CableLabs® Certifies Two Internal Cable Modem Cards Further Expanding Ease of Connectivity; Re-qualifies Motorola High-Speed Data Headend Equipment

Cable modems now may be installed directly into computers by PC manufacturers, a major breakthrough in provisioning that results from CableLabs® certifying internal cable modem cards [PCI cards] made by GVC and Zoom. This will allow consumers to purchase PCs with built-in, always-on, high-speed cable modems.

"This is a real milestone for consumers who want their cable modems pre-configured inside their PCs and ready to use right out of the box," said Brian L. Roberts, chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors and president of Comcast Corporation. "With this advance, the cable industry and its computer industry suppliers can offer greater ease of use and lower price points to consumers who want to enjoy an unsurpassed high-speed Internet service. This should further increase the momentum of the cable Internet business."

"The PCI milestone tracks with our business-to-business (B2B) effort, called ‘Go2Broadband’ or G2B, that links retailers, PC manufacturers and cable operators to a one-stop shop for information about where cable modem service is available," said CableLabs President and CEO, Dr. Richard R. Green.

In addition to the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) certification, which is anticipated to cut the costs of cable modems, the latest wave of CableLabs modem certification saw 11 other modem devices gain CableLabs® Certified™ status, including five more easy-to-install modems with a universal serial bus (USB) connection.

Five companies received certification for the first time in the wave which ended in July. They are Ambit, D-Link Co., Ltd., Ericsson, PowerCom, and Zoom. Five other companies, whose products were previously certified, received re-certification for new and upgraded products. They are AsusTek, Com21, DX Antenna, GVC, Samsung, and Terayon.

The USB connection allows consumers to plug an always-connected cable modem into their computer’s USB connection without requiring a separate Ethernet card to be installed into their computer. The latest USB modems to be certified came from Ambit, Com21, and two from Ericsson and Terayon.

"In the previous waves, our program has certified 10Base-T modems, USB modems, an in-home networking modem and now a PC internal card cable modem," said Bill Kostka, head of the cable modem effort. "This continues to demonstrate the ability of the vendor community to provide innovative new products based on the DOCSIS standards and rapid time-to-market to assure the cable industry maintains its competitive edge over competing technologies," Kostka added.

With these recent announcements, the number of companies that have achieved certified status for more than 75 cable high-speed data devices, has risen to 33. A complete list of companies and their certified models is available on the public area of the www.cablemodem.com Web site.

Certified modems can be identified by a "CableLabs® Certified™" seal, which is placed on equipment to inform consumers and cable operators that their modems comply with CableLabs’ cable modem specification. It also assures that their equipment will interoperate with qualified cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) being deployed worldwide.

In recent years, a number of cable operators have deployed cable modem products on their broadband networks from the more than one dozen companies producing CableLabs® Certified™ cable modems.

The cable industry created the retail modem certification standard from a standing start about four years ago. A Certification Review Board, comprised of representatives of CableLabs member companies, grants certification status to DOCSIS™-compliant modems, and grants qualified status to headend equipment, based upon lab tests completed by CableLabs, as well as on field data. Certification to this point has focused solely on DOCSIS 1.0 products.

The effort has achieved widespread cable and vendor consensus on a series of definitions of key interconnection points in a cable data distribution network. It also has achieved North American (by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) and international (by the International Telecommunications Union) standardization using key elements of DOCSIS.

In addition to the cable modem certifications in July, CableLabs re-qualified Motorola for its cable modem termination system (CMTS) after further testing.

CMTS qualification consists of interoperability, stability, conformance to specification, and manageability of product. Five companies, including Motorola, have received qualified status for CMTSs. The other companies are 3Com, Arris Interactive, Broadband Access Systems, and Cisco Systems.

The qualification process provides cable operators or broadband service providers with information on how the CMTS will interoperate with multiple vendors’ certified cable modems using different silicon.

Qualification is based on the following factors: (1) Vendors provide a signed affidavit affirming that their CMTS meets the published specification and will interoperate with all CableLabs® Certified™ cable modems. (2) The CMTS has exhibited satisfactory performance in various cable operator field trials. (3) The CMTS has passed CableLabs’ audit tests in the areas of interoperability, stability, and specification conformance. The qualification program will continue allowing more vendors’ CMTS units to be qualified. Qualification does not constitute a CableLabs endorsement or recommendation to purchase. CableLabs member companies may purchase any CMTS they choose.