Technicolor's Kevin Fitzpatrick Discusses Cable Operators' DOCSIS 3.1 Transition to Meet Customers' Demands for More Bandwidth, Faster Speed

DENVER - Oct. 19, 2017 - EntSun -- CABLE-TEC EXPO 2017 – North American cable operators have their sights on DOCSIS 3.1 to achieve ultra-high bandwidth and Internet speeds of 1 Gbps and improve operational efficiencies.  However, they face a range of challenges as they upgrade around how to address: legacy equipment; increased competition from telco providers' fiber, 5G and LTE initiatives; and uneven demand within their markets.  So says Kevin Fitzpatrick, Director of Architecture for Cable Broadband with Connected Home, Technicolor in a podcast interview for journalists during the CABLE-TEC EXPO 2017 conference being held in Denver, Colorado this week.

DOCSIS 3.1, says Fitzpatrick, will help address increased demand for bandwidth and speed that's coming both from developers creating new bandwidth-hungry apps and services as well as the consumers who want to use them. It provides the ability to deliver data download speeds of 10 Gbps and upload speeds approaching 2 Gbps over existing hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) lines. DOCSIS 3.1 uses spectrum much more efficiently, delivers more data capacity and higher network efficiency, and improves network responsiveness.

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However, transitioning to DOCSIS 3.1 will require significant investments, and most cable operators want to develop a smooth – rather than a sudden – transition to the new technology.

"When we talk to our customers they are expressing a great deal of interest in DOCSIS 3.1 and certainly have short-term plans. But they have a lot of legacy DOCSIS 3.0 hardware," says Fitzpatrick. "When we look at their projections, operators with aggressive plans will pilot the technology with their high-end users in 2018, while most expect to roll out the technology in two to three years. They're all anticipating a lot of success and fully expect that DOCSIS 3.1 CPE will become the standard product they send out into the field for new customers between now and the end of the decade."

Technicolor has been working closely with cable operators to match their new CPE needs to their evolving implementation plans.

"We have been educating them on DOCSIS 3.1 for a while, provide training services for the technology, and our DOCSIS 3.1 cable gateways and cable modems, which include automatic switchable diplexers for seamless DOCSIS 3.0 to DOCSIS 3.1 transitions," he explains.

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Technicolor also offers products that extend beyond broadband technology, including Wi-Fi Doctor that lets cable operators troubleshoot and remedy networking problems inside their customers' homes, in real time.

"We're providing a comprehensive portfolio. It includes assistance for the DOCSIS 3.0 to 3.1 transition through our diplex solution as well as training. We are providing services and diagnostics that tie everything together, not just the broadband link, but also insight based on analysis of users and the home network," says Fitzpatrick.

To listen in on the entire interview with Kevin Fitzpatrick, visit:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o3ahatvbts3wjaq/08_08_2017_KevinFitzpatrick%20DOCSIS%203.1%20Cable%20Broadband%20Interview_Edit.mp3?dl=0

Journalists and analysts are free to pull quotes from this Q&A feature with attribution in media and market reports. For more details and context, contact:

Lane Cooper
323 817 7547
Lane.cooper@technicolor.com