ATX is preparing a future optical node designed to support Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) and digital technologies, with the flexibility to accommodate future technologies and architectures as they become available.
"The ATX optical node is being built from scratch to support MSOs' initial transition to DAA and digital access network environments, as well as to provide a roadmap for support of future capacity enhancements and technologies without requiring MSOs to make wholesale changes to their outside plant," said ATX CEO Charlie Vogt. "Demand for gigabit-and-beyond bandwidth will only intensify over the next few years as entire industries reinvent themselves to compete and thrive in an all-digital realm. ATX is laser focused on delivering innovative solutions that have the agility and adaptability to meet today's and tomorrow's market demands."
The new node is designed for future spectrum expansion to address near-term requirements for DOCSIS Remote PHY Device (RPD) or Remote MACPHY Device (RMD) applications, as well as a roadmap for future and simultaneous support of additional DAA applications, including Full Duplex DOCSIS (FDX), Remote OLT, wireless backhaul and Internet of Things (IoT) without the need to replace outside plant equipment for the next several years.
Utilizing ASIC technology for RPD/RMD functionality, dynamic digital predistortion and efficient power supplies, the new ATX optical node is intended to let MSOs deploy RPD/RMD-based 1x2, 2x2, 2x4 and even 4x4 service groups into node-serving areas with low power consumption. Support for 2x4 or 4x4 segmentation allows MSOs to shrink the size of serving areas by adding more upstream capacity without deploying additional fibers or reconfiguring the current network. Optional embedded support for forward-path RF overlay provides an ability to maintain legacy analog video infrastructures during the transition to DAA.
"No two network transformations will be the same," said Vogt. "MSOs will each follow a unique time frame and upgrade path to the converged access network of the future. What is imperative is that they adopt an agile outside plant solution that supports the full spectrum of upgrade scenarios that cable operators will follow, regardless of their starting point."
The DAA optical node is also designed to complement ATX' recently introduced GigaWave DWDM optical gateway, a digital platform designed to provide cable operators with a protocol-agnostic solution to expand the capacity of fiber access links between headends/hubs and outside plant facilities in a cost-effective and pay-as-you-grow manner.
In other ATX news, the company has introduced the UCrypt PassPort, a 1RU QAM-to-IP media gateway designed to help MSOs address video encryption licensing and interoperability issues that threaten to delay their transition to DAA. The new solution is designed to pass encrypted video from existing edge QAM equipment through IP-based CCAP video cores.
By providing a workaround to current CCAP video encryption limitations, the UCrypt PassPort is intended to enable MSOs to overcome roadblocks that are slowing initial deployments of R-PHY Devices (RPDs) and the replacement of analog optics with more efficient digital optical links between headends and outside plant.