In what is seen as an industry first, the US cable industry on 27 September awarded certification status to DOCSIS* 1.1 cable modems, adding to the industry's family of interoperable high-speed devices. The advancements that come with DOCSIS 1.1 are tactically and strategically critical to cable providers.

Two companies, Texas Instruments and Toshiba, achieved certification status from CableLabs - a research and development consortium of cable television system operators representing North and South America - for modems that comply with specifications for DOCSIS 1.1, a company release states.

Two companies, Arris and Cadant, gained qualification status for their DOCSIS 1.1 cable modem termination systems (CMTS). DOCSIS stands for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification.

The 1.1 modems are compatible with existing DOCSIS 1.0 equipment and will be compatible with modems that will be certified under future versions of DOCSIS, such as the recently announced DOCSIS 2.0.

Strategically, DOCSIS 1.1 opens a technological doorway to augmented revenue streams for cable providers. It does so by enabling the existence of high-speed Internet service tiers, via techniques known as data fragmentation and quality of service (QoS). Those two techniques allow cable providers to deliver high-speed Internet services simultaneously over the same plant - and in a path parallel to - core video services.

Equipment built to comply with the DOCSIS 1.1 specification becomes the foundation for expanding the list of advanced cable services offered by cable providers. Overall, DOCSIS 1.1 enables cable operators to deliver twice the level of functionality while reducing operating costs by half, the release states.

In the same announcement, CableLabs, announced it had bestowed certification stations on 29 DOCSIS 1.0 modems. This includes units from Accton, Ambit, Askey, Asustek, CastleNet, Correlant, Ericsson, High Speed Surfing, LG Innotek, Lynksys, Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, Scientific Atlanta, SMC Networks, Terayon, Thompson, Toshiba, Turbocomm, and Zoom. One new 1.0 CMTS, manufactured by Motorola, was qualified as well.

To date, 178 DOCSIS 1.0 modems have received certification status and 24 CMTS have been qualified by CableLabs. New silicon from two additional sources, Correlant and Terayon, were included in modems certified in this wave.