Intel, Comcast Lead Cable Industry Efforts To Deliver 10G Broadband, Wi-Fi 6 In The Home

Intel announced at CES 2019 that it has signed a new deal with Comcast to help bring 10 Gbps speeds and Wi-Fi 6 to homes. Under the deal, Intel will optimize its 8th Gen Intel Core processors for pCs to deliver Gigabit Wi-Fi from Comcast’s xFi Advanced Gateways. The two companies will also work together to drive the adoption of Wi-Fi 6 in the home and develop a global standard for 10 Gbps.

The partnership with the US’s largest cable operator is part of a broader effort by Intel to work with the cable industry on 10G. The Internet & Television Association, CableLabs and Cable Europe announced at CES their support for scaling up cable broadband to 10G in the coming years, in the US and around the world. To support the roll-out, Intel will deliver 10G-ready chips to support network infrastructure and home gateways.

Cable operators in the US, whose networks pass 85 percent of US homes, including Comcast, Charter, Cox, Mediacom, Midco and others – plus international operators, including Rogers, Shaw Communications, Vodafone, Taiwan Broadband Communications, Telecom Argentina, Liberty Global and more, are implementing the new 10G initiative, with lab trials already underway, and field trials beginning in 2020.

The virtualization of Comcast’s video and data platforms is in trials in multiple cities and will be scaled throughout Comcast’s network. Intel-based remote physical layer (PHY) devices will help Comcast deliver bandwidth on demand and further improve video quality as it rolls out multi-gigabit speeds. Trials for 10G speeds have started at Comcast labs. Tests in customer homes are expected to begin in spring 2020. — Telecompaper