Nokia and WOW!, a US broadband provider, have announced what they claim is the industry’s first commercial virtualised Distributed Access Architecture (vDAA) deployment. Nokia’s Unified Cable Access solution will increase the capacity of WOW!’s existing HFC (Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial) network, helping the broadband provider meet exploding bandwidth demands of subscribers, adapt to the evolving ways they consume multimedia content and deliver a better Internet experience.

Nokia’s unified cable access solution provides a fully distributed and virtualised access architecture that can increase the capacity of existing HFC infrastructures while simultaneously eliminating cable-specific hardware from headends and hubs, significantly reducing space and power requirements. The architecture enables Multiple System Operators (MSOs) to rapidly deploy new services and cost-effectively migrate their networks to a software-driven, all-IP architecture.

WOW! will deploy Nokia’s Unified Cable Access solution, including the Gainspeed Controller, Gainspeed SC-2D Access Node and Gainspeed Video Engine, to support rapid network expansion as the company continues to bring services to new communities and increase performance for subscribers, ensuring a better internet experience. Once the network is fully deployed, WOW! will be able to effectively eliminate the CMTS/CCAP as a physical box and replace their analoueg optical transmission with 10Gbps Ethernet.  This network transformation will enable WOW! to reduce operating expenses while providing the architecture needed to deliver multi-gigabit services to customers using their existing coaxial cable.

Cash Hagen, chief operations officer of WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone, said: “The Nokia virtualised DAA is a groundbreaking technology that enables us to expand our network faster, deploy services more easily and provide the best internet experience for our customers. As the first to deploy the technology in our network, we are ready to lead the way in providing a new solution to meet increasing bandwidth demands.”

Federico Guillén, president of Nokia’s Fixed Networks Business Group, said: “We are excited to be partnering with an innovative cable company like WOW!  They were the first in the industry to see the potential of virtual DAA and are now the first to deploy it. Nokia’s vDAA approach provides cable MSOs with a cost-efficient upgrade path for their existing DOCSIS networks, delivering the added capacity required while simultaneously simplifying network operations and laying the groundwork for an all-fibre, all-IP network.

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