Arris Jacks Up Edge QAM Capacity

Arris is boosting the capacity of its D5 Universal Edge QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) system by 50% -- from 48 to 72 QAMs per two-rack-unit-high chassis -- via a software upgrade.

The expansion is part of the D5's planned software release 2.3, which Arris said will be available in the latter part of 2007.

According to the company, an added advantage of the D5 Universal Edge QAM's increased density is that an operator can choose either quad-bonding ratios (4 QAM channels per radio-frequency port) or hex-bonding ratios (6 QAM channels per RF port) to be able to mix and match QAM capacity to the network configuration needed on a channel-by-channel basis.