CableLabs® Certifies More Modems, Three More Companies Gain Qualified Status for Cable Data Gear

CableLabs® announced recently that it has awarded CableLabs® Certified™ cable modem status to five modems. CIS and Net & Sys Co., Ltd. are new suppliers to receive certified status. The other companies—Ambit, Cisco Systems, and Motorola—previously had modems certified.

These announcements mean that 38 companies now have achieved certified status for about 100 cable high-speed data devices. Included in this ever-increasing array of certified cable modems are two PCI modems, which manufacturers build inside personal computers.

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 modem termination systems (CMTSs), which are being deployed worldwide.

There are a number of 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 from a standing start four years ago.

A Certification Review Board, comprised of representatives of CableLabs member companies, grants certification status to DOCSIS™-compliant modems, and qualified status to headend equipment, based on 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, CableLabs qualified three new CMTS companies, re-qualified another, and re-certified a company for one of its cable modems.

The newly qualified CMTS companies are RiverDelta, Riverstone and Terayon Communications Systems. Motorola was re-qualified for a CMTS in addition to its cable modem re-certification. There are now eight companies with qualified CMTS products.

The cable headend or CMTS qualification process parallels the CableLabs® Certified™ certification process. CMTS qualification consists of interoperability, stability, specification conformance, and product manageability.

The qualification process provides the cable operator or broadband service provider 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 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.