With the excitement around the explosive growth of broadband utilization, new over the top (OTT) video services, and TV Everywhere, the conversation for us cable folks invariably centers around subscribers’ downstream needs. But the elephant in the room is the upstream. After all, the upstream is the Achilles heel of the typical HFC broadband network, and all those downloads we are watching can actually drive upstream traffic too. As upstream congestion issues begin to take center stage, MSOs are on the lookout for new ways to achieve the sweet spot for network utilization, performance and economics.
Here at Motorola, we’ve been living and breathing the upstream capacity challenge for years, and we’ve just released a new white paper that outlines how recent technology breakthroughs can lead to more efficient network design concepts. In it, we consider how the latest in DOCSIS 3.0 technology, new solutions for diagnostic monitoring, and the innovation inside our RX48 CMTS upstream module can now enable node combining strategies that have already proven effective in downstream capacity management. We also highlight methods to overcome the noise issues that have hindered 2:1 and even 4:1 port-to-node ratios that can really maximize upstream utilization and network economics. We realize that some of the concepts we present may challenge the modus operandi and current industry standard approaches, but isn’t that what innovation is all about?
