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. T ...

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 ...

(IP) networks to deliver

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

services, such as IP telephony, 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 Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-bandwidth data transfer to an existing cable television (CATV) system. It is used by many cable televisio ...

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 or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

(

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

) 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) is the aggregate of the world's telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators. It provides infrastructure and services for public telephony. The PSTN consists o ...

(PSTN) *

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

Managed IP networks

Protocols

(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 applic ...

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

PSTN The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the aggregate of the world's telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators. It provides infrastructure and services for public telephony. The PSTN consists ...

Gateway Call Signaling Protocol Specification (TGCP) which is an MGCP extension for Media Gateways * Network-Based Call Signaling 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 standard, Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster ...

MGCP RFC 2705, details

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

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 (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 the two companding algorithms in th ...

versions) - for V1.0 & 1.5 * iLBC - for V1.5 *BV16 - for V1.5 In addition the specifications recommended the following: *ITU G.728 *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 computer hardware or software component 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 o ...

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-sty ...

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 (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 ex ...

– 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 ...

(System wide) *

Claro TV Claro TV+ (Claro TV until March 2022) is a Latin American operator of pay television. The service is supplied by Embratel and Claro companies and operates in Star One C4 satellite. Its transmission system is DTH (Direct to Home) in Ku Band, a ...

(Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras) * Cogeco - Cogeco Home Phone (Canada) *

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

- Comcast Digital Voice (System-wide) * Cox – Cox Digital Telephone (System-wide) * GCI (Alaska) *

Izzi Telecom izzi is a Mexican telecommunications company owned by Grupo Televisa and operated by ''Televisión Internacional, S.A. de C.V.'' It is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the code CABLE. izzi provides telephone, Internet, cable TV and mob ...

(México) * KabloNet (Turkey) *

Liberty Global Liberty Global Ltd. is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company domiciled in Bermuda, with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Holdings Limited (UK), Liberty Glo ...

(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 broa ...

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

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...

- 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. was a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian telecommunication, telecommunications company which provided telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. The company was founded in 1966 as Capital Cable Televisio ...

(Canada: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Victoria) * Shentel (United States: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland.) * Telecentro Argentina (Argentina) * TIGO (Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica) *

The United Group United Group B.V. is an alternative telecom provider in the Balkans that operates both telecommunications platforms and mass media outlets. History United Group was formed in 2007, as a Luxembourg-registered multinational entity, in a merger of ...

"Serbia Broadband"

"Telemach Slovenia"

"Telemach Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Unitymedia (UPC Germany) * UPC Broadband (Across Europe) *

Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company founded in 1964. It's active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Qu ...

(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