CableLabs® Certifies Home Networking Equipment in Industry First

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The cable industry’s successful certification process has achieved another first milestone for expanding the broadband industry with new products by awarding certified status to two devices for CableHome™ 1.0 (check here for CableHome certified product list). This industry first comes after one wave of certification testing of home-networking devices. The companies achieving certified status for residential gateways were LinkSys and NETGEAR.

CableHome is a CableLabs®-managed initiative that provides consumers with a secure and managed residential gateway that can be connected to the cable network in a plug-and-play fashion. It builds upon the already successful Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS™) project that has helped launch deployment of more than 20 million high-speed, always connected, interoperable cable modems internationally. Hundreds of cable modems have achieved DOCSIS certified status.

CableHome, coupled with cable broadband service, allows for distribution of broadband service throughout a consumer’s home. The initiative offers the consumer a secure and managed residential gateway and offloads much of the technical burden inherent in home networking from the consumer to the cable operator.

“CableHome gives cable consumers a better, easier, more reliable alternative for home networking,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of the Board of CableLabs and President of Comcast Corporation. “While the consumer can still use do-it-yourself home networking products, CableHome delivers all the benefits without requiring that the consumer have the know-how of a professional local area network administrator. CableHome will provide choice, control and convenience for millions of broadband households,” he added.

“Home networking provides a fertile foundation for many types of services for the cable operator and for the consumer,” said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green. “Cable has a unique broadband platform that DOCSIS and CableHome help make even better and we will continue to add new technologies to that platform,” Green added.

Rouzbeh Yassini, executive consultant to CableLabs and head of the CableHome initiative, noted that the award-winning process known as DOCSIS has allowed CableHome to move to certified product in record time. “We thought we were moving quickly with DOCSIS modems getting to certified status, but the home networking equipment has advanced even more rapidly. Consumers are the beneficiaries with this kind of interoperable product becoming available,” said Yassini.

CableLabs also would like to recognize those vendors who participated in developing CableHome 1.0 Certification tools. This worldwide vendor team included: Arris, Askey, Broadcom, Coresma, High Speed Surfing, Intel, Ixia, Linksys, Samsung, SigTek, Spirent, Texas Instruments, and Thomson.

CableHome 1.0 provides a number of simple home network trouble-shooting tools, which in many cases will enable the cable operator to detect and to resolve customer home networking issues remotely. In addition, CableHome 1.0 helps ensure customer privacy, as it does not provide the ability to query or to configure consumer devices, such as PCs, within the home. CableHome 1.0 also helps protect the customer from hackers attempting to gain unauthorized access to their wireless home network.

The home network service support tools the operator receives in a CableHome-compliant residential gateway enable improved customer support and relationships, and increases the efficiency of customer care operations. CableHome 1.0 provides standardization of home networking functionality within a residential gateway, allowing for deployment of a single common back office support infrastructure, and providing a multiple supplier environment.

CableLabs Certified® or CableLabs Qualified means that the device has passed a series of tests for compliance with the indicated version of the CableHome Specification and has thus demonstrated interoperable functionality with any other "CableLabs certified/qualified" device. Many of these devices provide other functions or are designed to comply with other specifications, in each case tailored by the manufacturer to meet the growing needs of consumers or cable operators in an evolving communication/entertainment sector. While CableLabs encourages such innovation and diversity, the phrase CableLabs certified/qualified should not be understood as an endorsement of these other attributes (or that the product is certified to other specifications or versions), which are solely the responsibility of the company making the additional claims.