PacketCable network is a technology specification defined by the industry consortium

CableLabs Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs) is a nonprofit corporation promoting innovation as a research and development lab founded in 1988 by American cable operators. System operators from around the world are eligible to be members. Th ...

for using

Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. ...

(IP) networks to deliver

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

services, such as

IP telephony Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

, conferencing, and interactive gaming on a

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

infrastructure. The PacketCable technology is based on the DOCSIS base with extensions that enable cable operators to deliver data and voice traffic efficiently using a single high-speed, quality-of-service (QoS)-enabled

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

( cable) architecture. The PacketCable effort dates back to 1997 when cable operators identified the need for a real-time multimedia architecture to support the delivery of advanced multimedia services over the DOCSIS architecture. The original PacketCable specifications were based on the physical network characteristics of operators in the U.S. For the European market, Cable Europe Labs, maintains a separate, but equivalent effort, ''EuroPacketCable'', based on European network implementations.

Technical overview

PacketCable interconnects three network types: * Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) access network *

Public switched telephone network The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telep ...

(PSTN) *

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the su ...

Managed IP networks

Protocols

* DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) - standard for data over cable and details mostly the RF band *

Real-time Transport Protocol The Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) is a network protocol for delivering audio and video over IP networks. RTP is used in communication and entertainment systems that involve streaming media, such as telephony, video teleconference applicati ...

(RTP) & Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP) required for media transfer *

PSTN The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local teleph ...

Gateway Call Signaling Protocol Specification (TGCP) which is an MGCP extension for Media Gateways *

Network-Based Call Signaling Network-based Call Signaling (NCS) is a profile of the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) for use in PacketCable applications for voice-over-IP. A network implementing NCS is designed according to the media gateway control protocol architecture ...

Protocol Specification (NCS) which is an MGCP extension for analog residential Media Gateways - the NCS specification, which is derived from the

IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements an ...

MGCP RFC 2705, details

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

signalling. **Basically the

version is a subset of the NCS version. The Packet Cable group has defined more messages and features than the IETF. *

Common Open Policy Service The Common Open Policy Service (COPS) Protocol is part of the internet protocol suite The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar c ...

(COPS) for

quality of service Quality of service (QoS) is the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service, such as a telephony or computer network, or a cloud computing service, particularly the performance seen by the users of the network. To quantitat ...

PacketCable voice coders

The required coders are: *ITU G.711 (both μ-law and

a-law algorithm An A-law algorithm is a standard companding algorithm, used in European 8-bit PCM digital communications systems to optimize, i.e. modify, the dynamic range of an analog signal for digitizing. It is one of two versions of the G.711 standar ...

versions) - for V1.0 & 1.5 * iLBC - for V1.5 *BV16 - for V1.5 In addition the specifications recommended the following: *ITU

G.728 G.728 is an ITU-T standard for speech coding operating at 16 kbit/s. It is officially described as ''Coding of speech at 16 kbit/s using low-delay code excited linear prediction''. Technology used is LD-CELP, low-delay code excited linear pre ...

*ITU G.729 Annex E

PacketCable 1.0

PacketCable 1.0 comprises eleven specifications and six technical reports which define call signaling, quality of service (QoS),

codec A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder. In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or ...

usage, client provisioning, billing event message collection, public switched telephone network (PSTN) interconnection, and security interfaces for implement a single-zone PacketCable solution for residential Internet Protocol (IP) voice services.

PacketCable 1.5

PacketCable 1.5 contains additional capabilities over PacketCable 1.0. It superseded previous versions (1.1, 1.2, and 1.3). The standard covers 21 specifications and one technical report which together define call signaling, quality of service (QoS), coders, client provisioning, billing event message collection, PSTN interconnection, and security interfaces for implementing a single-zone or multi-zone PacketCable solution for residential Internet Protocol (IP) voice services.

PacketCable 2.0

Version 2.0 introduces IMS Release 7

IP Multimedia Subsystem The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) is a standardised architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services. Historically, mobile phones have provided voice call services over a circuit-switched-styl ...

into the core of the architecture. PacketCable uses a simplified IMS in some areas and enhances it in some cable-specific areas. PacketCable defined ''Delta'' specs related to the most important IMS specs from 3GPP.

Deployment

VoIP services based on the PacketCable architecture are being widely deployed by operators: * B.net (Croatia) *

Cable One Cable One, Inc. is an American broadband communications provider. Under the Sparklight brand, it provides service to 21 states and 900,000 residential and business customers. It is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, though it does not serve that ...

(System wide) * Cabletica (Costa Rica) *

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

– Optimum Voice (System wide) *

Charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the re ...

(System wide) * Claro TV (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras) *

Cogeco Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezelin ...

- Cogeco Home Phone (Canada) *

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

- Comcast Digital Voice (System-wide) * Cox – Cox Digital Telephone (System-wide) * GCI (Alaska) * Izzi Telecom (México) * KabloNet (Turkey) *

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

(Puerto Rico) *

Net Serviços de Comunicação NET was a Brazilian telecommunications company that offered services such as cable television, broadband internet and telephony. The company's NET TV service (cable TV) had around 5.4 million subscribers as of Q2 2012. NET also operated the bro ...

- NET Serviços de Comunicação (Brasil) * NetUno (Venezuela) * NOS (Portugal) *

ONO ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōno Castle, Fukuoka * ...

(Spain) * Optus - SingTel Optus Pty Ltd (Australia) * Rogers Telecom (Canada wide (Major cities and towns serviceable with rogers high-speed internet are eligible, still expanding, St John's, NL to Vancouver, BC, serviceable as of July 2007)) *

Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...

(Canada: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Victoria) *

Shentel Shentel, officially Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, is a publicly traded telecommunications company headquartered in Edinburg, Virginia. It operates a digital wireless and wireline network in rural Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pen ...

(United States: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland.) * Telecentro Argentina (Argentina) * TIGO (Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica) * The United Group
"Serbia Broadband"

"Telemach Slovenia"

"Telemach Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Unitymedia (UPC Germany) *

UPC Broadband UPC Holding is a European telecommunications company owned by Liberty Global which provides cable television, broadband internet and fixed telephony in Europe. UPC was founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands by United International Holdings and Phi ...

(Across Europe) *

Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily ...

(Canada: Quebec) * Virgin Media Ireland (Ireland) *

Ziggo Ziggo Holding B.V. () is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. History The company is the result of the merger between ...

(The Netherlands)

References

* PacketCable 1.5 Specifications Audio/Video Codecs - PKT-SP-CODEC1.5-I01-050128 * PacketCable 1.5 Specifications Network-Based Call Signaling Protocol - PKT-SP-NCS1.5-I01-050128 * PSTN Gateway Call Signaling Protocol Specification - PKT-SP-TGCP1.5-I01-050128

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Packetcable Digital cable Voice over IP