Comcast 'Prefers' Cisco

Jim Barthold

Cisco Systems will get preferential treatment from Comcast over the next three years, thanks to a binding memo of understanding the two companies signed.

Comcast will look first to Cisco when it comes time to buy routers, cable modem termination system (CMTS) shelf equipment and dial access servers, wide area network (WAN) switches and core routing equipment.

"It's a good-sized agreement," says John Mattson, acting director-marketing for Cisco's Cable Business Unit, who declined to name a value. "We've been their primary supplier of UBRs (universal bridger routers) and CMTSs, and I think the germination of this was wanting to take our relationship just a little deeper."

Especially important, Mattson says, is formalizing the working relationship "to deliver solutions like voice-over-IP and streaming media and supporting their digital set-top infrastructure."

Cisco has been working with Comcast on voice-over-IP trials, and Mattson expects that relationship to deepen over the next three years, especially as the DOCSIS standardization effort moves into its 1.1 stage.

"We have what we call DOCSIS 1.0+, which is a large percentage of the functionality in the DOCSIS 1.1 spec already available on the UBR platform," Mattson says. "We are already delivering a lot of the quality-of-service functionality that is part and parcel with DOCSIS 1.1. We're not waiting for DOCSIS 1.1 qualification to deliver the capabilities."

That makes the Cisco technology appealing, says Steve Craddock, Comcast's VP-new business development.

"I'm OK with that (1.0+) because it helps me do my trials, but that's a proprietary implementation so it doesn't do me much good later on in a wide rollout unless I use only Cisco, which is not in my plans," Craddock explains.

Comcast's plans include at least one other VoIP vendor, Lucent Technologies, with whom the company is testing service in Union, N.J.

"The trial in Union is proceeding," Craddock reports. "We're actually going to be getting some results back from some focus groups. They've done some upgrades there, and we're waiting to see what impact it had."

In the meantime, Comcast has, since earlier this year, also been working with Cisco.

"Basically, I want to propel more than one vendor to be able to get into this space," says Craddock, who is helping lead the DOCSIS 1.1 specification setting effort at CableLabs. "They're (Cisco) looking to show us they can be a good vendor."

Cisco is also looking to move seamlessly to DOCSIS 1.1, Mattson adds.

"It's going to be a software upgrade only," he explains. "They don't have to put in any new cards; they don't have to swap anything out. It's just a matter of downloading a new software load."

That, he says, is just a matter of getting the word from CableLabs.

"I think we already have some equipment in CableLabs that is going down that road," he says.

"I'm not sure 1.1 qualification has actually formally started yet."