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Technology Stocks : COM21 (CMTO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pat mudge who wrote (1788)	2/20/2000 8:14:00 PM
From: Mark Laubach	Respond to of 2347

Pat, Does TERN state the risks involved with obtaining DOCSIS 1.2 certification for cable modems and qualification for CMTS's? Just to refresh everyone, a vendor cannot claim it is DOCSIS until it passes the appropriate certification(s). To be certified at DOCSIS 1.2, the hardware and software of that cable modem need to be certified at DOCSIS 1.0, then DOCSIS 1.1, then DOCSIS 1.2. Having DOCSIS 1.0 certification for a modem says nothing about future hardware and software revisions. They all have to go through certification testing. Also, the whole DOCSIS certification process essentially levels the playing field with respect to time-to-market. A contributing vendor author has no real advantage. Also, as we've seen, a vendor author may not be first out of the gate with a certified cable modem, e.g. Nortel/Bay/LANCity. Even though they may be in the first certification wave at a given DOCSIS level, there's still high risk at not passing the first time while competitors do pass. Certification involves cable modems interoperating correctly with three CMTS's. I can't recall exactly the requirements for qualification of CMTS's, but they do have to work with some small number of different vendor cable modems. Said another way, a cable modem can not be certified unless there are at least three vendor CMTS's in CableLabs. An a CMTS cannot get qualified unless there are multiple vendor cable modems. At least, this is how it has been. With regards to timing, last I heard, CableLabs may not be ready to start Version 1.1 certification until this summer or fall. DOCSIS 1.1 is more complex than 1.0. This may have the impact of taking longer before they are ready for 1.2 certification testing. Maybe even into 2002. Regardless of what happens this year with respect to what ends up finally in any PHY enhancements, certified "1.2" cable modems don't appear for awhile. Mark