracting and retaining new customers,” said UPC CTO Eric Lennon, in a statement. “We look forward to further improvements in our High Speed Data Service as it is critical we maintain our lead in this competitive environment. The Arris C4 CMTS has performed very well, and this new release will provide substantial additional capacity as well as critical features such as IPv6.”
