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Archives
 July 1999 Issue
Deployment Watch
Terayon Modem Shipments Top 100,000
As its synchronous-code division multiple access (S-CDMA) technology assumes center stage in CableLabs Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 1.2, Terayon reports modem shipments have topped 100,000.
Though the market for the companys TeraPro modems is seeing rapid expansion, the lions share of deployments has taken place in international markets.
An interview with TCAs Executive Vice President of Communications, Newt Farrar, illuminates one domestic cable operators experiences deploying a technology that, because of its current proprietary status, may be considered risky by some industry observers.
By the numbers
TCA has reported an 80-percent success rate with subscriber installations using Terayon modems. Farrar said that although the program is successful, the approach is not appropriate for some of TCAs markets.
"Were also reaching a lot of people who dont have a whole lot of interest in self-installation," he said. "Its not because they couldnt do it or because the modem wouldnt work; they just dont want to deal with it."
Farrar estimated that 10,000 modems are out in TCAs field being tested in various markets, and about 5,000 of those have been deployed and are currently in use.
Among the TCA subscribers participating in the self-installation program, Farrar said that up to 15 percent need tuning in the drop.
"Weve actually had customers take these modems home and get them going. A day later, well call to schedule a truck roll if we think the levels are off-kilter," Farrar explained. "Still, weve got customers saying: Hey, this is the fastest thing weve ever seen. I cant believe you can make it run better. Then we clean up the drop, and its three or four times better than before. That modem just pushes its way through. Its pretty remarkable."
Using Terayons monitoring software, Farrar says, it is easy to detect potential problem areas.
"As the new modems come online, we can see what the levels are and then determine if a visit is needed."
Launch targets
Still, he predicted that the trend behind full-service turnkey provisioning will continue to require a healthy percentage of installations on TCAs part.
Among the five systems Farrar describes, the smallest has 5,000 subscribers, "and weve got them all in between from there to 25,000 in Texas and Arkansas."
Currently, Farrar said, TCA is offering its own branded high-speed broadband Internet service in two of its systems. "Weve also got a little action going in some of the others, either a partial launch thats really quiet that were not yet advertising, or its in a beta test mode, and we havent yet announced that its available."
At press time, just following Coxs acquisition of TCA, Farrar said that the five additional deployments would begin in June.
"In these five markets, weve got just a squeaky little bunch of bandwidth. Its not enough to support a commercial launch yet. As soon as we get commercial bandwidth in there, thats when well start rolling it out."
Ingress issues
Farrar, like many industry professionals, has a lot to say about ingress. "In a good plant thats been rebuilt, it either works or it doesnt. Weve really been pleased by our College Station, Texas, and northwest Arkansas properties, which have just recently been rebuilt," Farrar reports. "Theyre all up in the 26 signal-to-noise ratio (S/N).
"Weve established a lower form of what the plant has to be measured on. Thats a 19 dB S/N thats coming out of the TeraLink headend, with a combined noise level from 5 to 8 nodes. They balance the return path and set all those levels according to spec, and it works."
At that point, Farrar explained, shrinking the nodes becomes critical. "We typically have 2,000 homes per node and somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 homes per TeraLink when we launch. As long as we see at least 19 dB, we feel like weve got some buffer. Weve actually gone into some plants and reduced that figure to 10 dB. It all slows down, but it keeps going."
IP issues
Farrar reports another Terayon advantage with Internet protocol (IP) address assignment. "With a lot of other modems, youve got to assign an IP address to them before theyll work," said Farrar. With Terayon, "The machines already set up for dial-up service. Thats especially useful in a SOHO (small office, home office) environment. Using Terayon software, we also can limit the number of IP addresses assigned."
With the Cox acquisition, adding telephony to the mix appears to be in closer reach to Farrar. "Now that were going to be part of Cox, I expect our plans for telephony to accelerate," he predicted.
"Theres a lot of infrastructure thats got to be built before we even talk about making that work. Were currently in the process of tying all of our systems together. Once weve done that, well have a lot more to be talking about." - CT
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