ARRIS coordinates European broadband access project

May 23, 2006 Suwanee, GA -- ARRIS today announced the establishment of a European Commission-supported Framework for Partnership 6 (FP6) project--:
CODMUCA (COre Subsytem for Delivery of Multiband Data in CATV Networks)--which will research the technology required to accelerate the deployment of very high- speed broadband access over European Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks.

The members of the CODMUCA project include:
• Liberty Global Europe Technology B.V. (Netherlands)
• Coditel S.P.R.L. (Belgium)
• Coditel S.A.R.L. (Luxembourg)
• EST Videocommunication S.A.S. (France)
• VECTOR sp.z o.o (Poland)
• Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland)
• Politechnika Warszawska (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland)
• ARRIS Communications (Ireland)

The CODMUCA research programs will accelerate development and deployment of cost-effective technology needed to bridge the gap between current Euro-DOCSIS 2.0 standards-based systems capable of delivering data at a maximum of 40 Mbits/sec, and Euro-DOCSIS 3.0-based systems of the future, which envision data delivery at speeds of up to one Gigabit per second. The project team will jointly perform research in areas of data Internet Protocols (IP) and radio frequency (RF) domains that need innovative enhancements to significantly boost the speed of CATV broadband data service beyond those of xDSL and FTTx by using combined multiple RF channels to form unified "multiband" data channels to the subscriber. A key requirement for the new technology is to ensure backward compatibility and co-existence with the existing single 8-MHz channelized Euro-DOCSIS 1.1 and 2.0 systems to support seamless introduction of the higher speed services, while avoiding expensive and disruptive re-engineering of CATV frequency plans and operational systems.

The project embodies one of the European Commission's FP6 core objectives of providing broadband for all and will enable high-speed data service over HFC at a cost point that will make it available to systems operating in peripheral regions and small to medium markets. Use of the Multiband technology as transport "pipes" to remote wireless base stations and access points will help to bridge the "digital divide" between dense urban dwellers and those living in the outlying areas.

The project Consortium comprises technology teams from cable operators in four EU countries, international cable technology vendors, and European academic institutions.

"We are very excited to be coordinating this innovative and important project," notes CODMUCA project coordinator and ARRIS vice president of advanced technology Mark Bugajski. "On completion of CODMUCA Research initiatives and the adoption of the research elements into products and services, the European cable operators will once again be the at the forefront of access technology when it comes to offering unmatched broadband access speed, affordability of entry-level Internet connectivity, and enhanced portfolio of new converged services for all of European Broadband users," he explains.