Cable giants Comcast and Charter Communications on Wednesday announced a new partnership with chipmaker Broadcom to jointly develop a new silicon standard capable of delivering downstream speeds of up to 25 gigabits per second over cable's traditional hybrid fiber-coax wires.
Outlining their collaboration during the cable industry's big annual tech trade show, SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta, the companies billed the standard as the launch of “DOCSIS 5.0” — a new version of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, which the cable industry uses to transmit data.
It's an attempt to unify the fractured development paths of the current DOCSIS 4.0 iteration, which has two disparate threads — Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 and Extended Spectrum DOCSIS 4.0 (ESD).
Comcast, Charter and Broadcom are looking to develop unified DOCSIS chipsets for network nodes, smart amps, and cable modems, enabling both FDX and ESD versions of the DOCSIS 4.0 specification.
“Supporting a single technology that can be used by all operators efficiently, over their existing networks, allows the industry to leverage its collective investment, and to increase the benefits of AI at the edge,” Charlie Herrin, president of technology, product and experience for Comcast, said in a statement.
Added said Rich DiGeronimo, president of product and technology for Charter: “By integrating Broadcom's cutting-edge technology into our network infrastructure and cable modems, our network will leverage artificial intelligence to enhance power, reliability, and cost-effectiveness, ultimately delivering superior services to our customers.”
