Media Experiences 2 Go

Author:  Chris Brown, Director of Product Management

As discussed in an earlier post, the new APEX3000 universal edge QAM is designed to bridge the gap between legacy architectures and future CCAP deployments. However, three specific characteristics make this new universal edge QAM extremely valuable for today – whether you have CCAP (Converged Cable Access Platform) on your network roadmap or not.

The ultra high density and ingest capacity of the APEX3000 helps operators save on power and cooling costs, as well as space in the headend. Operators can start with as few as 16 QAM channels per port, and scale up to the full 48 as needed. Greater capacity means a greater ability to meet increasing demand for narrowcast content. Greater density means lower costs even as operators light up more VOD, SDV, and network DVR channels. The APEX3000 is also highly modular, with hot-swappable QAM blades and power supplies, and the flexibility to support different configurations depending on system requirements.

The APEX 3000 is a future proof solution that supports 100% ingest of unicast services today, and this ingest capacity also enables the transition to the all IP-based services of tomorrow.

Redundancy is another big benefit of the APEX3000 including support for both QAM blade and host module redundancy.  Fail-over is automatic so no operator intervention is needed. The APEX3000 also supports two power sources, with the option to configure one for AC power, and one for DC.

Finally, with regards to content ingest, the latest APEX hardware includes twelve 10Gigabit Ethernet ports – eight primary ports, and four back-up ports. This allows operators to ingest enough content to fill every QAM channel with unique, unicast content which is critical for applications like VOD and DVR.

For more information, check out these resources:

• Video: Chris Brown discusses the benefits of the APEX3000 for cable operators
• Video:  Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) Market Drivers
• Data Sheet: APEX3000 Universal Edge QAM
• White Paper: Bridging the Gap to CCAP and Beyond

Filed under: APEX3000, EQAM, infrastructure, narrowcast