Ethernet in the First Mile brings Ethernet to the home with 10Mbps-100Mbps fed directly to settops or computers. It may use twisted pair, Cat-5 Ethernet cable or fiber.
Narad’s “Virtual Fiber Architecture” offers two options for switched IP services. The first uses the bandwidth from 860 MHz to 1 GHz to derive bidirectional 100 Mbps (”Fast Ethernet”) service; the second uses 1 to 2 GHz to derive bidirectional 1 Gbps (”Gigabit Etherner”) service. They claim that both will operate on existing cable plants without any effect on existing cable services running below 860 MHz.
Today’s HFC networks usually combine modulated analog video and Data-Over-Cable-Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) Internet traffic, leaving the headend on a single fiber to be sent downstream. But by mining the optical bandwidth and adding a second wavelength riding in parallel with the DOCSIS and QAM video, operators can deliver high-speed Gigabit Ethernet down to the node level to an Ethernet switch.
From the node, fiber is run out to the customer via coax, CAT 5 cable, or singlemode or multimode fiber.
From a high capacity router at the headend, the two streams, one Gigabit Ethernet, the other the DOCSIS data, are fed into optical transmitters. The Ethernet stream can be fed into the transmitters that serve specific nodes that serve customers most likely to buy Ethernet service.
With 802.11a/g antennas sticking out of the line amps, IBM, Narad and cable partners could effectively offer last mile wireless - with voice. Phase one might be less spectacular - perhaps a package of wireless voice and data services delivered to an IBM “hot spot”.
Telephony and wireless services could be the carrot for MSOs. The DOCSIS 2.0 standard for cable modems, an important milestone for cost/effective voice over cable, has been delayed and plant upgrades would be costly.
The Narad business model could be big trouble for the 3G plans of AT&T wireless. Who will be first to join the IBM/Navad team..Charter…Cox…AOL/TW? Will backpeddling on 3G committments by AT&T wireless follow? Will Microsoft cough up some dough?
Stay tuned.
PS: PulseLink says forget all that. They send Ultra Wide band over cable television, effectively delivering data capacities exceeding one gigabit.
UWB-Cable signals are introduced using inexpensive equipment at the cable head-end and extracted at the customer premises with end user-installed equipment that operates seamlessly with most existing and deployed digital set-top boxes. It does not interfere with or degrade television, high-speed Internet, voice or other services already provided or projected by the CATV industry. It may allow wireless ad hoc networks. Over Jack Valenti’s dead body.
