In yet another key mile marker toward cable installers actually being able to deploy DOCSIS 3.1-capable network systems into homes and business, CableLabs has announced the certification of the first round of DOCSIS 3.1 modems.
CableLabs, the industry consortium that developed the network technology standard, announced last week that it has certified DOCSIS 3.1 modems from Askey, Castlenet, Netgear, Technicolor and Ubee Interactive.
"For months, many people have been asking me: 'When will DOCSIS 3.1 devices get certified?,'" said Matt Schmitt, VP of lab services for CableLabs, writing on the industry consortium's blog.
"My response has generally been something along the lines of: 'When they successfully demonstrate they're ready based on the test results. The team at CableLabs will do everything we can to facilitate this process, as our goal is to see DOCSIS 3.1 devices in the field as soon as possible."
Cable operators have aggressive deployment plans for DOCSIS 3.1, which will enable gigabit-level downstream speeds necessary to keep up with fiber-based competition in the ISP market.
CableLabs has continually touted its development of the standard within a three-year time window — a time span much shorter than previous iterations of DOCSIS.
"When we started work on DOCSIS 3.1 in late 2012, we set an aggressive time line to deliver a critical next generation broadband solution to the industry," Schmitt said. "Many were skeptical that we could deliver a 10X improvement in such a short time. We delivered DOCSIS 3.1 in record time, especially considering the new technologies that were added. As a result of our success in setting the right foundation, we have delivered technology leadership to the cable industry in other areas, including Wi-Fi spectrum, SDN/NfV, LTE-U and advanced network architectures."
For more:
- read this CableLabs blog post
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