Two CMS and Additional PacketCable™ Devices Get Certified/Qualified in Wave 25
Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapters (E-MTAs) from Arris and Motorola received the certification status and Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTSs) from Arris, Cisco, Motorola, and Terayon received qualification status.
Glenn Russell, Director of PacketCable and project leader, said: “PacketCable Certification is gaining momentum. We look forward to continuing our momentum through this year, providing the vendors with an efficient path to the cable telecommunications marketplace.”
The achievement of qualified status by a CMS is an important step in cable’s PacketCable development. The CMS functions as a “soft-switch” in the PacketCable architecture and performs many critical functions necessary for voice communications, including connection management, implementation of subscriber features, and call accounting. The CMS also communicates with other PacketCable-based gateway elements to control connections to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) so that calls may be completed to non-PacketCable locations where appropriate.
PacketCable is a CableLabs-led initiative to define a common platform to deliver advanced real-time communication services, such as VoIP, over two-way cable plant. Built on top of the industry’s DOCSIS® 1.1 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications) cable modem infrastructure, PacketCable networks use IP technology as the basis for a multimedia architecture. A DOCSIS 1.1 network with PacketCable extensions enables cable operators to deliver data and voice traffic efficiently and economically using a single high-speed, quality-of-service (QoS)-enabled broadband architecture.
The PacketCable initiative has followed a similar process to that employed in the successful DOCSIS program. Manufacturers that receive CableLabs certification for their E-MTA, or qualification for their CMTS and CMS, have successfully completed an extensive series of interoperability tests supported by CableLabs membership. E-MTAs and CMTSs were tested for interoperability in combination with other PacketCable headend components including CMSs supplied by multiple manufacturers.
As part of the certification test process, vendors were asked to work in CableLabs facilities in pre-market, pre-competitive testing and evaluation in order to demonstrate compliance with the industry-supported program and technology.
The PacketCable effort began in late 1997 when a team comprised of CableLabs members identified the need for a multimedia architecture to support the delivery of advanced services over the DOCSIS 1.1 cable modem architecture. The intended architecture needed to support several end-to-end functions, including signaling for services, media transport at variable QoS levels, security, provisioning of the client device, billing capabilities, and other network management functions.
The primary purpose of the PacketCable project was to define a services delivery platform that allowed cable operators to deliver real-time multimedia services to consumers over the DOCSIS 1.1 cable modem architecture. Although several existing interface standards addressed various pieces of this platform, a comprehensive and integrated end-to-end architecture did not exist. PacketCable identified a variety of existing interface protocols, and defined new protocols as needed, that were integrated into a single, comprehensive system that became the PacketCable architecture.
CableLabs® Certified™ or CableLabs Qualified means that the device has passed a series of tests for compliance with the indicated version of PacketCable 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.