Broadband access over cable for next-generation services: a distributed switch architecture

Author

Dravida, Subra ; Gupta, Dev ; Nanda, Sanjiv ; Rege, Kiran ; Strombosky, Jerome ; Tandon, Manas

Volume

40

Issue

8

fYear

2002

fDate

8/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

116

Lastpage

124

Abstract

The hybrid fiber coax architecture deployed by the cable service providers has been successful in capturing a substantial piece of the residential broadband access market. In the United States over five million homes connect to the Internet using DOCSIS cable modems. We describe an evolution path to enhance the HFC plant to provide, initially, Gigabit Ethernet (and eventually multi-Gigabit Ethernet) on the trunk and feeder portions, and 100 Mb/s Ethernet on the subscriber drops. This next-generation HFC network will enable cable service providers to address the vast and underserved small and medium-sized business market, as well as offer emerging applications and services to the residential market.

Keywords

Internet; broadband networks; business communication; cable television; hybrid fibre coax networks; local area networks; modems; subscriber loops; 100 Mbit/s; CATV industry; DOCSIS cable modems; Gigabit Ethernet; HFC network; HFC plant; Internet; USA; business market; cable service providers; distributed switch architecture; hybrid fiber coax architecture; multi-Gigabit Ethernet; next-generation services; residential broadband access market; residential market; subscriber drops; telecommunication industry; Bandwidth; Cable TV; Coaxial cables; Communication cables; Ethernet networks; Hybrid fiber coaxial cables; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber communication; Service oriented architecture; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MCOM.2002.1024423

Filename

1024423