More than a year ago, as Charter Communications was preparing to formalize its strategy for DOCSIS 4.0, the cable operator conducted a successful test of Remote MAC PHY distributed access architecture (DAA) with Vecima Networks. Fast forward to this month, and Vecima was one of two vendors Charter selected for its DAA upgrade, but with Remote PHY devices instead of Remote MAC PHY.
Along the way to this month’s announcement, Charter decided it wanted Remote PHY, which digitizes the network all the way to the node, rather than Remote MAC PHY, which virtualizes the converged cable access platform (CCAP) core. But the shift did not create any major complications for Vecima, COO Clay McCreery told Fierce.
“They had been really focused on deploying MAC PHY, which we were engaged with them on,” he said. “As they decided to pivot over to Remote PHY, it just took us a couple of weeks and we flipped their lab [to Remote PHY]. It really just came down to getting the lab together, getting through some additional testing and getting comfortable with the timelines they wanted for deploying it."
McCreery pointed out that Vecima is the market share leader in Remote MAC PHY, according to Dell’Oro Group, but also has 20% the global footprint in Remote PHY. “We were not doing brand new things that we've never done before,” he said of the shift. “When we physically build the node, 99% of the components are exactly the same whether it's MAC PHY or Remote PHY. It's literally a couple of changes…So when things changed for them, it was a very easy change for us.”
He said that Charter and other operators can pursue both Remote PHY and Remote MAC PHY, and also fiber-to-the-home in different areas of their networks, and that some already are doing that. This suggests it would not be surprising if Charter decides to eventually deploy MAC PHY in some cases. McCreery declined to discuss further details of the Charter deployment.
In going with Remote PHY, at least for this stage in its migration toward DOCSIS 4.0, Charter is going the way of most cable operators, according to Jeff Heynen, Dell'Oro Group VP of Broadband Access and Home Networking.
“Remote PHY has become more common [than MAC PHY] for a couple of reasons,” he said. “First, it was the technology that was standardized and deployed first. Architecturally, it was an evolution from the M-CMTS [Modular CMTS], which split the MAC processing of the CMTS from the RF and physical layer processing of a separate edge QAM device. Second, it was a technology that could be used in conjunction with existing CCAP platforms, so operators could move to DAA without having to fully move away from the CCAPs they already had in their networks. Finally, Remote PHY deployments have been operationalized and have already seen hundreds of thousands of devices deployed. So, that gives it an advantage from a best practices perspective.”
Heynen added that the difference in adoption was clearly demonstrated in 2022 when 10x more Remote PHY devices (RPDs) shipped for revenue than did Remote MAC PHY devices (RMDs).
“I am not anticipating that ratio changing any time soon, simply because you have Comcast, Charter, Cox, Vodafone and other large operators all moving forward or beginning to move forward with Remote PHY,” Heynen explained. “I do think RMDs do increase as there are still operators who are leaning towards that architecture. But whether those deployments move forward will be partially dependent on how committed the vendors and component suppliers are to continuing to support the technology."
He added "RPD vendors do offer modules that support both Remote PHY and Remote MAC PHY, so that makes it easier on operators from an inventory and SKU management perspective. Also, it gives them the flexibility to migrate should they want to collapse existing hub sites and push more functionality out into the node.”
Heynen acknowledged McCreery’s point that there are limited cases in which operators may use both approaches in their networks, but that also could have the effect of complicating network management, he said.
For Vecima’s part, McCreery suggested that in today’s market environment the company is and must remain flexible to operators’ shifting game plans. “MAC PHY has its place and more than half our business has been in that product… but I think to be successful these days, not being religious about what is being deployed is very helpful because we just go in and are more like consultants and just say, ‘Where are you? What do you want to accomplish?' Then, we work with them on the best approach because it's not a one size fits all business.”
McCreery said that the cable operator market has swung in favor of somewhat smaller vendors like Vecima because larger vendors have been more interested in trying to support legacy product channels than being flexible to the sometimes shifting technology philosophies of operators.
As for the Charter deal, when Vecima first announced a DAA Remote PHY contract with a “Tier 1” operator earlier this month, the operator was not named. It was only a week later, after Charter was reported to have a similar deal with Harmonic - Vecima’s somewhat larger competitor - that Charter agreed to be identified as the customer in the Vecima announcement.
“I think they agreed to go public with this because they want everyone on notice,” McCreery said. “I think they're just trying to make sure the entire ecosystem from the silicon to the parts that everybody understands who the customer is, and everybody's motivated to help them get this done.”