White Papers

2012

ARRIS and the HFC Bandwidth Challenge; A Record of Innovation, Performance and Leadership

Across several decades of constant yet astounding annual bandwidth growth, ARRIS has anticipated and met the needs of the cable industry with pragmatic leadership, timely innovation and dependable performance. ARRIS will continue to do so in the latest era of wideband cable modems, IP video, CCAP and emerging DOCSIS® 3.1 technologies.

Mission is Possible: An Evolutionary Approach to Gigabit-Class DOCSIS

This paper is a joint paper presented by four leading suppliers to the cable industry, with the intent to move the industry forward in the area of next generation cable access network migration. Cable operators are facing a rising threat associated with the limitations of today’s 5 to 42 MHz return path. Constraints on capacity and peak service rate call for finding additional return spectrum to manage this emerging challenge. We present a strategy that preserves network investment, enables a versatile evolutionary path, and positions operators to create an enduring lifespan to meet the demands of current and future services.

2011

ARRIS Advanced Digital Cable Leadership Series

ARRIS has consolidated the knowledge from across the industry, our Advanced Technology and Strategy Engineers, Product Line Management, Development, Test and Marketing staff to develop a series of white papers to guide our customers and the industry in the decision processes of developing IP Video transition strategies, plans and tactics. The white papers articulate, in an objective way, how cable operators should plan and implement the transition of their networks to an all- IP model of content delivery. The series is written to appeal to our customer’s executive leadership as they plan the implementation of IPTV across all elements of the operators business; Planning, Engineering, Operation, Finance, and Marketing.

  • Part 1 Series Introduction: Market Drivers and Technical Challenges - In this first paper we present market data to assist operators in realizing the need to transition their networks and operations to IP technologies. We then provide a high level overview of the current state of the cable network, as well as of emerging technologies and solutions that must be developed for a successful transition. This paper provides a foundation for the remainder of the series.
  • Part 2: Preparing to Implement IP Cable TV Services - This installment of the series serves as an overview of a wide range of network technologies and issues primarily associated with the distribution network, including evolving bandwidth management options tied to SDV, optical transport, MPEG-4, increasing bonded-channel counts, the emergence of Hybrid Gateway and Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) technology and much more. This white paper will help engineers and non-engineers alike as they sort through the many issues that must be considered as they map their strategies.
  • Part 3: Systems, Processes and Components Essential to Meeting New Service Goals - This installment of the series provides a comprehensive analysis of architectural and transitional path's associated primarily with the control plane and back office which impact operational benefits and costs. The relationship of the elements to operations must be considered when developing an IP video migration plan. Operators that choose low-cost equipment paths without consideration for operational impacts risk spending far more year over year than necessary to support IP service delivery. The decision-making process must take into account the need to select solutions that will eventually support full-scale IP cable TV service across all devices. This webcast and white paper are designed to assist operators in balancing the costs and benefits of the various approaches.
  • Part 4: The Payoff from New Advertising Models through IP Migration - This is the fourth paper in a six part series on the cable television industry transition to IP technologies for the delivery of video. This paper focuses on the market and technology trends associated with the cable television advertising business and the potential impact these trends may produce in cable advertising. The paper also reviews some of the options open to broadband video service providers as they work to address the changing landscape. Finally there are some ideas to address anticipated gaps and new challenges during the transition from today’s systems to the future technology and business technologies.
  • Part 5: IP Cable TV Service Assurance - As the pace of cable’s migration to IP accelerates, operators face a laundry list of challenges when it comes to providing customers an optimal experience. Simply put, the legacy networks built for traditional cable delivery must quickly be leveraged, adapted, or replaced to meet seemingly ever-changing needs. Whether it’s a sports fan watching highlights on an iPad, a teen video chatting by smartphone, or a family “time shifting” on a home gateway, the writing is clearly on the wall. The rapid proliferation of IP delivery on a multitude of devices—especially IP Video—has left operators scrambling for new and effective ways to deliver the kind of seamless user experience customers demand.
  • Part 6: Maximize Operating Cash Flows and Revenues through a Planned Migration - The ARRIS analysis conclusively demonstrates that the most cost-effective decision operators can make, even before their long term plan is complete, is to ensure that ongoing capital outlays go to hybrid components that can support both IP and legacy service functions across all network end points. Additionally, the more such components are utilized in the network early on, the lower the costs will be when making the final transition to IP cable TV - no matter what migration path the operator chooses.

ARRIS Speakers at SCTE Cable-TEC Expo 2011

2010

ARRIS IP Video Architecture - Enabling Operators to Meet Consumer Demand for Converged Home Network and IP Content and Services

Cable Operators have evolved over the last ten years from delivering only analog video to providing a triple play of interactive digital video, voice and data services. Along the way their capital investments have been directed at each service in turn, usually success-based. This investment has resulted in wide scale deployments of high-order digital modulation techniques that deliver vastly increased amounts of content and information. This is achieved within the same 6 and 8 MHz channels that previously only carried one analog video channel. However, this paradigm is starting to show its age, and may become unsustainable if recent trends in HSD growth and increasing competition from Telco and satellite sources continue. The ever-increasing pressure to provide more HD program content, interactivity and whole home personal video recording is forcing cable operators to find new ways to increase the quantity and quality of video programming options for their subscribers. Operators are also being challenged to enhance the overall user experience by offering more options for accessing the subscribers’ personal media stored on their in-home devices as well as the operators’ streaming and stored content.

E-MTA Total Cost of Ownership Reduction

TCO takes into consideration all costs of operating an E-MTA over its entire useful life. While the lowest acquisition cost is important in controlling initial capital expenditures, it is relatively small compared to the TCO. The cost of installing and maintaining the device over the life of the product represents the largest opportunities for cost reduction. As illustrated in the graph in Figure 1 below, a small fraction in cost reduction, or cost avoidance, in the area of installation and maintenance can easily translate into millions of dollars of annual savings even for the most modest of deployments. This paper discusses basic elements of the TCO cost model and explores several areas where significant cost improvement opportunities can be realized.

Full Spectrum Multi-Wavelength Architectures - A Tool for Network Evolution

Cable MSOs are continually seeking to improve levels of service to subscribers in order to stay ahead of competition from Telco and other sectors. DOCSIS, coupled with growth in interactive network capacity, enables them to achieve this through evolution of their existing infrastructure. Increasing capacity will involve segmentation and more narrowcast content. Segmentation places pressure on legacy fiber and increase in narrowcast content can reveal limitations in “QAM Overlay” systems. Full spectrum, multi-wavelength systems are powerful tools that will enable cable MSOs to overcome such roadblocks without the need to resort to costly new fiber construction. This article will explain the technological background to such systems including how to manage optical nonlinear impairments in the fiber. Practical implementations of multi-wavelength solutions in the second and third fiber windows will then be presented.

2009

RF over Glass (RFoG) A New Triple Play Option for Business Services

The emergence of RF over Glass (RFoG) architecture enables a cost effective Fiber to the Business passive optical network solution that carries all services traditionally delivered over HFC. These services include analog and digital video services as well as data and voice services over DOCSIS. Compatibility with existing backoffice infrastructure and operations is an inherent benefit of this approach. Connecting SMB customers with short extensions from existing node fiber links provides a fast time-to-market, cost effective, and high capacity solution for high margin business service deployments.

My (TV) Space– Using Subscriber Management Systems to refine and redefine video-based social networking

Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have enabled on-demand user-generated content to millions of viewers. In this paper we ask whether it is possible to leverage social-networking web technology, user-generated video, and cable infrastructure to provide a “best of all worlds” experience for these millions of viewers.

DOCSIS® 3.0 Upstream Channel Bonding: Performance Analysis in the Presence of HFC Noise

Recent studies have shown that bandwidth usage has been exponentially increasing every year since the inception of dial-up modems. Rising customers’ expectations are motivating MSOs and Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) vendors to pursue cutting-edge technologies to satisfy customers’ needs. Therefore, the DOCSIS® 3.0 standard, which was developed recently, proposes different mechanisms to increase the bandwidth offered to cable customers. Among these mechanisms are expanding the upstream (US) spectrum, downstream (DS) channel bonding, and US channel bonding. While wide, non-bonded channels can provide relatively high throughput (up to ~30 Mbps), deploying DOCSIS 3.0 US channel bonding introduces many new benefits. An obvious benefit of US channel bonding is the ability to offer customer throughput that exceeds 30 Mbps. However, there are many other benefits of US channel bonding, including statistical multiplexing gain, flexible and efficient US spectrum assignment, grow-as-you-go strategy, and better quality of service (QoS).

Although the US spectrum is limited and noisy, it can be used efficiently to offer higher data rates through US channel bonding. This is primarily because of the excellent performance obtained by US channel bonding in the presence of different HFC noise types. In this article, we closely analyze the performance of US channel bonding in the presence of Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), Semi-AWGN noise, Ingress noise, and Impulse noise. We demonstrate that the performance of US channel bonding can be better than the performance of wide channels in the presence of AWGN. We also show that the performance of US channel bonding can be better than that of wide channels in the presence of Semi-AWGN, Ingress noise, and Impulse noise. In the conclusion of the analysis, we will show how US channel bonding can offer higher data rates than single wide channels.

Performance Analysis of Multi-Carrier Systems when Applied to HFC Networks

Single and multi-carrier systems have identical theoretical capacity in the presence of AWGN noise. This statement, however, does not hold true for different noise types. This article discusses the benefits and performance of multi-carrier systems in HFC networks. We provide a brief background on multi-carrier systems and analyze their performance in the presence of semi-AWGN, Ingress, and Impulse noise environments. The performance of multi-carrier technology is then compared to the performance of single-carrier technology used in HFC networks.

Analysis of the Impact of Increasing Streaming Media Usage

Internet activity has been characterized by constant growth and constant change. Recently there has been an explosion of the growth of video consumption from internet sources. A recent report on internet and video usage stated that on-line viewing of video content in November 2008 had increased 34% over a year ago. This growth has been fueled by a combination of factors; most notably, faster broadband connections, and growth in the variety and quality of legitimate on-line content. As recently as 2 or 3 years ago, participation in peer-to-peer download groups was the principal avenue to access recent video content. Within the past year or so, desirable content has become available on-line from reputable sources. The quality of those available downloads is quite reasonable for PC viewing, and the bandwidth consumed by these offerings is rapidly increasing as they seek to provide a comparable experience to that of traditional cable or broadcast sources.

For cable operators, this increased level of traffic demands corresponding increases in available bandwidth to ensure that all subscribers can still receive adequate levels of service. This paper examines through simulation what, if any, changes to network engineering practices should be considered as this trend continues and possibly accelerates.

2008

Fixed Mobile Convergence Migration for Cable Operators

The growing market demand for service convergence is the driving force behind the development of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Wi-Fi / cellular integration, commonly known as fixed-mobile convergence (FMC). FMC has become a recurring theme amongst service providers such as cable operators worldwide, many of whom are seeking to deliver combined fixed-mobile services to their customers as part of a 'quadruple' service bundle. Whatever form these services take, they will require operator investment in network infrastructure, subscriber devices, and back office systems. But there are immediate, viable, standards-compliant FMC solutions on the market now that migrate forward into an IMS environment without stranding capital investments - and that provide for a graceful customer experience during the network evolution.

2007

MSO VoIP-Adjunct Interface to Legacy Key Telephone Systems

There are an estimated 30 million already-installed Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Key Telephone Systems (KTSs) providing voice services in as many business locations in the U.S. This represents an estimated 365 million telephone stations connected to the public telephone network (PSTN) by approximately 90 million analog telco lines. Even though many of these KTS are still within their useful life cycles, MSOs can add the benefits of having multiline E-MTAs provide Internet Protocol (IP) based voice and data services at these locations. MSOs can immediately offer less expensive analog line connections to replace IXC/LEC lines. In addition, with this IP-Adjunct strategy, MSOs would ultimately be in a position to up-sell the full replacement of these TDM KTSs . This paper provides, integration and installation recommendations. It also addresses interoperability concerns that could come into play with such an MSO strategy.

Compelling Alternatives: DOCSIS 3.0 over HFC or RFoG for Business Services

The Telecommunications industry is defining solution architectures that will meet the highly competitive residential and business services market for video, data, and voice services. It is widely known that the major U.S. Telecom providers, AT&T and Verizon, have announced substantial investments in their network infrastructure in an effort to add video and high-bit rate data services to compete with cable. The Cable Multiple System Operators (MSOs) have enjoyed a technical competitive advantage over the last few years with a network infrastructure that can deliver the triple play – video, data, and voice services – over one common network architecture. This paper describes one of several MSO efforts to maintain a leadership position in the marketplace and to leverage their extensive capital investment via the development DOCSIS 3.0®. This paper shows their ability to increase the data bandwidth capabilities for residential and business services, without network-wide upgrades.

Business Service Implementation- An E1 Project Planning Case Study

This case study outlines the planning steps taken during a business service project involving ARRIS and an unnamed service provider. The purpose of the project was to analyze the possibility of transporting E1 links through an existing HFC network as a way to reduce the costs associated with provisioning E1 connections to Business Customers. This study compared connections that were currently being leased from a third party carrier or provided via Wireless Links with an alternative solution proposed by ARRIS based on interoperable standardized equipment.

The Business Services Market: A Current Revenue Opportunity for Cable Operators

The rationale for, and technology of, the business services opportunity for cable operators has been well-documented. Now is the time for the block and tackle marketing of this new source of potential revenue.

Despite the near-ubiquity of HFC plant and cable’s expertise in delivering highly reliable residential voice and data service, the industry’s entry into the Business Services marketplace has been slow and cable’s share of the enterprise sector market revenue a fraction of its potential.

But that is changing – major North American MSOs are leading the charge in marketing carrier-grade Business Services to small and medium businesses and this presentation will provide attendees with actionable strategies and marketing tips to tap this under-served segment.

2006

Cable Operators Offering Metro Ethernet Network Services

Carrier Ethernet brings the speed, low cost and flexibility of Ethernet to the carrier market, with simultaneous reduction of costs and rapid ROI. In 2007, MSOs are poised to enter a marketplace that shows fast increases in Carrier Ethernet service revenues. The advantages of Ethernet based services are due to their simplicity and widespread adoption in home and business communication. Ubiquitous Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks, which cover geographically diverse locations, can economically provide a variety of native Ethernet services to business. This paper describes the network architectures and tools available for MSOs to offer Carrier Ethernet business services over DOCSIS as well as using fiber facilities while ensuring reliability, scalability, and service management capabilities.

Implementing IP Voice for Commercial Service

The cable industry has enjoyed tremendous success serving residential voice services over the past several years. MSOs are now cashing in on offering these same attractive voice packages to small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers, while bundling the delivery of very high-speed data services as well. MSOs can even use VoIP to cap growth of existing legacy circuit switched PBXs and key systems using E1/T1 circuit emulation technologies to create multi-location wide area networking capabilities. ARRIS published a white paper entitled "Implementing IP Voice for Commercial Services" in conjunction with the October 17th, 2006, SCTE Business Services Symposium. This paper discusses how MSOs can satisfy SMB needs and provides a useful sales tool for MSO Business Services Product Managers.

Fixed Mobile Convergence for Cable Operators

Cable operators (MSOs) worldwide face a growing, profitable opportunity to add mobility to their portfolio of triple-play services. Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones from home. Technology now enables a blending of fixed and mobile phone services to bring the consumer cost savings and new value services. The MSOs have critical advantages in gaining voice subs: they own last-mile access, they have existing relationships with subscribers, and they have the ability to bundle services.

ARRIS C4® CMTS Evolution to DOCSIS® 3.0

The CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 specification initiative is a response to cable operators’ need to harness new technological developments to be able to offer:

  • greater bandwidth through wideband channel bonding
  • access to more IP address via implementation of IPV6
  • interoperability of VPN via standardization
  • enhanced security management
    The architectural advantages and powerful features of the C4 CMTS will provide operators with a seamless migration cost-effective deployment solution.