CableLabs and Cisco announced the creation of a new open-source software project for the Remote PHY Device (RPD) labeled 'OpenRPD', aimed at enabling virtualization in cable networks. The RPD is a physical layer converter commonly located in an optical node of the cable network.
Remote PHY works together with DOCSIS 3.1, the latest specification designed by CableLabs, to expand the capacity of the cable hybrid fiber coax (HFC) plants as operators around the world are faced with pressures to provide higher bandwidth transport for Internet, video and voice services.
The open source software will reside in the Remote PHY Device and will be available to cable operators and RPD vendors around the world. The project was originally developed by Cisco and contributed to the open source environment hosted at CableLabs.
Ralph Brown, CTO, CableLabs
CableLabs has a history of contributing to and hosting open source projects. The OpenRPD project helps launch CableLabs increased focus on open source projects for the cable industry.
Dave Ward, CTO of Engineering and chief architect, Cisco
We see the Remote PHY architecture and RPD evolving to a more generalized and virtualized architecture that can be applied to all types of access networks.
