By Carol Ansley, Jeff Howe, ARRIS Group, Inc.
As DOCSIS 3.1 prepares to begin its rollout over the next several years, many questions have to be analyzed to determine the most efficient transition methodologies. This paper considers the problem of network transition. It will look at the services currently deployed and consider how to overlay new D3.1 services. The factors considered in the model will include the HSD usage of current customers over D3.0 and D2.0 modems, and several different models of new D3.1 customers and their potential usage patterns. The D3.1 usage patterns could include commercial customers like small businesses or larger customers that might use D3.1 tiers for data backups off-hours. Another group of potential D3.1 users could be IPTV subscribers. The different D3.1 user groups would potentially have different performance expectations and different usage patterns that might allow a more efficient deployment alongside the current customers. Finally, the long-term transition of existing customers should be considered.
The modeling of various scenarios would also consider the different modes of deploying the new D3.3 tier, overlay or new spectrum, as a part of the modeling process.