Broadcom expands C-DOCSIS product line for Chinese operators

HANGZOU, CHINA: Broadcom Corp. recently announced a new C-DOCSIS system-on-a-chip (SoC) for Chinese operators to scale service deployments for more cost-efficient, competitive offerings.

The new device expands on Broadcom's flagship C-DOCSIS silicon, the BCM3218, to provide Chinese operators with tailored offerings for their growing customer bases that scale effectively for smaller multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) with 50 to 200 users.

Driven by the market evolution towards interactive television, Internet and telecommunications services in China, also known as "triple-play" services, Chinese cable operators today require standards-based solutions for economical and final-100-meter access technologies.

Broadcom's standards-based C-DOCSIS technology provides the higher bandwidth packet transport needed for such Internet connectivity, video and voice service by leveraging operators' existing coaxial infrastructure.

C-DOCSIS works by using Ethernet Passive Optical Networking (EPON), Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON) or point-to-point digital fiber methods to offer interoperability between system providers and robust Quality of Service (QoS) to ensure packet delivery during periods of network congestion.

The technology is certified by SARFT, the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television agency that oversees broadcasting in the region, and has been field-tested and deployed by top Chinese operators and OEMs, including Huawei, LanCable, Sumavision and ZTE.

"When Chinese cable operators first addressed significant trends in the market-including regional consolidation and service expansion-Broadcom's flagship C-DOCSIS silicon was engineered to deliver large-scale deployments for China's Next Generation Broadcast initiative to converge telecommunications, Internet and television networks," said Ernie Bahm, Broadcom senior director of Product Marketing, Broadband Communications Group.

"As demand for triple-play services from Chinese consumers in smaller multitenant buildings continues to expand, Broadcom's new BCM3227 provides a cost-effective architecture built specifically for operators to deploy C-DOCSIS technology for new customers, regardless of size."

"Broadcom's C-DOCSIS products have already been widely adopted among a number of domestic operators, including Guangzhou Digital Media, Cable Networks of Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, and Shanxi Provience, as well as Nanjing City and Kunshan City of Jiangsu Province," said Ru Jigang, GM of Topvision, a subsidiary company of Sumavision. "We expect further success with Broadcom's next-generation BCM3227 DOCSIS solution in the Chinese market."

"Broadcom's C-DOCSIS products with scalability for smaller multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) have made a perfect transformation for DOCSIS products in the China market," said Shentu Meiliang, executive VP for LanCable. "LanCable has established its market position during this transformation, and we expect that the BCM3227 chipset can be embedded everywhere in the Chinese access network due to its flexibility and cost-economy."

"C-DOCSIS technology will enable the integration of data streams and DTV transport streams, and support all-IP modes," said Xu Zhicheng, VP for ZTE China. "With the establishment of such a technical system and network bi-directional transformation, the radio and TV network will be the same as Chinese telecom networks and provide services in all-IP modes. This will greatly promote Chinese radio and TV network development."

"Huawei believes that the new BCM3227 C-DOCSIS chipset will enhance the performance and cost competitiveness of Huawei's D-CMTS solution," said Han Yufa, VP for Access Product Lines, Huawei. "Working with Broadcom, we can bring more benefits to the high-speed broadband market and its end users."

Broadcom's new C-DOCSIS CMC chipset is optimized for compatibility with Broadcom's cable modem, set-top box, and 10G EPON Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and GPON products, to deliver advantages to cable operators distributing their services over coaxial cable across in-building networks.

The BCM3227, when coupled with Broadcom's cable modem chips including the BCM3383, BCM3384, BCM33843 and BCM3385, supports advanced modes in the C-DOCSIS standard to boost downstream speeds by 25 percent to 1 Gbps, and to boost upstream speeds by 33 percent to 160 Mbps.1 When integrated into a coax media converter, the BCM3227 transitions DOCSIS-based customer premise equipment from a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) coaxial network to a digital fiber network.

As a result, operators can take advantage of DOCSIS benefits while providing an economical architecture to implement triple-play services to MDUs in China.