CommScope Inc. has bought Montreal-based LiquidxStream Systems Inc. , a startup focused on dense edge QAMs, and may build a key component for Converged Multiservice Access Platform (CMAP), an architecture developed by Comcast.

Light Reading Cable reported in March that LiquidxStream was on the block and had shopped itself to Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Motorola Mobility LLC . At the time, it was believed that ATX Networks Corp. of Ajax, Ontario, was closest to pulling off the deal. (See Suitors Circle LiquidxStream.)

CommScope did not disclose the purchase price, but a spokesman said all of LiquidxStream's 40 employees will join CommScope and that the vendor will retain its presence in Montreal.

LiquidxStream's claim-to-fame is its edge QAM port density (36 QAMs per RF port), rivaling Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIT)'s HectoQAM and putting it within shouting distance of BigBand Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: BBND)'s new MSP2800. LiquidxStream, founded in 2005, is headed up by former Videotron Ltd. exec François Laflamme. (See BigBand Plots Plans for Comcast's CMAP and Harmonic Lays Claim to Edge QAM Density Crown .)

Why this matters
Moving beyond traditional edge QAMs, LiquidxStream has been key in the development of the Access Shelf component of the modular implementation of the CMAP, a super-dense architecture that will help MSOs make the leap to an all-IP platform.

LiquidxStream has not announced a CMAP product, but CommScope tells Light Reading Cable that the vendor's existing edge QAM technology represents the company's "first step into that direction and we're committed to expanding into CMAP." That commitment grows in importance now that potential LiquidxStream competitor RGB Networks Inc. has pulled out of the CMAP market. (See RGB Shelves CMAP Product Plans .)

For more
Read more about LiquidxStream and recent CMAP developments.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable