Terayon emphasizes QoS with new line of cable-modem termination systems

Terayon Communication Systems has stepped up to DOCSIS 1.1 capability with a cable-modem termination system [CMTS] series that leverages quality of service [QoS] and greater upstream speeds. The cable industry is banking on using these features to leverage high-speed data into IP telephony via its PacketCable initiative.

Additionally, Terayon said its BW 3000 CMTS series offers smooth upgradability to DOCSIS 2.0 by incorporating Terayon’s physical layer [PHY] technology that includes Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access [S-CDMA] and Advanced Frequency Agile Time Division Multiple Access [A-TDMA].

“You can support more advanced users while not degrading or limiting the experience of the best-effort users who are going to be their [service providers’] bread-and-butter users for years to come,” said Elisa Camahort, Terayon’s product marketing director in its Digital Cable Solutions group.

The new series supports smaller service providers who want to deliver high-speed data services but have limited budgets.

“It gives them the same upgradable path as anybody else in a smaller, more compact form,” Camahort said.

The smaller model is also important to large MSOs, she said.

“We have some customers who have acquired outer lying neighborhoods or networks that are really like independent small operators, except they happen to be owned and operated by a bigger MSO,” she said. “They have the same concerns about limited subscribership and potential maximum penetration rates that make it more efficient to get a smaller, more compact CMTS out there than deploy chassis-based solutions.”

It’s also applicable for operators that are segmenting systems to push content and intelligence closer to homes. In both instances, the new series is designed to push cable into IP telephony.

“We are certainly support the carrier-based design with a chassis-based solution and the PacketCable [IP telephony] future and all the basic requirements for a next-generation CMTS,” she said.

The series--in both small and large packages--is Terayon’s way of touting its advantage with advanced DOCSIS 2.0-based silicon.

“We are the first and only to market with product to support, from the silicon on up, … advanced TDMA and advanced CDMA from day one,” said Camahort. “There will be no upgrade path, from a hardware perspective, at all for DOCSIS 2.0. When you want to light it up, it’s there.”