LAS VEGAS -- CES -- Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO ) has kicked off its cable play here at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by introducing a new series of digital set-tops, a Docsis 3.0 cable modem, and an IP services gateway that aims to tie together things all-digital in the home.
First, Cisco unveiled the 8500HDC set-tops, a series of digital boxes with on-board digital video recorders and high-speed home networking capabilities for whole-home DVR capabilities and other shared media apps.
Cisco, the No. 2 U.S. cable set-top supplier behind Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), says its new cable set-tops will head out the door under the Cisco label, removing the Scientific Atlanta brand. The SA logo, however, will continue to live on in previously deployed/shipped cable set-tops such as the Explorer 8300 -- so, like carbon dating, you can use the brand to tell the approximate age of your set-top. (See SA No More.)
The new series offers three models, each outfitted with a single 800 million instructions per second (MIPS) application processor, dual 500 MHz processors, and MPEG-4 support. They all come with Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) technology baked in. That alliance, which counts Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Dish Network Corp. , and Cox Communications Inc. among its founding members, can pipe digital photos and video, including high-definition fare, on home networks at theoretical PHY rate speeds up to 270 Mbit/s. A new version that's underway, MoCA 2.0, will push that to at least 400 Mbit/s. (See MoCA 2.0 .)
Cisco's support of MoCA is significant for cable applications. On the telco TV side of the house, its Scientific Atlanta division uses Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA) for its IPTV deployment with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T ). (See Why AT&T Likes HomePNA and AT&T: Hold the MoCA.)
The 8500HDC has analog and digital tuning, while the 8540HDC is digital-only. MoCA is optional in the 8552HDC. All models are commercially available, the company said.
The new line of boxes will also tune to 1 GHz and contain OpenCable Platform software (now called tru2way). Cisco's new line shares many of the traits of the boxes rival supplier Motorola announced late last week and is showing off at this week's CE confab. (See Moto Plants Seeds for MPEG-4 .)
Cisco has also included some instant messaging software that can be used across multiple devices, including the PC and the TV. Operators, most recently Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC ), are gravitating to TV-based caller ID apps. (See Cablevision Bows TV Caller ID .)
Cisco's more modern modem
As expected, Cisco is using CES to springboard the DPC3000, a Docsis 3.0-based cable modem that bonds four downstream and upstream channels -- the minimum configuration for the spec.
In November, Cisco revealed to Cable Digital News that the company supplied the model to CableLabs for the first-ever Docsis 3.0 Certification Wave, which, so far, has not awarded stamps to any modems but has qualified cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) from three vendors, including "Bronze"-level approval for the Cisco uBR1012. (See Vendors Ride First Docsis 3.0 Wave and Cisco, Arris & Casa Make the CableLabs Grade.)
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The Cisco modem, powered by Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN - message board) silicon and becoming commercially available this spring, will provide shared speeds in excess of 100 Mbit/s.
Cisco has not named any takers for the DPC3000 yet, but the vendor has been linked to some pre-Docsis 3.0 downstream channel bonding work with Videotron Telecom Ltd. of Canada and Numéricable of France, among others. (See CMTS Downstream Prices Plummet.)
According to Heavy Reading analysis, Cisco/SA had 20.5 percent of the Docsis cable modem market through the first half of 2007, behind Motorola, which had 38 percent. (See Modem Shipments Eclipse Old Record.)
Tying it together
Looking to give cable customers a way to shuttle music, video, and other digital content over the home network to TVs, PCs, and other connected devices, Cisco has also launched the DRG2800 IP Services Gateway. That device will serve as an IP hub for content accessed via the service provider, via the public Internet, or created by the customer.
Like the new modem and set-top family, the gateway will also be offered directly through service providers of all types -- phone companies as well as cable MSOs. The gateway, considered part of Cisco's new "consumer initiative," is equipped with a 160-gigabyte hard drive and is capable of managing Internet applications and IP-based voice services, the company said.
Cisco noted that it will distribute evaluation and test units by the end of the first quarter, but, as with the other cable products it introduced here, it did not divulge pricing information.
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