Vyyo Gear Lives On (at Arris)Vyyo Gear Lives On (at Arris)

Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS) has gotten into the 3 GHz spectrum overlay business after signing on to distribute and resell old gear from Javelin Innovations, the company that we all used to know (and love) as Vyyo.

Evidence of that relationship first emerged on Arris's Website here, but the items were removed as of Tuesday evening.

But when it was still live, that Arris page listed 41 items from Javelin, including an "AC Test Probe for Vyyo Equipment," jumpers, couplers, equalizers, splitters, and a wide range of taps for 3 GHz overlay. A search last night for "Javelin" in the Arris store search box produced this list:



Javelin and Arris confirmed their relationship to Cable Digital News today, noting that Arris's TeleWire Supply division has obtained the rights to distribute Javelin's 3 GHz overlay gear to Cox Communications Inc. , which remains Javelin's top cable MSO customer. Cox is using Javelin's technology to support business-class services in some of its plant. (See Vyyo Picked by Cox.)

"It's a supply chain and logistics distribution agreement. It's pretty surgical," says Javelin CEO Wayne Davis. "It [the deal] helps us to streamline our operations."

Although the initial deal is specific to Cox, Arris is allowed to sell Javelin's 3 GHz equipment to other MSOs. Arris is getting an undisclosed cut on any Javelin equipment sold through TeleWire Supply, a spokesman says.

Davis also clarified that the new supply deal is for Javelin's current generation of products, and does not cover any new technology the company is developing to help cable boost its available upstream spectrum.

Vyyo once traded on Nasdaq but struggled to obtain significant adoption of its spectrum overlay technology. Vyyo got into early lab tests at Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and Charter Communications Inc. , but no announced deployments came from that acitivty. (See Vyyo Gets Foot in Door at Comcast, Charter .)

Founder and former chairman and CEO Davidi Gilo bought the company back and took it private last year in a deal valued at $45 million. (See Vyyo on Life Support , Exclusive: Gilo Offers $45M for Vyyo , and Vyyo Details Restructuring .)

Javelin, which has an office in the Denver area, has yet to unveil its new product strategy, but it's reportedly working on a new drop-in system that gives MSOs the ability to dilate their upstream capacity using spectrum in the 1 GHz to 3 GHz range. (See Vyyo's New Name & Game .)

Davis says he expects to announce more details on Javelin's new product strategy at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) Cable-Tec Expo, which runs Oct. 28-30 in Denver.

Although the Arris connection has nothing to do with that (at least for now), a deal with a larger supplier could give Javelin's gear a stronger line into major MSOs. Comcast, by the way, is Arris's largest customer (just sayin').

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, <ahref="http://www.cabledigitalnews.com">Cable Digital News