Test Time For Netgear’s 1 Gig DOCSIS 3.0 Gateway
Netgear’s Latest Gear Reaches Lab, Field Trials in Wake of CableLabs
Certification
By: Jeff Baumgartner
Multichannel News
Jun 3 2013 - 4:15am
http://www.multichannel.com/technology/test-time-netgear%E2%80%99s-1-gig-docsis-30-gateway/143619
A DOCSIS 3.0-powered device from Netgear that’s capable of producing
downstream bursts of 1 Gbps is in “multiple” lab trials and is starting
to enter field trials, according to Naveen Chhangani, director of
product management for Netgear’s service provider unit.
That’s his progress report about six months after Netgear became the
first DOCSIS vendor to achieve CableLabs certification for a data/voice
gateway that can bond 24 downstream channels – enough to produce max
downstream speeds of 960 Mbps using 6MHz-wide channels (in North
American DOCSIS configurations), and eclipse the 1 Gbps mark in
EuroDOCSIS systems that utilize 8MHz-wide channel spacing.
“We have [the product] in multiple labs, and heading into field trials,”
he said, noting that the current activity is in the U.S., as well as
with MSOs in Asia and Europe.
Netgear obtained certification on that product, called the CG4500, last
December. It runs on the Intel’s Puma 6 DOCSIS 3.0 chip and the
MaxLinear MxL267 24-channel DOCSIS 3.0 receiver. The device itself was
certified with the ability to bond 24 downstream channels and four
upstream channels, but it is capable of bonding as many as eight
upstream channels, Chhangani said, noting that CableLabs wasn’t yet
equipped to test at a 24x8 configuration when Netgear entered it for
testing last year.
“We didn’t want to wait,” he said, noting that Intel started production
on the Puma 6 in March.
Hitron Technologies secured CableLabs certification earlier this year on
a 24x8 device called the CGN3 that’s also powered by the Intel/MaxLinear
chipset combo. Although several other vendors have 1 Gig DOCSIS modems
on the roadmap, Netgear and Hitron are the only two to obtain
certification, a distinction that clears them to sell the products at
retail. MSOs also typically require vendors to obtain CableLabs
certification before they buy models directly from vendors.
The CG4500, which can support two lines of VoIP, is also outfitted with
an 802.11n Wi-Fi access point. A revised version in CableLabs testing
now is outfitted with 802.11ac, which is targeting in-home networking
speeds approaching 1 Gbps. The current product also uses the 1.1 version
of Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA0 for networking over the home’s
coax network. The next generation of Netgear DOCSIS 3.0 gateways will
use MoCA 2.0, which can handle baselin net throughout of 400 Mbps, or up
to 800 Mbps when supporting the platform’s enhanced, “turbo” mode.
Netgear isn’t saying who is testing its new CableLabs-certified DOCSIS
3.0 gateway. Some of its known customers include Cox Communications,
Charter Communications, Comcast (for gateways targeted to business
customers), ONO of Spain, and J:COM, Japan’s largest cable operator.
Among DOCSIS consumer premises equipment vendors, Arris was tops in
revenue share for the fourth quarter of 2012, followed by Motorola (now
part of Arris), Cisco and Netgear, according to Infonetics.
Netgear said it shipped about 4 million cable gateways last year.
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