Why This Matters: The emergence of distributed, virtualized cable access technologies is prompting operators to put off some infrastructure purchases.
It came as no surprise to anyone in the cable network-technology business that research company Dell'Oro Group's newly released first-quarter data showed that CCAP tech sales had slid 38% to $275 million during the first three months of the year.
Earnings reports delivered in April and May had already told the tale.
CommScope, making its first earnings call since closing on its Arris acquisition, reported an 18% first-quarter revenue slide in its network and cloud business. That was followed closely by the Casa Systems report that its overall business, which is more concentrated in CCAP sales, declined 55.6% during the quarter.
Harmonic, which is introducing a disruptive virtualized Converged Cable Access Platform technology called CableOS, saw a 30% decline in first-quarter revenue.
The cause of this downturn is hardly recessionary. Rather, the consensus is that operators have their hands full making decisions regarding Distributed Access Architecture, and how to reconcile it with CCAP virtualization and all the other 10G technologies coming down the CableLabs pipeline.
What, and Why, On DAA
DAA is the next-generation hybrid fiber coaxial network configuration in which functions like PHY and MAC/PHY, which have traditionally resided in the headend, are moved closer to the user. According to CableLabs, moving these functions into the network reduces the amount of hardware and power and cooling needs within the headend, creating efficiencies in speed, reliability, latency and security. All of these things are needed for the 10G future.
In his report, Dell'Oro analyst Jeff Heynen said operators are pushing off new capacity purchases while they determine how to move forward with distributed access architectures.
Both in North America and in Europe, cable access tech vendors had expected to see large-scale deployments this year for Remote PHY and Remote MAC/PHY. But so far, those deployments and their associated orders haven't materialized.
John Chapman, chief technology officer of cable access and a fellow at Cisco Systems
We have DAA just ready to get out the door, said John Chapman, chief technology officer of cable access and a fellow at Cisco Systems, speaking on a panel at the recent ANGA COM in Cologne, Germany, as reported by Light Reading. We have 100 customers that have bought DAA but are waiting to do it.
Asaf Matatyaou, VP of solutions and product management for cable edge business at Harmonic, sees the issue as multifaceted.
He compared sales of legacy CCAP technology to the consumer market for iPhones. Even if a user needs a new smartphone today, they're often going to push off that purchase until the next generation of hardware arrives.
In the case of DAA and virtualized CCAP, those products are available now. But operators, Matatyaou explained, aren't ready to deploy them in mass. He said operators were enthralled with early CableLabs lab demonstrations of DAA, the first of which showed interoperability with data.
But it's one thing to demo it in a lab, it's quite another to deploy all the other services you need [in DAA], Matatyaou pointed out. Even though there's a lot of value in DAA, you have to bring to bear operational best practices as well as people familiar with how to deploy and maintain it.
Beyond these reasons, operators are being slowed by the plethora of new 10G-related HFC network technology being put forth by CableLabs. Beyond just network virtualization, engineers need to reconcile such forward-looking technologies as Full Duplex DOCSIS, Extended Frequency DOCSIS and Low Latency DOCSIS, just to name a few technologies, into their DAA planning.
That's not to say the market is totally paralyzed.
In terms of CCAP virtualization, a source close to Buckeye Broadband told Multichannel News that the tier-2 operator recently cleared out CCAP gear in more than a dozen locations and was able to consolidate it into several off-the-shelf x86-powered servers running CableOS, all of which fit onto one rack.
In Europe, Vodafone Germany is trying to move quickly with DAA. And Com Hem, Stofa and TDS in Scandinavia are all in the midst of DAA projects, Heynen said.
Among U.S. tier 1 operators, Comcast is closest to a major deployment of CCAP virtualization and DAA. According to Heynen, the top North American cable operator is on the verge of deploying significant CableOS channels in the second half of 2019.
Comcast is in the very early stages of its R-PHY deployment and will likely use a combination of gear from Harmonic, Arris and Cisco, with Arris and Cisco providing R-PHY nodes tied to existing E6000 and CBR-8 CCAP cores, Heynen said.
Hurdles Leading to Lumpy' Rollout
That's not to say the overall business of selling network gear to telecoms is soft right now. The global market for all access gear was down by 2% in the first quarter to $2.9 billion. Dell'Oro said deployments of fiber-to-the-home networks capable of data speeds of 10 Gigabits per second, such as the one Altice USA is building in its Optimum footprint, drove increased shipments of XPON1, XGSPON and NG-PON2 OLT ports.
And while tier-1 operators are like Comcast and Charter Communications are largely done with the CCAP purchasing needed to build their DOCSIS 3.1 networks, deployments of 1-Gbps-capable modems are ongoing.
Dell'Oro found a 19% uptick in CPE units shipped during the first quarter.
Why This Matters: The emergence of distributed, virtualized cable access technologies is prompting operators to put off some infrastructure purchases.
It came as no surprise to anyone in the cable network-technology business that research company Dell'Oro Group's
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
Why This Matters: The emergence of distributed, virtualized cable access technologies is prompting operators to put off some infrastructure purchases.
