In recent years, cable providers or Multiple Systems Operators (MSOs) have made a substantial investment in upgrading their existing infrastructure into a bidirectional Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) system capable of providing reliable high-speed Internet access and digital cable television. The bidirectionality component permits the transmission and receipt of IP packets, and it is this IP over cable network that enables the MSO to expand their competitive offerings in an effort to better serve their customers and increase revenue. High-speed data, video-on-demand, interactive gaming, videoconferencing, and telephony are some examples of these value-added services. PacketCable provides a framework MSOs can use to ensure the successful deployment of these services over a broadband cable network.
The PacketCable 1.x series of specifications define an architecture framework on how a cable MSO can provide a voice telephony service. PacketCable-based VoIP telephony services can be provided at a much smaller cost than that of the Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) legacy circuit switched networks. Cable MSOs becoming Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) makes a lot of sense; in fact many of the Cable MSOs (including the five largest) are certified local exchange carriers. Telephony services are a natural progression for MSOs as they already have access to millions of potential subscribers. At of the end of 2005, major MSOs served 5.6 million cable telephony subscribers across the country (source: www.ncta.com). In fact MSOs are signing up 11,000 customers a day for VoIP telephony!! As you can see cable telephony is a key component of the cable industry's business growth strategy, and with the continued improvements in IP telephony, cable-delivered telephone service could evolve into a simple telecommunications afterthought for consumers, rather than a separate, independent service.
The PacketCable Multimedia specifications define a generic framework on how a cable MSO can provide any arbitrary multimedia service. These services can be voice, video, and/or data. By implementing PacketCable the MSO can have a single network to manage, which provides the backbone for all of these service types.
