Harmonic has announced the first commercial deployment of its virtual converged cable access platform product CableOS, with Sweden’s Com Hem integrating the solution across its network.
"We've partnered with Com Hem to show operators around the world that their internet speeds can be significantly increased while simultaneously reducing the space, power and cost constraints that have historically impeded growth,” said Nimrod Ben-Natan, senior VP and general manager of cable edge business at Harmonic, in a statement. “Being a software-based solution, CableOS is incredibly scalable and flexible, allowing Com Hem to flexibly add new features and extra capacity, without expensive hardware.”
Com Hem serves delivers video, broadband and voice to around 1.5 million customers. It’s also using CableOS in a Stockholm lab test using DOCSIS 3.1 to obtain symmetrical 1.2 Gbps speeds.
During its third quarter earnings call in October, Harmonic said that two of the world’s top five cable companies have purchased its software-based CCAP solution, CableOS, and that 10 have the product in field trials.
RELATED: Harmonic says 2 Tier 1 operators have purchased its virtualized CableOS platform
Software-based network solutions are getting a close look these days from cable operators, who are being pressured to increase network capacities as they’re simultaneously being squeezed on space and electrical power.
Introduced in September 2016 and featuring a software-based CMTS core server and full-spectrum DOCSIS 3.1 Remote PHY systems, CableOS Core software runs on 1-RU COTS Intel processor-based servers in a headend, hub or data center.
“We’ve now received purchase orders from two of the top five global cable operators and grown our CableOS backlog to over $20 million,” Harmonic CEO Patrick Harshman said in October. “For this backlog, its only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the overall opportunity, if nonetheless real money that speaks to the real confidence influential customers are placing in CableOS and Harmonic.”
Harmonic expects the product to generate $100 million in sales in 2018.