Cisco has launched a new consumption-based DOCSIS licensing plan to help cable operators better compete with FTTH providers in the high-speed broadband market.
The vendor's new Infinite Broadband unlocked (IBU) licensing program for its Cisco Converged Broadband Router (cBR-8) platform will enable cable operators to deliver high-speed broadband, video and voice services.
With the offering, Cisco aims to improve the economics of offering multi-gigabit services by using distributed access cable architectures employing Remote PHY (RPHY) technology.
RPHY uses existing IP technologies such as Ethernet PON, GPON and metro Ethernet to deploy DOCSIS over digital fiber to enable two-way services over cable. It is designed to bridge the gap between DOCSIS and digital fiber.
Traditional licensing models for converged cable access platform devices require cable operators to purchase large numbers of new bandwidth licenses for every service group.
By contrast, Cisco's IBU will give cable operators the capability to provision all of the capacity of their CCAP platforms without restrictions or upfront licensing expense. Licensing is aligned to the number of subscribers cross the network.
Cisco has separately used the recent CES trade show in Las Vegas to demonstrate its Cisco Infinite Video Platform, which is designed to support loud-powered, app-driven video services such as cloud DVR and OTT video.
The platform allows service providers to use a virtual cloud stack to deliver high quality, secured video experiences to all consumer devices.
The vendor revealed that more than 20 global service providers are delivering or beta testing programs for cloud DVR services using the platform.