Make Way for MoCA 2.0

Offering a clear indication that adoption of MoCA 2.0 is accelerating, all new product certifications during the first quarter of 2015 were for devices that integrated the speedy coax-based home networking platform, according to the Multimedia Over Coax Alliance.

MoCA technology is being used in a variety of whole-home DVRs, set-tops, broadband gateways, and Ethernet-to-coax bridge devices. As an upgrade of MoCA 1.1, the 2.0 version is designed to support usable throughputs of more than 400 Mbps in “Basic” mode and 500 Mbps in a “Turbo” point-to-point setting when connected devices are operating in the baseline mode and utilizing a single channel. MoCA 2.0 also supports an “Enhanced” mode that uses channel bonding to produce throughputs of between 800 Mbps to 1 Gbps. In January, MoCA said preliminary 2.0 field trial results showed that the technology achieved net throughputs of 400 Mbps or more in 90% of coax “paths,” and greater than 350 Mbps in 95% of paths.

Of the 35 device certifications since the launch of the MoCA 2.0 certification program in Q1 2014, 28 have been for products integrating MoCA 2.0, and nine integrating MoCA 1.1, the Alliance said, noting that Comcast and Verizon were among the service providers that announced MoCA 2.0-capable gateways last year.

Arris, Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Entropic Communications, Hitron, Netgear, Pace, Samsung, Technicolor, Ubee Interactive, and WNC are among the companies that have received MoCA 2.0 certifications for various products.

“This has been a prolific year for certification of devices incorporating MoCA 2.0,” said Dr. Stephen Palm, chair of the MoCA Certification Board and senior technical director at Broadcom, a maker of MoCA silicon.  “MoCA Certification and the interoperability it represents are cornerstones for continued successful adoption of any connectivity technology standard, especially when used by service providers.”

“MoCA 2.0 certifications have surpassed our expectations just one year after the launch of the certification program,” added Charlie Cerino, president of MoCA. “The number of certified MoCA 2.0 devices is a clear trend on how quickly it is being adopted by the industry.”