Vecima enters the vCMTS game

Vecima Networks is tossing its hat into the virtual cable modem termination system (vCMTS) market with a new platform that will support DOCSIS 4.0 along with a "turbo" version of DOCSIS 3.1 that's poised to help some operators quickly ramp up speeds on their existing D3.1 networks.

Vecima's new offering is also designed to function as a common stack that can likewise support PON deployments off the node, which are typically enabled with remote optical line terminals (OLTs).

Vecima's entry into the vCMTS market emerges amid a surge of competition in the category.

The company's "Entra"-branded virtual CMTS will put Canada-based Vecima in direct competition with vCMTS market-leader Harmonic, a supplier that already has vCMTS deals in place with several large cable operators, including Comcast, Charter Communications, Rogers Communications and Vodafone. Vecima will also be tangling in the vCMTS market with CommScope and Casa Systems.

"My plan is to go head-to-head against Harmonic every day," Clay McCreery, Vecima's chief operating officer, said.

He believes the time is right to enter the vCMTS fray as operator plans for DOCSIS 4.0 are showing signs of "loosening up."

Update: Jeff Heynen, analyst with The Dell'Oro Group, estimates that Harmonic had about 98% of the vCMTS market by the end of 2023. He expects to see the vCMTS market growing from about $162 million globally in 2023 to around $366 million in 2028.

"I think Vecima has a very good opportunity to secure market share, even with these vendors in the market," he said via email in response to questions. "It is really important to keep in mind that we are still in the early stages of this overall DAA transition – and in even earlier stages when it comes to transitioning to vCMTS. Comcast's deployments thus far certainly skew the market. But major operators either haven't begun their vCMTS deployments or are just now beginning the RFP [request for proposal] process."

Heyen also points out that Vecima's new vCMTS fits with the traction it already has in the market for remote PHY devices and remote OLTs. "There are always operators who prefer to deal with a single supplier for both the vCMTS and RPDs – from an interoperability perspective to a support perspective and a pricing perspective," he explained.

Tier 1 field lab trial

Vecima said its Entra vCMTS is entering lab trials with an unnamed Tier 1 operator in North America and expects to be in field trials worldwide in Q4 2024. Notably, Vecima has locked in a deal to supply its "ERM3" remote PHY nodes to Charter for the operator's hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) upgrade initiative. In February, the company reported it had 110 "customer engagements" for distributed access architecture (DAA) products, with 55 of them already putting in orders.

Vecima also intends to submit its new vCMTS for future DOCSIS 4.0 interops at CableLabs, McCreery said. Vecima supplied remote PHY devices for CableLabs' most recent D4.0 interop event.

McCreery said Vecima has been building up its vCMTS over the last year and that its new platform builds on the software the company has developed for its remote MACPHY platform, which distributes both the MAC (media access control) and the PHY layer components of the CMTS out to the edge.

Vecima, he points out, uses a software-based MAC rather than a silicon-based MAC for its remote MACPHY platform. The company is now extending that capability into its new vCMTS, which will run on commercial off-the-shelf servers from multiple suppliers, including Dell, HP and Supermicro.

"That gives us a tremendous leap forward, and it's why we've been able to move so quickly to where we are right now," said McCreery, an exec who will be speaking this week at Light Reading's 17^th annual Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies event in Denver.

Commitment to openness

Vecima has initially integrated the Entra vCMTS with the company's own remote PHY (RPDs), and is committed to doing the same with RPDs of other suppliers.

McCreery said the company's vCMTS has also been integrated with the existing tools, including those tied into backoffice and provisioning systems, of existing CMTS platforms. That will help operators, particularly in the Tier 2/3 world, to quickly transition from their integrated CMTS to a new virtualized platform.

"I think that's going to be a differentiator for us. Making [the vCMTS] integrate with their common processes and tools is really important. This should accelerate adoption," he said. "We will be the most open platform that's on the market."