Comcast, Charter aim for 25Gb
September 26, 2024
Comcast and Charter Communications have announced a partnership with chipmaker Broadcom to develop a new silicon standard capable of delivering downstream speeds of up to 25Gbs over cable’s traditional hybrid fibre-coax nets.
Outlining their collaboration at SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta, the companies billed the standard as the launch of ‘DOCSIS 5.0’ — a new version of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, which the cable industry uses to transmit data. It’s an attempt to unify the fractured development paths of the current DOCSIS 4.0 iteration, which has two disparate threads — Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 and Extended Spectrum DOCSIS 4.0 (ESD).
Comcast, Charter and Broadcom are looking to develop unified DOCSIS chipsets for network nodes, smart amps, and cable modems, enabling both FDX and ESD versions of the DOCSIS 4.0 specification.
“Supporting a single technology that can be used by all operators efficiently, over their existing networks, allows the industry to leverage its collective investment, and to increase the benefits of AI at the edge,” said Charlie Herrin, president of technology, product and experience for Comcast.