Though DOCSIS Fee's Up, More Vendors Want Test
By JEFF BAUMGARTNER -- Multichannel News, 2/12/2001
The number of vendors seeking Cable Television Laboratories Inc.'s Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 1.1 certification and qualification is up to 11, though vendors are spending more than in years past to get the coveted interoperability seal.
Certification wave 17, which began in mid-January, welcomed three new 1.1 cable-modem entrants (Conexant Systems Inc., Thomson Multimedia and Samsung Electronics America Inc.), and a sole cable-modem termination system supplier (Motorola Broadband Communications Sector).
Vendors from the previous wave resubmitted 1.1-based products for the current one. They include modem makers Terayon Communication Systems Inc., Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. and Future Networks Inc. (slated to be purchased by Tellabs Inc.), which handed in two models.
On the CMTS front, manufacturers include ADC Telecommunications Inc., Cadant Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and RiverDelta Networks Inc.
Though results from wave 17 are expected by March 29, interoperability testing for the DOCSIS 1.1 standard for that round will continue on until CableLabs stamps some of them with its seal of approval. CableLabs also confirmed it would continue to offer 1.0 certification testing parallel to its 1.1 tests.
The DOCSIS certification board "has authorized us to continue certification wave 17 as ongoing until such a time that a product is certified and qualified," said Rouzbeh Yassini, executive consultant to CableLabs and CEO of YAS Corp.
Vendors will get another opportunity to submit 1.1 products before the end of the first quarter. CMTSs and cable modems are due to CableLabs for testing by April 10 and April 12, respectively. Testing for wave 18 is scheduled to begin April 16, with results shared about June 15.
But manufacturers that tap CableLabs to test their products for certification will also pay a stiffer fee than they're accustomed to. Yassini acknowledged that CableLabs has bumped up vendor certification application costs from the original $55,000 to $95,000. Companies must pay that fee each time they apply for the CableLabs seal of approval.
Yassini said several elements contributed to the decision to boost the fee. For instance, some vendors had been using CableLabs as a test lab rather than a certification house, and submitted products they had no intention of manufacturing or offering through retail channels.
Though vendors spend significant funds on internal testing, "the pricing [at CableLabs] was so low, they would send products to us," Yassini said. At a higher price point, they'll think twice before continuing that practice, he added.
The complexity of DOCSIS 1.1 also has caused certification application costs to rise.
In fact, DOCSIS 1.1, which enables voice over Internet protocol, is "100 fold" more complex than DOCSIS 1.0, Yassini said. That means test procedures take more time and eat up additional resources, he explained.
As part of a plan to simplify the 1.1 certification process, a legion of more than 50 engineers-made up of CableLabs, its MSO members, the vendor community and consultants-are melding minds on an ATP (automated testing platform). Divided into five teams, each group is responsible for ATP test domains such as privacy, media access control, customer interfaces, MAC/PHY integration and quality of service.
Still, CableLabs certification fees could rise higher later this year, Yassini said, noting that adjustments might be made to handle certification testing for new technologies such as computer-controlled cable modems (CCCMs), a lower-cost version of the equipment that will reside inside advanced digital set-tops.
Though automation is expected to hasten the 1.1 certification process, some industry observers believe several months will pass before the first vendors get the green light from CableLabs.
Kinetic Strategies Inc. president Michael Harris indicated in the February edition of Cable Datacom News that some vendors could get passing grades in mid-2001 or later.
MIDDLEWARE 'FOCIS'
CableLabs has also made moves to boost support for the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) middleware specification for advanced boxes and digital televisions, now that it's launched a new standards initiative centered on interactive-television content providers.
That project, dubbed the Forum for Open Cable Interactive Services (FOCIS), is designed to bring together ITV advertisers and application vendors and explain how they can build interoperable software based on OCAP, whose first draft was recently completed and sent to its authors for further comment.
The first FOCIS meeting with ITV content companies was held last Friday (Feb. 9), with about 45 ITV companies represented, project leader Laura Schneider said.
"We wanted to educate (ITV content providers) in regard to OpenCable and OCAP and give them an overview and a summary," she said.
The next FOCIS event is slated for March 22, in concert with the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing Digital and Pay-Per-View conference in New Orleans, Schneider said.
