CableLabs, CEA Agree on DTCP-IP

ScreenPlays
http://www.screenplaysmag.com/tabid/160/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/673/Default.aspx
9/10/2007

September 10, 2007 � Hitachi Telecom (USA) and ARRIS have combined optical access network and in-building coax distribution technologies to enable cable and phone companies to target high occupancy hotel and residential facilities with high speed data access services.

Hitachi will market the solution which combines Hitachi�s AMN1220 Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON) system the ARRIS CXM High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) solution. will be marketed with to provide high speed Internet access services for hotels and other high occupancy MDU facilities.

�ARRIS has been successful with the CXM solution, especially in Asia and South America where multiple dwelling units are more common, but it had been hard to find capacity to these sites in the hybrid fiber/coax world,� says Rick Schiavinato, vice president of sales and marketing for Hitachi Telecom. �We had [GPON] optical network terminals for family residences and large customers, but not for this largely underserved non-permanent subscriber space, which is not being served. Hospitals, schools, municipal buildings tend to get by-passed by plant financial analysis plans. Deployment has been too costly.�

The companies believe that, by leveraging existing in-building coax, existing Hitachi optical network products and existing ARRIS data gateway, modem and VoIP terminal adapter products, the joint solution provides a substantial time-to-deploy advantage over alternatives and at a lower cost than, for example, Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) solutions.

�One of the greatest things about it is that it works in some pretty lousy coax conditions,� Schiavinato says. �That adds up to critical time to market for operators who enjoy the big plus of not having to touch the existing RF network.

In a building, the ARRIS CXM aggregator distributes Ethernet signals across existing coax above 900 megahertz along with RF video running below 870 MHz. At an end-user�s room, a bi-plex filter separates the data signal to modems. Hitachi�s Optical Network Terminal is 1-gigabit ready, enabling large buildings to scale up to hundreds of served lines by stacking multiple 100-megabit-ready ARRIS boxes.

�This is a great solution for data-only enterprise,� he says. Noting that Hitachi and ARRIS have demonstrated IP video, Schiavinato says, �Our goal is to help operators go to the enterprise market with data services that could include VoIP, IP video or any other IP applications.�

He also notes discussions germinating withing the cable industry about developing �DOCSIS PON� to extend the CableLabs Data Over Cable System Interface Specifications to transport over passive optical access networks. �There is a bigger play, especially as cable companies go to deeper fiber.�

Through their cooperation, both companies expect to enlarge their client prospects through each other�s established customer bases. �We become bandwidth for ARRIS�s small independent cableco�s and their channel into the municipal fiber optic network market where most of our business is established,� he says. For a municipal operator Hitachi GPON customer like Falcon Broadband of Colorado Springs, Colo., which already plans to serve schools, municipal buildings and downtown private enterprises, as well retirement homes, time-share properties, he adds, �now ARRIS becomes another access option.�