Toward management systems for emerging hybrid fiber-coax access networks

Advances in networking and hardware are motivating the development of high bandwidth local access networks that connect subscriber communities to the Information Superhighway. Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) technology is emerging as one of the few economical viable technologies for designing new local access networks. These HFC local access networks are expected to support a variety of services in different spheres in an integrated manner, by drawing upon diverse technologies from the cable, computer, and telecommunications industries: the tree-and-branch network topology is typical of the cable network; intelligence in the end devices is a characteristic of the computer industry; and addressability, global interconnectivity, and quality of service (QoS) are characteristic of the telecommunications industry. It is this combination of diverse services and technologies that poses fundamental challenges in architecting a management system for HFC networks. The design of a management framework for HFC access networks is discussed