Numbericable Gives Cisco's Wideband a Spin

Cisco announced last week that Numericable, France’s biggest cable operator, is using Cisco and Scientific Atlanta technology for wideband cable modem service that will push speeds up to 100 Mbps.

The nationwide upgrade of Numericable’s network is based on Cisco’s "IP Next-Generation Network" (IP NGN) architecture to bring ultra-high-speed broadband services to more than 9 million households in France by the end of 2007. The upgrade will allow Numericable to offer customers a set of converged services, such as advanced video, voice and data services, over a single broadband connection.

Numericable is deploying fiber to customers’ premises nationwide and is increasing throughput of its existing network by using Cisco’s wideband solution, which applies downstream channel-bonding technology, which is defined in the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 specification, to logically combine several RF channels to achieve theoretical broadband data rates in excess of hundreds of megabits per second. The solution uses Cisco’s uBR10012 CMTSs and high-density xDQA24 edge QAM modulators and EPC2505 wideband cable modems from Scientific Atlanta. Cisco previously announced a trial in September for its wideband solution with UPC Broadband in Europe.

Modular CMTSs (M-CMTSs) and wideband cable modems are being brought into play to upgrade high-speed data services to compete against telephone companies’ ADSL, VDSL, and fiber-to-the-home. – Mike Robuck