InCoax to launch first MoCA fibre extension product

InCoax is to use ANGA COM to introduce In:xtnd, which it describes as the first Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) access standard-based family of fibre-extension products.

The product range is aimed at cable MSOs, fibre-optic ISPs and network builders, telcos, mobile operators and hospitality systems integrators.

Peter Carlsson

According to InCoax, In:xtnd, which transforms in-building coaxial networks into multi-gigabit fibre extensions, can coexist with DOCSIS while also offering a greater cost and performance benefit than DOCSIS 3.1.

The company said that the production family, which is capable of supporting speeds of 2.5Gbps net throughput and 2Gbps upload, is available for operator trials and evaluation immediately.

InCoax cites its own research in Western Europe as indicating that the combined equipment and installation cost of deploying In:xtnd in an apartment within a MDU amounts to around 20% of the cost of fibre and around 40% of the cost of DOCSIS 3.1.

Cable MSOs and broadband providers, as well as commercial integrators installing networks in hospitality, restaurants, offices and other buildings, can use In:xtnd as their fibre extension  implementation for FTTB using the existing coax to each apartment, room or office.

The company is also pitching it at mobile operators looking to add wired backhaul capacity to apartment blocks for 4G/5G fixed mobile convergence.

“There is growing demand from people living in apartment blocks across Europe, Asia and the Americas for access to Gigabit broadband speeds. It is expensive for providers to implement fiber or upgrade DOCSIS to meet this demand, while alternative technologies such as G.fast do not yield the required speeds or QoS. Because In:xtnd uses the existing in-building coax, cable MSOs and broadband providers now have access to  a universal fiber extension solution that offers a viable alternative to fibre to the apartment and DOCSIS 3.1  at a very competitive price point,” said Peter Carlsson, CEO, InCoax.

The In:xtnd product family includes In:xtnd Control MA 2.5 4, which is a broadband over coax access node, capable of 2.5Gbps per RF-port, a total of 10Gbps. In:xtnd Control communicates with In:xtnd Access and is based on the MoCA Access 2.5 standard. The In:xtnd Control 4-port supports up to 124 In:xtnd Access modems.

In:xtnd Access MA 2.5 2 Ethernet is a coax-to-ethernet media converter providing 2×1 Gbps. In:xtnd Access 2 Ethernet communicates with the In:xtnd Control 4-port and is based on the MoCA Access 2.5 standard.

In:xtnd Manage MA 2.5 is an element manager with features for In:xtnd Control deployment, control and supervision of the coax link conditions. In:xtnd Manage includes essential functions for carrier-class service provisioning and network management.

Finally, In:xtnd Combine MA 2.5 is frequency multiplexer-demultiplexer coax range of filters that combine TV frequencies and data in the existing coaxial cabling.

MoCA launched MoCA Access, its new specification for access networks last year. The group pitched the new specification as a “fibre extension technology” and as a potential low-cost complement or alternative to DOCSIS 3.1 – or G.Fast – in cases where network operators have fibre-to-the-building in place.

InCoax will exhibit at ANGA COM on stand 7.B21