Com21 Taps Market for Business Modems

JIM BARTHOLD

Com21 has a cable modem that might be ahead of its time. The Office Cable Modem (OCM) features enhanced security and a four-port Ethernet hub and is aimed at the nascent home telecommuter market.

"It's probably ahead or at the very opening of its product window," says VP-marketing Lief Koepsel. "Because of its features, the integrated firewall, content filtering, things like that, it's focused on people who are looking for a secure connection to their business sites."

The price, $900, too, is hardly residential.

"It's not a retail product or a consumer good; it's designed for the business environment," Koepsel says. "It would be sold through the MSOs that have commercial aspects of their business or probably leased by the commercial side, not the residential side of the MSOs."

The DOCSIS-compliant modem intends to make working at home a secure function.

"A fair amount of people who are working at home want a secure connection in their business site," he says. "Once someone has hacked into a system at home, if that system has a connection to a business, then they can hack into the business. With a firewall, this prevents them from being able to do that."

On top of that, he says, the modem can add virtual private network (VPN) capabilities to further enhance the secure work-at-home feeling.

DOCSIS 1.1, Koepsel says, addresses some of the security issues but does not take the precautions needed for a business product.

"DOCSIS 1.1 is secure from a sheer data perspective," he says. "Somebody can't see what the data is very easily, but DOCSIS 1.1 does not, for instance, have a firewall in its spec."

The ISP Channel, Koepsel says, is among the first customers looking at this new product and its possibilities.

"The customers we're talking to are looking at charging more for it," he says, noting it might be part of a tier offered to individual or small office commercial users.

"Let's say they offer a higher tiered service ... and you want content filtering, they'll charge you for that," he says. "If you want VPN, they can charge you for that. A firewall, they can help you set it up, and it will be part of the charge that comes along with the modem."