Harmonic Tunes Up Bandwidth

COLOGNE, Germany -- Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) today expanded its family of high-performance PWRLink™ transmitters with the introduction of CWDM-based 1310 nm forward path transmitters that significantly enhance cable operators' ability to deliver more bandwidth to the home. The new PWRLink transmitters make it possible to easily increase available bandwidth without adding new fiber by combining multiple wavelengths to deliver traffic to the node. Cable operators deploying these new transmitters can increase revenues by expanding capacity for value-added services, while minimizing capital expenditures with a highly scalable solution that is fully compatible with the existing access network infrastructure.

Applications such as high definition (HD) television, video-on-demand (VOD), high-speed Internet and gaming have created a dramatic increase in demand for bandwidth. Deploying additional fiber closer to the home is one way to increase capacity but is normally very costly and not always a feasible option. Harmonic's use of CWDM technology in its new transmitters offers an alternative by providing two or more wavelengths in the 1310 nm frequency band that can be combined onto a single fiber for forward transmission and then separated at the node to be demultiplexed and processed by different receivers. Thus, without any change in the fiber links or node locations, capacity can be greatly expanded.

"Cable operators have needed to expand bandwidth over the years as channel counts grew, but today the requirements are escalating as never before due to the highly bandwidth-intensive services that continue to grow in popularity," said Sunil Frida, Director of HFC Solutions for Harmonic Inc. "HD, VOD and high-speed data in particular are driving the need for more forward capacity. Harmonic addresses the bandwidth crunch in a number of ways, with solutions including ultra-efficient compression, switched digital video and network segmentation. The new PWRLink CWDM transmitters help to optimize bandwidth by using multiple fiber wavelengths to transport more traffic to the node. With these systems, cable operators now have a highly cost-effective, scalable and easy-to-implement solution that saves on fiber usage and also provides more flexibility by enabling different wavelengths to carry different types of traffic or content according to the operator's specific requirements."

Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIT)