Harmonic unveils MAC Anywhere solution
October 11, 2021
Harmonic has unveiled a new Flexible MAC Architecture (FMA) offering for its CableOS Cloud-Native Core Platform at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2021 virtual event.
Harmonic’s unique software-based MAC Anywhere approach to FMA is a breakthrough for the cable industry, empowering operators to flexibly deploy the industry’s most advanced DOCSIS MAC on a variety of remote hardware platforms, in the data center and in the node. Harmonic’s end-to-end FMA solution is included as part of the market-leading CableOS Platform as a simultaneous orchestrator for next-gen Remote PHY, Remote MAC-PHY and PON devices, enabling operators to have unprecedented flexibility in deploying multi-gigabit broadband services.
“Surging demand for ultra-fast broadband has made legacy access infrastructure unsustainable,” said Nimrod Ben-Natan, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cable Access Business at Harmonic. “FMA will play an important role in next-generation networks, and our unique MAC Anywhere approach is the smarter way to deploy FMA. Leveraging our CableOS Platform in a Flexible MAC Architecture, operators can simplify network operations, use the hardware of their choice, and power 10G and symmetrical multi-gigabit internet in the most sustainable way possible.”
Unlike other recently announced FMA products, Harmonic’s FMA offering containerizes MAC functions and orchestrates the MAC in any standard Remote MAC-PHY hardware device. Whether deployed in an operator’s datacenter and/or in the outside plant, on hardware developed by Harmonic or a third party, the CableOS Platform can orchestrate MAC Anywhere dynamically across the network to ensure a superior quality of service for subscribers. Harmonic’s MAC Anywhere solution is built on the industry’s most advanced and field-proven software, accelerating the roll out of FMA.