I attended CMTO's annual meeting on Wednesday and had a chance to talk to their DOCSIS guy. I found it interesting the two companies who passed the first round, Thomson and Toshiba, actually failed the second round. Passing is important, but it's misunderstood in that it's not a mark of quality. It merely says that specific equipment works with the heads ends in the test. The third round is now in process and CMTO has already fixed the issues that kept it from passing earlier.
The chip they're testing is fairly complex and will be upgradable to voice and tiering --- qualities their customers are demanding. It's also important to note the company is shipping DOCSIS-compliant products now.
In the "bet you didn't know" category, every city in Switzerland has CMTO's head-ends. If it wasn't already, it's now my favorite country.
They're working with Cisco on VoIP, and with Red creek on VPN.
Top customers are TCI, Siemens, Cox, Hitachi, Philips, Charter, Prime, and HSA.
Their ATM product is the only one on the market with virtual LANs.
Other advantages of their products:
* dual mode (software upgradable)
* supports 16 users (competition offers 3 or 4)shipping 8 now.
* tunneling at MIPS speeds
* offers levels of service (others talk but don't offer)
They're currently running trials on advanced products in California and East Coast with a major LD carrier.
In the residential gateway area, they're co-developing with TUT to use wireless within buildings --- coax to house/bldg and wireless inside.
That's it for now. Gotta run. . .
Pat
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