Astound Broadband chose Harmonic’s cOS Virtualized Broadband Platform to modernise its network, maintain service speeds and reliability and ease its path to fibre optic cables.
Multiple system operator (MSO) Astound Broadband delivers broadband connectivity to over one million subscribers in the US. To achieve a reliable, high-speed service, the company needs an efficient, scalable network and chose Harmonic’s cOS virtualised broadband platform to assure the future competitiveness of its broadband infrastructure.
By adopting Harmonic’s virtualised platform, Astound Broadband is also moving to a future-ready infrastructure that will ease its path to fibre optic cables, which are expected to help give its services greater bandwidth, reliability and faster speeds over longer distances. The physical fibre cables are also thinner and sturdier than copper, with more flexibility in terms of incorporating fibre into existing networks or integrating equipment with higher speeds (10 Gb, 40 Gb, 100Gb and so on).
“Our innovation is dedicated to supplying critical broadband access to local communities. By partnering with Harmonic, we have the performance at scale and the support we need to ensure high-speed connectivity for customers today and in the future,” said Patrick Murphy, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Astound Broadband.
Astound Broadband will deploy Harmonic’s cOS platform in a distributed access architecture (DAA) with their Pebble Remote PHY Device. Power, space and cost efficient, and running on software, the cOS platform will enable a faster time to market for Astound Broadband’s new services. An advantage of DAA is its ability to converge data, video and legacy services - in other words, deliver high-speed video, data and voice services over coax cables.
Harmonic’s system works as a unified platform for DOCSIS now, and PON (passive optical networking) for future FTTH deployments, which means fewer new hardware requirements. Pebble Remote is also able to support both fibre and DOCSIS in the same DAA device.
Furthermore, Astound Broadband will be able to use tools from Harmonic’s cOS Central to improve their network with analytics, automation and real-time visibility. Issues can be resolved proactively to maintain consistent service availability at each location, with total control to secure consumer privacy and manage access to services.
Jeffrey Glahn, senior vice president of global sales, broadband, at Harmonic noted, “Astound Broadband and Harmonic share a common vision to deliver high quality experiences through broadband systems. By modernizing its network with the cOS broadband platform and accessing the option to use fibre in the future, Astound Broadband moving toward new opportunities in broadband infrastructure, inspiring other operators to follow suit.”
Harmonic’s cOS platform runs broadband services serving more than 33 million homes for operators in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. www.harmonicinc.com/broadband
