Modems, Modems Everywhere

Karen Brown

When it comes to new cable modems you will see on the show floor at the Western Cable Show, the point is in the ports.

With DOCSIS 1.1 certification looming in the next year, manufacturers are already previewing cable modem models with the necessary Ethernet and Uniform Serial Bus (USB) ports necessary to drive IP telephony and home networking functions, even as modems move closer to retail sale.

3Com Expect to see displays of 3Com Corp.'s cable modems emphasizing ease of installation and management, according to Mike Pula, director-product management for the manufacturer. The 3Com booth will feature several retail-ready consumer cable modem products.

Boosted by a recent first-place finish in a ZDTV "bake-off" of cable modems, 3Com's booth will have new versions of consumer products, Pula said.

"I think in terms of our consumer product we want to get the general audience and want them to know what to expect when they take the product out of the packaging," he said.

3Com will also be sponsoring workshops and seminars for cablers including characterization of the cable plant, installing cable modems and capacity and engineering of headends for cable modems service. There will also be contests to see who can install a cable modem the fastest.

"All of these things are intended to give a sampling and tidbits of information," Pula said. "They are meant to provide education."

Askey Askey International Corp. will be showing demo models of its IP-enabled Ethernet cable modem with a price tag $40 lower than its originally certified unit, according to Jeff Kao, Askey's product manager. The main difference is in a less expensive chipset driving the modem, which is now at CableLabs for certification.

Another demo unit for Askey will be a modem with a USB and Ethernet connector - even though the DOCSIS 1.1 certification process is not quite ready.

"We know a lot of people are waiting for that product," Kao said. "Even though CableLabs isn't ready for certification we will have a model to show."

Other products in production that will be shown at the Askey booth include an internal PCI cable modem to be built in to computer hardware at some point. But Kao said this product is not likely to show up in retail computers for some time because of cost - computer manufacturers are looking for a $70 price point, but so far no one in the industry has been able to get a PCI product below about $130, he said.

General Instrument At General Instrument Corp.'s booth home communications will not be hard to find, according to Buddy Snow, director-marketing for SURFboard cable modems.

GI is focusing on three areas of the house in its demo of cable modem-based products: in the living room, with the DCT5000+ digital set-top box; in the home office, with the SURFboard model cable modems for computers; and on the side of the house, where GI is working on a hybrid home gateway product with a cable modem and cable telephony capabilities.

The home gateway is envisioned as a side-of-the-house product. But as an alternative, GI's SURFboard 3500 cable modem with its IP telephony capabilities can be used in place of the home gateway product. Snow said this choice would give cable operators a greater deployment choice.

"That's really the focus of what you are going to see at the Western Show," Snow said. "It's not just one product; it's a host of products you can use."

Also in the works is an internal PCIcard for computers, which Snow calls "a SB3500 on a stick."

And on the horizon is the SB4100 due next summer, which will add a USB port and added networking features modeled on standards developed by the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance. Home networking will be a centerpiece for GI.

"This kind of an end-to-end story is what we are trying to tell," Snow said.

Thomson/RCA Carl Bruhn, GM-RCA broadband products for Thomson Broadband Technologies says to expect a larger company presence at the show.

The Thomson booth will preview new modems coming in the year 2000 under the company's RCA brand, including the DCM205 now in certification rounds at CableLabs and the DCM215.

The DCM205 has a DOCSIS 1.0-certified cable modem but adds an Ethernet interface. The chipset is actually DOCSIS 1.1 compliant, Bruhn said. The DCM215 adds a USB port.

Thomson and Toshiba were the first manufacturers to gain DOCSIS 1.0 certification, a tradition Bruhn says the company wants to extend to the next generation.

"We're betting on being first," he said. "Like everything else there's hoards at CableLabs trying to get in the gate. We hope to stay at the front of the pack."

Philips The big shift for Philips Electronics away from stand-alone cable modems will be reflected at its booth, according to Chuck Kaplan, GM Cable North America for Philips. One reason for this is the strong manufacturing numbers for digital set-top boxes vs. cable modems.

"I think that's the big news," he said. "When you look at rollouts for stand-alone (modem) boxes, it hasn't met expectations."

Instead, the digital set-top box will take center stage at Philips. The company will be showing off its box platform with USB and IEEE 1394 ports. That gives the box the ability to network with multiple peripherals, making it a strong candidate for controlling home networking functions, according to Paul Pishal, director of product strategies for Philips.

"Now the set-top box is starting to look like a gateway with video, data and telephony functions," he said.

Though not visible, the Philips modem will be a part of that scheme. Pishal said the move toward DOCSIS 1.1 and its IP telephony capabilities "has been a great jumpstart in bringing together several things," that serve as building blocks for advanced set-top functions.