Comcast expects to accelerate its DOCSIS 4.0 rollout, now that it has begun deploying full duplex DOCSIS amplifiers from CommScope, said Comcast Chief Network Officer Elad Nafshi today. Full duplex DOCSIS 4.0 will be able to support multi-gigabit and symmetrical services, thereby enabling the company to better compete with providers that have deployed fiber broadband.
Telecompetitor got some additional information from Nafshi about this development.
Comcast first began deploying DOCSIS 4.0 just about a year ago and, as of now, has made the technology available to more than a million homes in six markets. The company plans to eventually upgrade its entire network to the technology.
“Last year’s launch of DOCSIS 4.0 was in what we call N+0 environments, which means customers are served directly from the node,” Nafshi told Telecompetitor. “To serve the majority of our footprint, we need to be able to reach customers in up to an N+6 environment—which means up to a six-amplifier cascade from the node. With this FDX amplifier, we will be able to reach customers who are served in amplifier cascade environments.
As for why Comcast will be able to accelerate its DOCSIS 4.0 deployment, Nafshi said, “Over the past year we’ve been building the technology and automation capabilities that will enable us to scale the platform in anticipation of the deployment of FDX amplifiers. FDX amplifiers will make it possible for us to reach the majority of our footprint with FDX DOC 4.0.”
Comcast is one of many cablecos that have begun to upgrade their existing hybrid fiber coax (HFC) and DOCSIS infrastructure to support higher speeds. The company’s decision to deploy full duplex DOCSIS is different from the path that most other cable companies have taken, however.
Comcast DOCSIS 4.0
With full duplex DOCSIS, a portion of the spectrum within the coaxial portion of the HFC connection can be used for upstream or downstream communications, offering a cable company greater flexibility in offering increasingly important symmetrical speeds. According to a press release from CommScope today, the spectrum between 108 MHz and 684 MHz can be shared dynamically based on traffic demands.
Other approaches to DOCSIS based on frequency division duplexing (FDD) lock the provider into specific amounts of upstream and downstream bandwidth, with considerably more bandwidth devoted to the downstream path. Other providers likely chose FDD rather than full duplex DOCSIS because full duplex DOCSIS typically is more costly to deploy.
Artificial Intelligence Plays a Role
The CommScope offering uses artificial intelligence to enable Comcast to detect patterns in the data coming from the amplifier and to identify types of network impairments, Nafshi explained. “If possible, we self-heal with the amplifier digital capability or other network self-heal capabilities, such as the Octave platform.
“If the service impairment can’t be self-healed, we pinpoint for our technicians exactly where in the network it is and how to resolve it without the customers ever knowing there was an issue. The amp will enable us to detect these impairments down to the individual RF legs across our entire network and to resolve common network issues faster than ever.”
The Octave platform was a pet project of Nafshi’s. Developed by Comcast, it helps the company optimize and troubleshoot the network
Harmonic News
Another Comcast vendor also had product news today. Harmonic announced that its cOS virtualized broadband platform will support the FDX and FDD variants of DOCSIS 4.0, as well as fiber broadband.
In a prepared statement, Nafshi called the offering a “groundbreaking solution” and noted that “Harmonic continues to enhance our ability to deliver our next-generation network — with symmetrical multigigabit internet speeds, lower latency, and even better security and reliability.”
Harmonic did not indicate when the unified offering would be commercially available.
Updated to include comments from Elad Nafshi
