NCTA Trademarks '10G'

Move over, 5G. CableLabs and Cable Europe also get behind the brand they'll use to identify the industry's push toward HFC networks that can deliver speeds of 10 Gbit/s.

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

January 7, 2019

4 Min Read
NCTA Trademarks '10G'

The NCTA, CableLabs and Cable Europe have formally introduced "10G" as the brand they'll affix to the cable industry's push to create and support HFC networks capable of delivering symmetrical speeds of 10 Gbit/s.

That 10Gig focus, a clear counter to the hype around 5G that will be evident at CES this week, centers on Full Duplex DOCSIS, an annex to DOCSIS 3.1 that will support 10Gbit/s speeds, as well as distributed access architectures that will help to pack capacity on the HFC network and reduce network latencies.

Figure 1: We'll forgive any sudden bouts of deja vu. Much as it did with 'tru2way' in 2008, and 'Gigasphere' in 2014, the cable industry will use the '10G' brand to label the push toward next-gen networks that can deliver symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. We'll forgive any sudden bouts of déjà vu. Much as it did with "tru2way" in 2008, and "Gigasphere" in 2014, the cable industry will use the "10G" brand to label the push toward next-gen networks that can deliver symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s.

According to this blog post by WK Tan, VP & GM of Intel's Connected Home Division, this emerging technology is also being recast as 10 Gigabit Full Duplex DOCSIS, or 10G FDX. He also identified Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications as Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC)'s "early partners" with respect to 10-Gig tech. Intel's Tan said his company is also teaming with long-time DOCSIS technology partner MaxLinear Corp. on cable gateways and network infrastructure products that deliver 10-Gig speeds on HFC.

The NCTA – The Internet & Television Association , the Washington, D.C.-based cable lobbying group, said it has trademarked 10G, and is teaming it with the tagline: "The Next Great Leap for Broadband."

Update: Monday's announcement refers to 10G as an NCTA trademark, but the organization clarified that the application has been filed and the trademark is pending. Per the US Patent and Trademark Office, there is a live 10G trademark that was first filed in January 2005 and owned by the original registrant, Limited Liability Corp. Per that filing, the trademark was established for "[c]ustom designing of electronic equipment for controlling and monitoring heavy construction equipment, namely, engine controllers, displays and telematics linking on-board communications devices with remote networks to track vehicle location and performance."

Today's announcement also confirms Light Reading's report last week that the cable industry would tout 10G at this week's CES tech-fest in Las Vegas. (See Cable to Tout '10G' at CES.)

The industry is putting a global push behind the effort, as CableLabs counts members around the globe, and Cable Europe represents members in Europe. Today's announcement also included supporting quotes from operators, vendors and organizations from around the globe, including Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS), Charter Communications Inc. , Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Cox Communications Inc. , Liberty Global Inc. (Nasdaq: LBTY), Rogers Communications Inc. (Toronto: RCI), SCTE-ISBE, Shaw Communications Inc. , Taiwan Broadband Communications, Telecom Argentina and Vodafone Germany.

Per the announcement, several operators, including Comcast, Charter, Cox, Liberty Global Mediacom and Midco, among others, are "implementing the 10G initiative." Lab trials are underway and field trials are set to start in 2020.

"Early technology trials have been very promising and will mature very quickly this year," Arris CEO Bruce McClelland said in a statement.

"There's no better place to introduce the 10G initiative than CES -- the world's largest showcase of current and future technologies," added Pat Esser, president of Cox.

Cable operators have not outlined their specific plans for 10G networks, but industry estimates hold that US MSOs have deployed speeds of 1 Gbit/s (in the downstream direction) using D3.1 to about 80% of the domestic market, up from just 5% in 2016.

Expect a few more details to emerge on Wednesday (January 9), when execs from NCTA, CableLabs and Comcast and other service providers join a panel at The Four Seasons Hotel here called "The Future of the Broadband Network."

— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading

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About the Author

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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