BIGBAND NETWORKS UNVEILS CHANNEL BONDING ON MODULAR CMTS.

BigBand Networks, Inc. has unveiled operation of channel bonding on the BigBand Modular CMTS (cable modem termination system) solution. This channel bonding implementation is based on the developing CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 standard.

"The BigBand Networks technology team has furthered its record of innovation, integrating multiple disciplines in this implementation of modular CMTS combined with channel bonding," said Gil Kaufman, BigBand Networks executive vice president of world wide engineering. "Our activities in this area focus on enhancing the competitiveness of cable operators who can leverage the established BigBand Networks CMTS and edge QAM platforms in order to economically expand the access speeds they provide to their subscribers, while also opening an upgrade path towards future innovations."

Channel bonding is a technique for aggregating multiple downstream channels into a cumulative flow, in efforts to support higher access speeds by wideband cable modems. It is a major aspect of the developing CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 specification for cable modem communications. Channel bonding is designed to allow for bandwidth speeds up to hundreds of megabits-per-second. This is key for the cable industry in the competition to provide faster and more scalable broadband Internet services. It supports commercial subscribers relying on high access speeds for mission-critical activities, and consumers seeking richer experiences online such as interactive gaming and high quality video consumption.

Modular CMTS is designed to economically increase DOCSIS capacity by separating MAC (media access control) routing and DOCSIS signaling, from the edge QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), with each performed on purpose-designed platforms. M-CMTS leverages the same QAM256 technology utilized by digital video services including digital broadcasting, switched broadcast and VOD. It is considered to be an important milestone towards the cable industry's achievement of universal edge QAM in which greater efficiencies would be achieved by bandwidth and resources being dynamically allocated across all of these services in real time, responding to live demand, instead of fixing allocations to the specific services.

Channel bonding with the BigBand Modular CMTS solution leverages interoperability and synergies between the company's established CMTS and edge QAM platforms. The BigBand Cuda, deployed in networks worldwide, is designed to be field-upgradeable to channel bonding, and also to M-CMTS which could create up to a quadruple DOCSIS capacity gain on platforms in use. This would enable cable operators to scale up broadband offerings at a fraction of the cost of alternative methods, while supporting both legacy cable modems and emerging wideband cable modems that leverage channel bonding for higher access speeds. The BigBand BME is utilized in multiple deployments of VOD, and of BigBand Switched Broadcast, which is designed to dynamically provision live programming only to the areas with demand for greater efficiency.

About BigBand Networks

BigBand Networks, Inc. is a provider of broadband multimedia infrastructure for video, voice and data. Utilizing unique combinations of open technologies, the company's solutions are designed to process, optimize, and deliver services such as broadband Internet, VoIP, digital broadcast television, HDTV, transport of high quality video, local advertising, VOD, interactive TV and IPTV through any network. Service providers use BigBand Networks' platforms in efforts to cost-effectively expand revenue-generating offerings of rich content and advanced interactive services. Customers include seven of the ten largest North American cable operators, US telecommunications companies, as well as leading service providers in Asia, Europe and La tin America. Founded in 1998, BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, CA with offices worldwide.

BigBand Networks can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.bigbandnet.com/.

For more information, call 650/995-5000