Cisco Sees Cable As Key To IP Convergence
In an Exclusive Interview, Cisco Cable GM Paul Bosco Outlines
the Company's Plans to Deliver Integrated IP-Based Data,
Voice and Video via DOCSIS Networks
Nobody has a better understanding of cable data networking than Paul
Bosco, the new general manager of Cisco Systems Inc.'s Cable Products
and Solutions group.
Prior to joining Cisco in March, Bosco served as vice president of Internet
products and technology for MediaOne (formerly Continental Cablevision),
the cable subsidiary of U S WEST Media Group. During his 18 months at
MediaOne, Bosco managed the development of the MSO's national
high-speed IP backbone network and rollout of its MediaOne Express cable
modem service to more than 1 million homes.
Bosco came to MediaOne after serving in Internet posts with Southern New
England Telephone (SNET) and AT&T Corp. Before his time with the
telcos, Bosco worked for IBM Corp. where he served on the team that built
NSFNET, the original U.S. Internet backbone. Bosco's IBM team also
developed the national data networks of America Online Inc./ANS
Communications, Prodigy Services Co. and Advantis.
In his new job, Bosco is charged with directing Cisco's cable networking
strategy. Cisco's first cable product is the uBR7246 universal broadband
router, an integrated DOCSIS cable modem termination system (CMTS)
and Cisco 7200 router. The company is not currently building consumer
cable modems. Instead, Cisco has delegated the task to Samsung and Sony,
which are building DOCSIS modems based on a Cisco reference design.
However, Cisco may introduce its own business-class cable modem in the
future with integrated router functionality.
Bosco says Cisco's ultimate goal is to enable cable operators to build
multiservice IP networks, capable of supporting a full range of carrier-class
data, voice and video applications. Of course Cisco is not alone in this
effort, rivals like Bay Networks and 3Com are also offering cable data
platforms capable of supporting advanced IP services.
In April, Cisco experienced a set-back in the cable market when
Tele-Communications Inc. tapped Bay and 3Com as its lead DOCSIS
CMTS vendors. However, Cisco is winning the business of other major
operators. The company has a strategic partnership agreement with
MediaOne and several DOCSIS trials underway with operators in the U.S.
and Europe.
CABLE DATACOM NEWS Publisher Michael Harris met with Paul
Bosco at Cable'98 for an update on Cisco's cable strategy. An edited
transcript of the session follows.
CDN: Cisco supports IP networking over a range of broadband access
technologies, including cable modems and digital subscriber line (DSL)
equipment. How does the DOCSIS cable modem platform compare to
other solutions for the delivery of "carrier-class" IP services?
BOSCO: The exciting attributes of the DOCSIS approach are that the
standards are available and clear, the vendors have embraced these
standards and are bringing interoperable products to market, and the cable
community is committed to deploying DOCSIS solutions. That is a different
state than DSL where non-compatible, non-interoperable solutions have
emerged. The cable industry has the potential to capture a true leadership
position in the delivery of carrier-class IP services.
Although I'm excited about the leadership potential of DOCSIS-based
solutions-and that means voice, data and video solutions, not just data
modems-we need to accelerate the rollout. The current broadband online
offerings reach just a fraction of total cable households and we need to move
toward a mass market to ensure success. Cable has a truly unique window
where leadership can be achieved in broadband internetworking. The timing
is particularly good given that momentum is shifting very quickly to IP-based
solutions as the common underlying foundation for voice, data and video.
CDN: DOCSIS equipment has a significant cost advantage over DSL
products today. Is that cost advantage sustainable?
BOSCO: The answer depends a great deal on your perspective and the
service model you analyze. We see the greatest DOCSIS advantages, and
greatest potential cable industry benefits, where IP becomes the platform for
voice, data, and video. This allows both scope and scale benefits to be
captured by the MSOs with products delivered in targeted, branded bundles
to consumers. We believe the incremental costs of delivering telephony to
cable modem users or even set-top users may be very low, particularly for
MSOs using DOCSIS-based solutions, a single multiservice core network
architecture, and an integrated suite of customer premise devices.
If cable players do not integrate voice and data, the relative economics
versus a telco, which will surely offer integrated voice and data, will not be
great. But when cable players integrate voice and data in an environment
where the DOCSIS digital set-top box is a portal to their value-added IP
applications, the economics look exceptionally good.
CDN: The DOCSIS 1.0 specification was designed as a low-cost
consumer platform. Now the industry is working to add a number of
enhancements to the spec, called DOCSIS 1.1, to support IP-based
telecommunications services. Where does Cisco stand in supporting 1.1?
BOSCO: DOCSIS 1.1 embeds fantastic advances which enable the
delivery of services requiring QoS [quality of service] and VPN [virtual
private network] capabilities across HFC infrastructure. The enhancements
include features that optimize scheduling and resource reservation for voice
and video delivery while supporting embedded chip-level support for things
like hardware-assisted packet or frame-based fragmentation and
reassembly.
Some people are calling this the best of both worlds where we achieve a
true multiservice infrastructure fully capable of voice, data, and video
delivery, but without the cell tax and overhead penalties inherent in a more
cell and TDM [time division multiplex] centric approach. DOCSIS 1.1
should be a tremendous leap forward for this industry and the infrastructure
most MSOs are deploying. If the future of the applications world is IP, then
the future infrastructure for these applications is DOCSIS 1.1. Cable has a
superb window of opportunity which 1.1 will open.
CDN: When do you think the DOCSIS 1.1 spec will be completed? How
will it impact your production timeline?
BOSCO: Well, we're hoping all major work on the 1.1 spec is now
complete, and that as an industry, we are all moving forward with a
foundation for the final specification release and certification process. We
assume that all changes which might impact silicon or board-level designs are
now closed. If that is true, and no silicon or hardware impact exists, then
remaining work will be in software. This would mean we will rollout solutions
to very limited customers in late Q3 and the broader customer base in Q4.
CDN: Can you quantify the performance gains DOCSIS 1.1
enhancements provide over the existing 1.0 spec, particularly pertaining
to latency, which is critical to offering IP telephony?
BOSCO: We have not released the results of our performance modeling for
1.1 data and telephony applications, but we certainly anticipate a gain of 10x
in equivalent circuit capacity is possible, statistically speaking. By the way,
there are a significant number of parameters which impact the number of
equivalent voice circuits supported, including encoding formats, latency
requirements, jitter ceilings, etc. There are also CMTS capacity drivers-such
as RSVP, signaling or session capacity-that affect the maximum number of
equivalent circuits we can support, with or without echo cancellation
considerations.
CDN: Could you elaborate on how DOCSIS 1.1 will help cable operators
in the delivery of business-class data services?
BOSCO: DOCSIS 1.1 gives us true QoS support on the cable
infrastructure. Although we have tended to think about that capability as an
enabler of streaming voice and video, it also allows us to offer VPNs and
secure telecommuting offerings. And we're really looking at the ability to
support, from a quality perspective, true IP-based differentiated services.
The other thing we're seeing is a tremendous improvement in IP-based
security protocols at all levels, and I'm not just referring to the DOCSIS link
support. I think we're seeing a window where cable will go to market with
the ability to offer end-to-end security which exceeds that which the DSL
solutions can provide. In telecommuting, providing broadband remote
access to corporate LANs and intranet VPNs, we believe cable can
surprise the market with an exceptional suite of business offerings.
CDN: What is Cisco's timeline for adding IP voice capabilities to its
DOCSIS cable modem platform?
BOSCO: We're probably a couple months from announcing large scale
trials, but the economics continue to look so good that we're increasingly
pressured to ensure local loop bypass rollouts can begin in the first half of
1999. I would not be surprised if the economies of scope and scale on HFC
infrastructures using voice-over-IP technologies blow away some of the
industry's critics.
CDN: What level of call quality do you expect to offer with IP voice
services delivered via DOCSIS modems?
BOSCO: We are being asked by most customers to deliver toll-quality
voice at a minimum, but to also provide the ability to offer up to three voice
quality tiers. Our goal is to deliver a suite of product solutions to the cable
community and one of them will clearly be toll-quality voice with complete
PSTN integration capability. If you've heard the latest demonstration
technology, in the tests we've been doing, we're scoring equivalent to voice
across twisted pair in blind consumer quality tests. We're confident that we'll
offer a toll-quality version, and in addition to that, we'll offer some lower and
higher bit rate voice options to operators.
CDN: Do you believe cable-delivered IP telephony services will be
offered as a lifeline service or as a low-cost replacement for second
phone lines?
BOSCO: Both. I would expect European, Canadian and Pacific Rim
voice-over- IP rollouts will surprise some U.S. operators with the aggressive
schedules planned. Worldwide, the lifeline and regulatory barriers differ,
along with the return spectrum available or not available due to must-carry
type guidelines. So watch for "lifeline," which is defined differently around the
world, to appear outside the U.S. quickly, but for second phone lines to
appear in the U.S. quickly.
A new market may be the ability to offer voice tunnels within VPNs over
cable. In telecommuting for example, remote access to the corporate PBX
and LAN via multiservice DOCSIS customer premise equipment may be a
feature that is desirable and possible via broadband infrastructures.
CDN: Unlike the telcos, most cable operators do not have a legacy
telecommunications infrastructure. What strategic advantages do MSOs
have by starting from scratch to build broadband IP networks?
BOSCO: Instead of carrying multiple legacy infrastructures for X.25,
SMDS, ATM, Frame Relay, DDN, IDSN, voice, etc., like the telcos, cable
is emerging as an industry offering one single fiber-rich, standards-based,
broadband Internet-centric infrastructure. It's a beautiful thing.
Starting from scratch to really build an IP-optimized network and bring it to
market is a tremendous green field opportunity. It's the same kinds of
positive things that you hear about the new national IP carriers like Qwest
and Level3. It's not recognized, but cable in the same space. They're
building from scratch a very fiber-rich infrastructure with an opportunity to
optimize and catch the transition of every service we know onto IP.
CDN: In addition to serving cable modems, CMTS products will be used
to offer high-speed data links to TV set-top boxes with built-in DOCSIS
modems? Which device will ultimately win out as the Internet platform in
the home, the PC or TV?
BOSCO: It's a good question. There are some folks that argue the whole
debate is null and void and that a residential gateway with IEEE 1394 wiring
into consumer appliances is the way to go. But it seems to me the very early
testing that we have indicates consumers expect bundled buying. That means
one provider, but maybe two devices, a set-top and a data/voice modem.
We have to be careful of locking ourselves into the modem model, because I
think we'll see a range of devices with imbedded DOCSIS capability coming
out. As the consumer electronics vendors really understand this, which they
increasingly seem to be doing, we'll see whole new combinations of
broadband capabilities and services.
CDN: TCI, North America's largest MSO, recently selected DOCSIS
CMTS Solutions from Bay and 3Com instead of Cisco. Why did Cisco
lose TCI's business? What does TCI's decision say about the appeal of
Cisco's DOCSIS solution to the cable industry?
BOSCO: Our relationship with TCI is growing. I'm not sure we did a good
job of reaching out to TCI last year and we are obviously starting out with
much ground to make up. But I'll clearly be reaching out to work with them
and our discussions about availability and configurations are continuing.
We think the basic solution we're delivering right now really is architected to
be scalable to support multiservice networking. We really want to extend
intelligence all the way out to the edge of the network, allowing us to offer
true Tier 1 services, the way an ISP would characterize it. We think we're
the lead vendor in bringing complete routing to the edge of the network, and
we think over time, particularly as the commercial and institutional interest
grows, that the differentiation will become visible.
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