Cable Operators Offering Ever Faster Broadband Access with New Wideband Technology from Cisco, Linksys and Scientific Atlanta; Combining Channels Key to Increased Speeds, Reduced Capital Costs.

DENVER -- In a continuing effort to show cable operators and multiple system operators (MSOs) how to deliver "The Connected Life," Cisco Systems(R) (NASDAQ:CSCO) unveiled a new wideband solution involving channel bonding, low-cost edge quadrature amplitude modulators (QAMs) and cable modems together with the industry-leading Cisco(R) uBR10012 cable modem termination system (CMTS). The solution was introduced today at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' annual Cable-Tec Expo.

"We see an emerging world where MSOs must transform themselves from being a 'service' provider into an 'experience' provider in order to compete in today's competitive markets," said Paul Bosco, Cisco vice president of cable and video initiatives. "The Cisco Wideband solution capitalizes on Cisco's uBR10K platform and several new products from Scientific Atlanta(R) and Linksys(R), which allow cable operators to optimize their networks in order to deliver this new 'Connected Life' and provide consistent, high quality end-user experiences."

By taking a modular approach and incorporating traditional QAM technology, the Cisco Wideband solution more than doubles CMTS downstream channel density and significantly reduces the cost per bit. Channel bonding - logically combining several radio frequency (RF) channels -- provides cable operators with a flexible way to increase throughput for customers, with data rates in the hundreds of megabits and potentially gigabits per second. In concert with the Cisco CMTS platform, the Scientific Atlanta Wideband and Linksys cable modems take advantage of multiple downstream cable channels to increase overall data throughput.

In the wideband application, the modems logically bond the channels together and use the multiple channels to deliver more packets simultaneously to provide significant throughput performance compared to existing downstream speeds. At the receiving site, the cable modem reassembles the packets for smooth delivery of service. Additional upstream throughput using channel bonding is also possible using the Cisco Wideband solution.

"It is all about speed and competitive advantage for cable operators," said Dr. Ray Mota, chief strategist of Synergy Research Group, a market research firm covering the cable broadband industry. "Channel bonding allows cable operators to offer higher speeds to retain customers and provide high-octane broadband tiers to drive incremental revenue. At the end of the day, it's a CAPEX preservation strategy for cable operators."

Cable Operators Endorse Cisco Wideband Approach

Cable operators desire a more viable means to offer their customers higher broadband access speeds, and in doing so, two cable operators are leading the way in testing the new Cisco Wideband solution. They are:

--Com Hem, a leading broadband triple-play service provider serving a third of households in Sweden; and

--TDC Kabel TV, the largest cable broadband provider in Scandinavia.

"We have been deploying Cisco uBR10012 Cable Modem Termination Systems for some time, and have been impressed by the density and rich feature set that they provide," said Martin Kull, chief technology officer of Com Hem. "The new Wideband capabilities take the platform to a new level - doubling the Cisco uBR10012's downstream capacity at a very low incremental cost and enabling cutting edge 100 Mbps services."

"As the largest provider of cable broadband in Scandinavia, TDC Kabel TV is conducting field trials of the wideband protocol for DOCSIS solution with Cisco to prepare our network for the upcoming DOCSIS 3.0 standard," said Jorgen Michaelsen, vice president and CTO of TDC Kabel TV. "Our network is based on the Cisco uBR10012 CMTS platform which already provides the stability and density that we need. We will be looking forward to leverage this platform to the next level together with Cisco."

"With the potential to deliver up to 100Mbit services, which is many times faster than currently available, TDC customers will have the greatest freedom of choice and access to a rich, on-demand world of broadband entertainment and communications services over a single, simple connection," said Jes Nicolaisen, vice president of products at TDC Kabel TV.

Components of Cisco Wideband Solution

The Cisco Wideband solution consists of three primary components: CMTS, edge QAM and wideband cable modems.

1) Cisco uBR10012 Cable Modem Termination System

The Cisco uBR10012 CMTS, which is the industry's highest density solution and is IPv6-capable, provides cable operators an upgrade path to both wideband and modular CMTS enabling a migration to Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0. The CMTS also offers a unique quality of service (QoS) architecture that helps enable simultaneous delivery of high capacity data and broadly deployed Internet protocol (IP) telephony services over the same flexible, scalable platform.

The 1-Gbps wideband shared port adaptor (SPA) for the uBR10012 provides up to 1 Gigabit wideband connectivity to the edge QAM. There is also a new SPA Interface Processor (SIP) carrier card that takes up to 2 SPA modules. The new Cisco 1-Gbps Wideband SPA provides up to 1Gigabit wideband connectivity to the edge QAM device. Because the Cisco SPA modules are installed in the Cisco uBR10012 system's wide area network (WAN) slot, rather than taking up valuable radio frequency (RF) slots, a wideband upgrade can more than double the Cisco uBR10012 CMTS platform's downstream density - taking it from 40 to 88 total downstream channels.

2) Scientific Atlanta Continuum DVP XDQA24 Edge QAM

The edge QAM device in the Cisco Wideband solution is a Scientific Atlanta Continuum DVP XDQA24 Edge QAM, which supports up to 24 downstream QAMs. Third-party edge QAMs can also be supported. Traditional edge QAMs are typically one-third to one-fourth the price of CMTS downstream edge QAM channels. The edge QAM connects to the uBR10012 over Gigabit Ethernet

3) Scientific Atlanta and Linksys Wideband Cable Modems

There are two cable modem options (3-Channel or 8-Channel), providing cable operators with great flexibility in wideband deployments. The Scientific Atlanta model DPC2505(TM), which has three bonded channels, supports up to 100 Mbps downstream data transfers over existing hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) cable networks. The new wideband modem's packet bonding technology deliver packets over three parallel channels to help maximize throughput and deliver extraordinary high-speed data (HSD) service.

"In terms of processing capabilities and data throughput capacity, this is the most powerful cable modem we have ever developed," said Himanshu Parikh, Scientific Atlanta vice president and general manager of IP subscriber networks. "The up to 100 Mbps capability of the modem offers huge benefits to consumers, especially in the small office/home office environment and for cable customers who want exceptionally high-speed data service."

"In addition, the modem also gives the cable operator the flexibility to offer scalable service where initial rollouts may provide 50 or 60 Mbps service that can be ramped up to 100 Mbps as the need arises," Parikh said.

The Scientific Atlanta DPC2505 has been designed to meet the DOCSIS(TM) 2.0 and DOCSIS 2.0b specifications and will be submitted for certification and interoperability verification later in 2006.

The Linksys 8-Channel Wideband Cable Modem (WCM300) supports two to eight bonded channels and up to 240 Mbps downstream data transfers, appropriate for end users who have varying bandwidth requirements. MSOs can share channels between wideband and traditional DOCSIS modems. Wideband channels do not have to be contiguous unless all eight channels are being bonded. The Linksys WCM300, available later this year, will be compatible with the Cisco uBR10012 CMTS and wideband SPA as well as work with any DOCSIS 2.0 or 3.0 compatible CMTS.

Plans to add additional cable modems to the Cisco Wideband solution are under consideration and will be announced at a later time.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About Linksys

Founded in 1988, Linksys, a Division of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the recognized leader in Voice, Wireless and Ethernet networking hardware for consumer, small office/home office (SOHO) and small business users. Linksys is dedicated to making networking easy and affordable for its customers, offering innovative, award-winning products that seamlessly integrate with a variety of devices and applications. Linksys provides award-winning product support to its customers. For more information, visit www.linksys.com.

About Scientific Atlanta

Scientific Atlanta, a Cisco company, is a leading supplier of digital content contribution and distribution systems, transmission networks for broadband access to the home, digital interactive set-tops and subscriber systems designed for video, high-speed Internet and Voice over IP (VoIP) networks, and worldwide customer service and support. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc. More information about Scientific Atlanta is available at http://www.scientificatlanta.com.

Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. Scientific Atlanta is a registered trademark and DPC2505 is a trademark of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. Linksys is a registered trademark or trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. CableLabs and DOCSIS are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.