Broadband solutions provider Terayon Communication Systems has announced that it has shipped one million Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 2.0 cable modems to cable television operators worldwide.

Terayon's one millionth DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem was presented to US cable operator Comcast. Comcast has been using Terayon's DOCSIS 2.0 modems since August 2002.

An official release states that the milestone shows cable operators'
growing acceptance of DOCSIS 2.0. The increased capacity of DOCSIS 2.0 enables cable operators to reduce their capital and operating expenses while offering higher speeds that better compete with DSL service.

With the growing installed base of DOCSIS 2.0 cable modems estimated to reach more than eight million by year end, many cable operators are well poised to deploy DOCSIS 2.0 Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTSs) to form an end-to-end broadband solution and enjoy the economic and competitive advantages of DOCSIS 2.0.

DOCSIS 2.0 is the latest version of the specification for broadband cable data systems that was developed by CableLabs, the cable television industry's research and development consortium. It is updated over previous versions with the addition of advanced physical layer technologies that enable as much as three times the maximum upstream throughput of DOCSIS 1.1.

DOCSIS 2.0 will allow cable operators to deploy new broadband services and improve the performance of their current broadband services without upgrading their existing network infrastructures.

Terayon has stated that due to the multi system operators' acceptance of its DOCSIS 2.0 product line its cable modem market share has climbed more than 50 per cent over the last year. Terayon's DOCSIS 2.0 cable modems began shipping in volume in August 2002 and have been deployed by the top five US cable operators and other major international operators. Terayon's latest DOCSIS 2.0 certified modem is the TJ 715x, which is a member of Terayon's TJ 700 series of modems.

The TJ 715x is a key component of Terayon's end-to-end DOCSIS 2.0 cable data system. The system's other components are the BW 3500 or BW 3200 model CMTS and the Terayon Management Center (TMC ) network management software. The BW 3500 is the industry's only CMTS qualified to meet the DOCSIS 2.0 and PacketCable 1.0 specifications. It is a scalable, carrier-class CMTS for operators' most demanding broadband voice and data applications.

Deployed in a cable operator's headend -- the central point of a cable network -- the BW 3500 manages DOCSIS cable modems deployed by the operator's subscribers, forming an end-to-end system for delivering broadband services. Terayon also offers the compact BW 3200 CMTS, which is suited for either smaller cable systems or large, segmented systems states the release.

The final component of Terayon's DOCSIS 2.0 cable data system is the TMC network management system -- a single, integrated software solution for managing, configuring and provisioning Terayon's CMTSs and any DOCSIS modem. TMC has advanced fault management, performance monitoring and network troubleshooting features to provide operators with greater visibility into the "last mile" of their networks.