Comcast announced the successful test of a prototype 10G modem. In a world-first lab test, a Full Duplex Docsis 4.0 SoC cable modem built by Broadcom delivered upload and download speeds faster than 4 Gbps powered by 10G network technology.
The announcement is the latest in a series of 10G milestones from Comcast. In October 2021, the company announced a successful test of a complete 10G connection using a virtualised cable modem termination system (vCMTS) powered by Docsis 4.0 technology.
That announcement followed major 10G milestone announcements in April 2021, of the first live lab test of a 10G system-on-chip (SoC) and October 2020, of a trial delivering 1.25 Gbps upload and download speeds over a live production network using Network Function Virtualization (NFV) combined with the latest Docsis technology.
10G technology builds on the work Comcast has done over the past several years to build a more virtualised network. In addition to providing a path to multigigabit upload and download speeds at scale, 10G updates will deliver near-term benefits to customers in the form of increased reliability, performance, and lower latency, the cable operator said.
Connected by Broadcom 10G technology, the modem test used the Docsis 4.0 FDX SoC device which Comcast demonstrated in April 2021, to pair with two cable modem chips to deliver the breakthrough performance. These were successfully connected over a lab-based hybrid fibre-coaxial network to the vCMTS operating in Docsis 4.0 mode. This represents the first complete network connection of all-Docsis 4.0 components that are required for deployment. The demonstrated speeds – which were faster than 4 Gbps upload and download – are expected to increase significantly as developers refine technology at every level of the 10G architecture, Comcast said.
