The Benefits of DOCSIS 3.1

Author: Drew Kempen, Consulting Systems Engineer

DOCSIS 3.1 has finally arrived! After years of talk and development, we are finally beginning to see the initial roll-outs of this next-generation technology. A few years have passed since the benefits of DOCSIS 3.1 were touted. 

Are those benefits still relevant today? It's worth revisiting.

In order to fully understand the benefits of DOCSIS 3.1, it is necessary to understand the boundaries of DOCSIS 3.0. DOCSIS 3.0 was a transformational technology in its own right and time. It provides the capacity to provide up to 1 GB of data to a service group, the ability to offer a high class of service, and provides many features and functionality that help operators with managing the customer, reporting, and reliability. 

Over time, the strengths of DOCSIS 3.0 become its weakness. The ability to achieve 1 GB downstream with up to 32 QAM becomes a limitation. Long-term bandwidth projections predict that DOCSIS 3.0 will begin to reach maximum capacities as soon as 2019 (without continuing to scale down service group sizes). In addition, competition driving 1 GB classes of service has accelerated the need for something beyond DOCSIS 3.0. The once high service group capacities of 3.0 platforms are now no longer enough. As service groups migrate to smaller and smaller groups of homes passed to manage bandwidth availability, more and more ports are required. The continual scaling of chassis, optics and other equipment to accommodate this growth becomes unsustainable. 

To put this scale into perspective, some operators have said they will need to split nodes from 4 to 10x what they are today over the next 10 years. And this is with the full capacity used on 3.0 chassis. The result would be 10x the CMTS chassis, 10x the optics, and 10x the nodes. Facilities, rack space and power requirements cannot scale with this growth. 

For a time, these inevitabilities were pushing many operators to consider a wholesale infrastructure transition to FTTH and PON technologies. The challenge with this was the complete overhaul of the entire network from video, to data provisioning, to OSP cabling and equipment to CPE. The cost, technology and knowledge change and disruption to the customers (and roadsides) made this a very unattractive option.

Enter DOCSIS 3.1. The first problem solved is the 32 channel limitation. DOCSIS 3.1 provides the ability to bond much larger groups of spectrum together to provide a true 1 GB Class of service and beyond. This also assists in the scaling problem. Whereas before, node segmentation would often be required when groups meet the 32 QAM limitation; the ability to use the full spectrum for data removes that requirement. 

DOCSIS 3.1 also allows for enhanced spectral efficiency. For math purposes, consider that a 3.0 256 QAM channel provides approximately 40 MB of throughput. DOCSIS 3.1 uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology that allows QAM modulations to reach 1, 2, 4k and beyond. A 1k QAM provides approximately 50 MB of throughput or a 25% increase in the same amount of spectrum. When you combine this capability with distributed access architectures (DAA), we see added improvement resulting in 4k QAM modulation and beyond. Therefore, DOCSIS 3.1 provides the bandwidth with more ‘bang for its buck’. 

High level-comparison features and capabilities of Next-Gen 3.1 platforms vs legacy 3.0. *Numbers may vary slightly by vendor chassis

Originally, the new DOCSIS 3.1 and DAA technologies were designed with smaller and smaller cascades in mind. However, testing has shown that improvements can be made over some of the longer cascades that exist today. For example, it is possible to achieve 1024 QAM where 256 QAM currently exists. This improved performance continues to increase as you get down to smaller and smaller cascades. 

Addressing the Upstream

As data rates increase, the upstream continues to become more and more of a choke point. Studies suggest that the upstream capacity should be 10% of the highest class of service offered. For example, for a 1 GB service to be fully functional, approximately ~100MB of upstream throughput is required. As larger and larger data pipes are brought to each service group, the upstream limits will be pushed. DOCSIS 3.0 allows for a 5-85 upstream, allowing room for growth to handle this change. DOCSIS 3.1 pushes the split to 5-200 which allows for HFC systems to theoretically achieve a GB symmetrical service. 

The Importance of DAA 

DAA architectures such as Remote Phy or Remote Mac/Phy are inseparable from DOCSIS 3.1 when discussing the benefits next-gen DOCSIS platforms. While 3.1 chassis do traditionally offer a higher amount of port density in a chassis, this still becomes a limitation of the box. The next generation of CCAP platforms have more throughput potential than the physical RF output limitations can take advantage of. DAA becomes extremely valuable in that it removes that limitation by providing a digital link to the node itself, eliminating the limitation of physical RF ports. This also provides better link performance which continues to compliment the ability to achieve higher orders of modulation (better throughput performance across the same amount of spectrum). 

Improvement in MB throughput of spectrum by leveraging higher orders of modulation made possible by DOCSIS 3.1 and DAA. 

Perhaps the greatest benefit of DOCSIS 3.1 is that it dramatically extends the life of the HFC network and physical architecture. By extending the life of the physical infrastructure, it extends the life of all the assets of the network—from the video platform, existing CMTS chassis and provisioning systems, optical infrastructure, OSP, and CPE. 

The new urgency of a long-term plan

DOCSIS 3.1 in many ways did swoop in and save the day, but it also brings to light a flaw and errors that cannot be made again. For nearly a decade, many cable operators got trapped in operational mode without a long-term strategy. Had 3.1 not come along, the push to get to FTTH would be exploding at a rate that the supply cannot provide. 3.1 has brought new life to existing infrastructure and has allowed for a more graceful migration to fiber deep, higher bandwidth capacities, system upgrades, service migration and virtualization. All of these solutions need to be executed with an eye on the longer term future, to ensure that the things we do today compliment the needs of tomorrow instead of simply extending the limits of the past.

How to Build a Strong Service Provider Business

Author: Matt Reath, CTO

 
In my first article to this series: How to Build a Strong Service Provider Business, the challenges facing service providers (SP) today were explored along with the building blocks (figure 1) that can help address those challenges. This follow-up article will delve into the Service Offerings building block with five steps that will help drive your SP business. 

Figure 1. Building Blocks of a Strong Service Provider

1. Know Your Subscribers
 
Understanding the exact mix of residential, SMB, education, and commercial subscribers along with the general mix and demographic of your service areas is important. You may have a large demographic of millennials or technology early adopters that may drive your decision on what offerings to explore.

As shown below, this diagram from Crossing the Chasm (Moore, 1991), shows the gap between Early Adopters and the Early Majority. It is essential to understand where your subscribers fall in this model.  If you are launching something new or experimental you will want to first market to your Innovators and Early Adopters, who will provide feedback for any needed modifications. Next, look at the Early Majority who will want to see success stories and solid use-case examples prior to signing up.

Figure 2. Technology Adopters by Geoffrey Moore

 2. Know Yourself

Ask questions of yourself such as:

• What talent do you have in-house?
• Can you attract local technical talent where you are located? 
• What is your general culture?
  

Is the vision of where you want to evolve your business in alignment with the available talent and resources you have? If the answer is no, you want to explore partnerships with technology consultants, value-added resellers, and vendors. Being open to having remote talent on the payroll and building a culture of collaboration can attract talent that may otherwise be unavailable—while simultaneously reducing operating expenses. Outside of field technicians, most talent can reside elsewhere, using tools like Cisco WebEx and Telepresence to build a strong, talented, workforce.

Is the business culture in alignment with that of innovative thinking, marketing, and sales? It is important that you are able to quickly identify and bring to market service offerings while being agile enough to pivot to a different direction if something is not working as planned.  

3. Be Creative

Develop a set of valuable services that map to your subscribers' challenges and are realistic in light of your own talent and culture. Create revenue models and expected take rates for each service. Focus on value propositions and benefit equations to feed into the next step.
It is essential that you understand your subscribers challenges and business models in order to create the appropriate value propositions and benefit equations. It's here that you can mathematically illustrate that it is a no-brainer for subscribers to go with your service.

4. Market and Sell 

True marketing and having a small sales team is new a new concept for some providers—and not so new for others. In either case, it is imperative that this changing landscape is addressed and investment is made.
The older, traditional sales model of cold calls, doing a demo, and qualifying leads is giving way to a new style of collaboration, education, and true engagement with the subscriber (figure 3).  Subscribers want to feel that you understand their business and are a partner that can help solve problems and grow their business. 

Figure 3. Old vs. New Sales Model

 By taking the models and material created in step 3, marketing can create relevant campaigns and pushes that feed the sales funnel and create demand for these new relevant services that truly overcome their challenges.

5. Execute Efficiently

Lastly, you must execute according to plan and ensure the customer experience is positive. Make use of partnerships with consultants and develop in-house staff and talent to execute and deliver the service. It is imperative that the customer experience while using your service is impeccable.

The use of automation technology and deep network monitoring can enable a subscriber to sign-up for new services through portals and utilize a health dashboard that shows compliance to SLAs and delivers information that reflects the service's true value to the business. 

Conclusion 

Use these five steps as a starting point for building a service offerings strategy that helps your business stay competitive in the constantly evolving service provider industry. By slowly shifting the industry culture from just providing voice, video, and data to managed service providers with true engagement with subscribers, a new source of high-margin revenue can be found.
My next series of articles will take a deep dive into building network automation skill-sets, delivering potential services, and examples of real world service offerings that are driving additional revenue for providers today.

Click here to contact us for more information on building a profitable business. 

CCI Systems Adds Drew Kempen to Technology Team

Consulting Systems Engineer brings extensive cable architecture knowledge to CCI

  

Drew Kempen, CSE 

IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich., September 21, 2015- CCI Systems recently announced technology expert, Drew Kempen, has joined the team to offer additional expertise with HFC and FTTx end-to-end architecture, solution and consulting services.

“Drew’s years of experience, business acumen, and technical vision are vital components to providing thought leadership to our customers and guiding them to success,” said CCI CTO, Matt Reath.

As Cable Architecture and Strategy CSE, Kempen will play a role in developing and implementing CCI’s cable strategy, with emphasis on Tier 2-4 service providers (SP). He has worked with cable operators around the world in developing a planned strategy that migrates the network based on customer and service requirements. This includes technology, service and architecture migrations that help operators effectively transition toward a Next-Gen IP video platform. His specializations include solution architecture, service and bandwidth modeling and migration, service & technology transition strategy, cost analysis and construction/operational impact analysis, with experience in developing Optical, HFC, X-PON and FTTx solutions.

"CCI has been doing great things for services provider networks for a long time. Customers know they can come to CCI to get the job done right.” Kempen noted. “The cable operator market is about to go through a major transformation which presents an enormous opportunity for CCI. I am excited to help CCI become not only a leader in implementation, but a thought leader in the industry, where customers come to CCI to figure out ‘what to do’. As we engage customers at the strategic level on developing solutions and a long term plan, the value of CCI to the customer will vault to the top of the value pyramid; and will entrench us as a partner and solution provider to the customer for years to come.”

Kempen joins CCI after 16 years with Cisco as an Architecture Specialist and Consultant, where he worked with customers at the operational layer, as well as the strategic level, giving him a unique perspective and understanding of the requirements cable operators have when looking for solutions.

While holding a Bachelor’s degree in Business Science and Management, Kempen has also earned multiple Cisco certifications, including Cisco Certified PM, Cisco certification in networking and the Advanced Sales Masters Certification. 

Stop by and say hello to Drew at the upcoming SCTE Cable Tec Expo. CCI will be in booth #2721 and will be  available to have candid planning discussions with Service Providers regarding present and future network needs.

CCI introduces Project Management Community

Mike Mattas, CCI PM

CCI runs each project with flawless ease.

By: Mike Mattas, Project Manager

As CCI continues its customer-centric teams approach, we’re introducing the Project Management Community to help our various operations groups work better together. Our goal is to increase operational consistency and quality, uncover new opportunities, and continually improve on-time, on-budget project delivery.

For our customers, this means more positive outcomes, including:

• Better project planning
• Better management and communication for projects spanning multiple groups
• Faster problem resolution, getting the issue to the right people at the right time 
• Standardization in project management methodology and documentation across all CCI operations teams

Our Cisco partners will have continuing evidence that CCI meets their performance standards and can support Cisco’s customers as a preferred provider.

And CCI employees gain cross-functional job enrichment, new opportunities to work together and a more consistent project management methodology. As a result, we’ll have a better corporate knowledge base that we can use to improve collaboration, satisfy customers and attract new business.

To learn more about CCI's Project Management Community, contact Mike Mattas at michael.mattas@ccisystems.com