November 20, 2000

Cisco Launches New CMTS

RICHARD COLE

Cisco has launched a series of new cable modem termination system (CMTS) products for both large and small cable operators with an eye toward holding onto its 60% plus market share and keeping up with next- generation systems.

The new CMTS versions and upgrades to the existing 7200 series will be available beginning next month, the company says.

Analysts say the move was critical for Cisco.

"It was absolutely necessary to for them to do this - they didn't have a choice," says Patti Reali, senior analyst with Gartner Dataquest. "CMTS as a standalone product is going away. What we're getting now is broadband access platforms that do more than just enable local cable access networks to talk to the outside world."

For larger operators, Cisco's new uBR10012 Universal Broadband Router allows cable operators to meet the increasing demands of broadband and multiple Internet service providers, says John Mattson, marketing director for Cisco's cable division.

"We have streaming media over IP to PCs and televisions," he says. "And cable operators need a lot of bandwidth for some of these video type services, even video telephony, and they need a lot of capacity for voice service."

The uBR10012 has 40 times the capacity of the 7200 series, and that will double in six months and will continue to double, Mattson says.

Cisco says the uBR10012 allows maxi-mum amounts of throughput even as software features and services are added. Software features such as Multi Protocol Label Switching, Quality of Service and access lists can run simultaneously with minimal impact in system performance.

The cost per port is actually lower than the 7200s, but for operators who don't need the new equipment, the company also is upgrading the older series, including making them fully DOCSIS 1.1- compatible, Mattson says.

The company's other new product, the uBR7100, is aimed at smaller cable companies and operators of multiple dwelling units, shopping centers, business complexes, universities and hotels.

"For some building owners you can practically be a service provider yourself," analyst Reali says. "This is an area that's really starting to heat up, especially for international markets. Think of places like Hong Kong - they're densely populated and everybody lives in apartment buildings."

Also based on the DOCSIS 1.1 standard, Cisco says the uBR7100 is configured to include everything a customer needs for immediately installation and deployment. It ships with an imbedded line card, a built-in upconverter and application-specific software."You can just plug it in, turn it on and forget about it," Mattson says.

It lists at only $15,000 well below the least expensive 7200, which starts at $23,000 and can reach as high as $100,000.