Symmetricom, Inc. and BigBand Networks, Inc. have announced a successful vendor interoperability demonstration of the DOCSIS timing interface (DTI) specification within the CableLabs new modular cable modem termination system (M-CMTS) specification. The M-CMTS solution is designed to allow operators to economically expand access bandwidth and facilitate the convergence of video, voice and data over their plants. This industry milestone was achieved at the CableLabs summer conference event in Keystone, Colorado, and IBC 2005 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, according to Symmetricom.

Modular CMTS is an approach to evolving legacy integrated CMTS architectures, achieved by decoupling the functionality to be performed on specialized platforms that are connected by standard interfaces. The configuration achieved by BigBand Networks and Symmetricom is designed to enable migration from legacy integrated CMTS deployments by using field-deployed platforms, with improvements in port density and capacity expenses. By physically separating upstream and downstream resources, the M-CMTS solution breaks the paradigm of fixed capacity ratios for more customizable deployments. Cable operators could leverage this for increasing bandwidth of services to today's field-deployed DOCSIS cable modems, and emerging cable modems capable of channel bonding.

The M-CMTS specification requires precise time and frequency alignment for conformance to the CableLabs specification. This was accomplished by integrating the BigBand Cuda CMTS and BigBand BME (Broadband Multimedia-Service Edge) with Symmetricom's timing technology, producing the Modular CMTS demonstration consisting of commercially available platforms and compatible with commercially available cable modems.

"Utilizing Symmetricom's DTI client reference design provided us with a low risk and fast time to market approach for our Modular CMTS solution," said John Connelly, executive vice president of marketing and business development of BigBand Networks. "We believe the modular approach will prove to be the path chosen by operators that want to leverage their existing infrastructure to gain bandwidth efficiencies, while also leaving themselves the flexibility to adapt to future innovations such as channel bonding and dynamic allocation of bandwidth."

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