Best Data and Com 21 join 11 other manufacturers who, since March of this year, have had their modems certified. General Instrument and Thomson Multimedia’s RCA Broadband Cable Group (RCA) also achieved re-certification of their modems in certification wave 11. Those companies with qualified CMTSs are: Arris Interactive, Cisco Systems, and Motorola.

Modem suppliers whose products previously have been certified are: 3Com, Arris Interactive, Askey Computer Corp., Cisco Systems, General Instrument, Philips Electronics, Samsung Information Systems of America, Sony Corp., Terayon Communications, Thomson Consumer Electronics, and Toshiba.

Testing will continue over the next few weeks on a specific type of modem product—one that has a universal serial bus (USB) connection. This connection will allow plug-and-play installation by cable consumers without them having to open up their computers.

Based upon the speed with which the industry is moving, CableLabs expects to see a wide variety of products encompassing DOCSIS standards submitted across the five certification testing waves during 2000. The first certification wave of 2000 will begin on January 24th.

Certified modems are identifiable by a "CableLabs® Certified™" seal. This seal informs consumers and cable operators that a modem complies with the CableLabs’ cable modem specification. It also assures that it will communicate (interoperate) with qualified cable system headends, which soon will be deployed in a substantial number of systems worldwide.

There are more than 65 different regional deployments by cable operators on their broadband networks using cable modem products from the more than one dozen companies producing CableLabs® Certified™ cable modems. The cable industry has created a complete retail certification standard in its data modem program after beginning with a clean slate 3-1/2 years ago.

A Certification Review Committee, comprised of representatives of CableLabs member companies, grants certification status to DOCSIS-compliant modems, and qualified status on headend equipment, based on lab tests completed by CableLabs, as well as on field data.

Cable modems are used to provide high-speed Internet and data access over cable’s broadband networks. Cable modems are always connected and, unlike telephone industry modems, do not require re-dialing to a service provider. In addition, because the connection is via two-way cable, consumers do not tie up their telephone lines for Internet surfing when using a cable modem. Certified cable modems can coexist in cable systems with existing, proprietary cable modems.

Manufacturers who receive CableLabs certification for their high-speed cable modems have successfully completed an extensive series of interoperability tests supported by CableLabs membership. Modems are tested against CableLabs-qualified headend equipment supplied by different manufacturers.

As part of the certification test process, suppliers are asked to work in CableLabs facilities in pre-market, pre-competitive testing and evaluation in order to prove their compliance with the industry-supported program and technology. As part of the certification process, suppliers complete self-testing of their products at their own facilities prior to submission to CableLabs.

CableLabs certification focuses on how well suppliers’ cable modems and headend equipment adhere to CableLabs-defined interface specifications. The existing DOCSIS cable modem architecture is enriched with high-speed data capability of up to 38 million bits per second throughput per standard cable channel, with the flexibility of enabling each broadband service provider to customize multiple service tiers. In addition to the unprecedented speed, cable modems also offer ease of installation, robust reliability, and data encryption of all information conveyed by the certified modems.