By Oleh J. Sniezko, Aurora Networks, Inc.
Broadband HFC network operators in North America are uniquely positioned to serve the increasing needs for telecommunications services among small and medium size businesses. This paper analyzes the market potential for providing bandwidth and other telecommunications services to this telecommunications market segment. Near term opportunities for HFC network operators as alternative bandwidth providers and longer-term opportunities as Layer 2 and Layer 3 service providers are also discussed. It describes several technology solutions that can be deployed in the HFC plant to support transport of bandwidth-intensive applications and services. The paper also includes a discussion on the requirements such business applications will place on an operator’s network. Finally, the paper describes how a solution based on Ethernet transport can also be deployed to support delivery of high bandwidth residential services to MDUs/MTUs in high-density urban environments.