OnePath introduces modem-less platform

OnePath Networks has introduced a DOCSIS-compliant version of its two-way distribution system to deliver advanced high-speed digital/analog video and data services to multiple dwelling unit (MDU) residential subscribers over cable networks.

OnePath does this without a modem or other consumer premises equipment (CPE), in a style that kicks interdiction up a notch, said Kenneth Neighbors, worldwide markets vice president of the Princeton, N.J.-based company.

“It’s a video/data multiplexer,” he said. “It can be deployed as a line extender or a tap in basically what you would call a fiber-to-the-feeder node.”

That feeder, he said, contains a layer 2 Ethernet switch that delivers up to 10 megabits of DOCSIS-compliant data. It’s modular with 24 ports and one coaxial drop per apartment and hardened, so it can be located indoors our out.

“It enables video and data remotely, which eliminates truck rolls and it has a remote monitoring capability,” Neighbors continued.

That remote monitoring, he said, propels the product above the normal cable or satellite-delivered MDU service.

“Our product allows you to see the signal and look at it,” he said. “The product will send back a message to the network operating center that says it has detected a problem.”

The operator can then proactively work out the problem and inform the consumer, he said.

“Have you ever had a cable guy call and say you have a problem?” he wondered.

The product’s “secret sauce,” said Neighbors, is its media access hub, which, in a cable system is landline cable fed via a cable modem termination system.

It is, he emphasized, an inexpensive way to deliver services to MDU customers, averaging out to about $300 per home passed and eliminating the need for on-premises equipment that can, in MDU environments, often disappear.

“Our products all use existing coax on home run wiring. We have remote provisioning of video and data interdiction so we can turn on services, turn off services, see whether services are operating properly from a remote network operations center.”

Yesterday’s product introduction builds on OnePath’s existing DBS product, Neighbors said, by adding the DOCSIS data and cable video capabilities.

He expects to attract the attention of MSOs eager to tap the MDU marketplace without a heavy on-premise equipment investment.

“Time Warner (Cable) and AT&T (Broadband) both have MDU groups and they like this for their bulk sales applications,” he concluded. “All the RBOCs are our customers, their video groups, and we’re moving that to the data and video groups.”