19 Suppliers Participate in Latest DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON Interop

Louisville, Colorado, January 25, 2012—CableLabs® has introduced an equipment qualification program for its DOCSIS® Provisioning of EPON (DPoE^™) project, with an aim to facilitate accelerated development of devices that support the delivery of business communications services using Ethernet Passive Optical Network.

The DPoE Qualification Program allows equipment makers to certify that their technology and devices are compliant with CableLabs DPoE version 1.0 specifications, which describe a common approach for using DOCSIS back-office provisioning processes to deliver business data services over EPON access networks. The DPoE specifications were published in February 2011. Assuring compliance with the specifications in turn allows cable companies to invest confidently in equipment that is known to be interoperable with other DPoE-compliant devices. The CableLabs DPoE program is an extension of earlier DOCSIS certification programs that have fostered increased interoperability and product availability.

"Having devices qualified by CableLabs promises to encourage widespread deployment of this new technology and lower costs to both cable operators and business customers by leveraging the proven provisioning capabilities of DOCSIS," said Nomi Bergman, President of Bright House Networks.

The DPoE Qualification Program supports the cable industry's ability to further its presence in a business EPON market that is rising in prominence and scale as medium and large businesses increasingly demand high-capacity data networking solutions. "We continue to see greater demand for our IP and Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)-based business services, and are excited to deploy qualified DPoE devices in our network, facilitating a common approach for provisioning and greater cost efficiencies," said Mike LaJoie, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Time Warner Cable.

Successful interop

The development of a DPoE Qualification Program follows the successful completion of the fourth DPoE interoperability event hosted by CableLabs. Nineteen industry suppliers participated in the Dec. 12-16, 2011 interop, which focused on the DPoE v1.0 specifications. In addition to providing provisioning requirements for EPON equipment, version 1.0 of the DPoE specifications defines requirements and functionality to support Metro Ethernet services such as Ethernet Private Line (EPL).

CableLabs' interoperability events provide suppliers with an informal laboratory setting in which they have the opportunity to test their latest products within CableLabs' headends and testing environment, determine compliance with industry specifications and the ability of their products to interoperate with other devices in an end-to-end system.

"DPoE interoperability has come a long way in the eleven months since the first interop event was held. We've gone from basic registering and provisioning of devices to complex interoperability issues such as secure software download, classification, and encapsulation," said Curtis Knittle, Director of Digital Video Services at CableLabs and project lead for the DPoE specifications.

The fourth DPoE interop event attracted three new suppliers in Oliver-Solutions, NTT Corp., and Ixia. Returning participants included Adva Optical Networking, Alcatel-Lucent, Arris Group Inc., Aurora Networks, Broadcom Corp., Ciena Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., CTDI, Finisar Corp., Huawei, MRV Communications, PMC-Sierra Inc., Qualcomm Atheros Inc., Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics Co. Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries and ZTE Corp.

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org, www.ebif.tv and www.tru2way.com.

CableCARD™, CableHome®, CableLabs®, CableNET®, CablePC™, DCAS™, DOCSIS®, DPoE™, EBIF™, Go2BroadbandSM, M-Card™, OpenCable™, PacketCable™, PeerConnect™, and tru2way® are marks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.