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PHY Anywhere: The Evolution of the Flexible MAC Solution

February 22nd, 2021 | 3 min. read

PHY Anywhere: The Evolution of the Flexible MAC Solution
Bill Halvorsen

Bill Halvorsen

Bill Halvorsen, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, has worked in the telecommunications industry for 32 years. Starting his career as a radio repairman, electronics technician, and data network specialist in the Marines, Bill was hired by Cisco Systems to deliver services to service providers around the globe. After 21 years at Cisco, Halvorsen was hired by CCI Systems to specialize in Broadband Access Architectures as a Solution Architect.

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As a solution provider, CCI has seen a lot of evolutionary and revolutionary changes in the broadband access arena. We have partnered with some of the best providers of both Cable and Fiber Access technologies. In previous years, vendors were pushing technology into the market, and in some cases, it took precedent over the operator’s actual business needs. The conversation with an access customer would go like this:

  1. We have this technology.
  2. We think you should use it for your operations; always selling the tech over the business needs of the customer.

Today, the decision making process is all about the business needs of the operator and what they want to achieve for their customers; not just the technology they choose to implement. Broadband access technology has advanced so far in the past 20 years since the inception of DOCSIS and PON that those technologies are no longer synonymous with siloed and proprietary solutions. PHY anywhere, simply put, is deploying the right tech in the right place for a customer’s business need. The architecture is part of Flexible MAC, but the solution is PHY anywhere. If the operator has been a cable provider for 30 years and now needs to expand but is worried about the different infrastructure and operating model that comes with using a new access technology, they don’t have to worry. Today’s solutions are a hybrid of these technologies which combine multiple protocols into form factor deployable units. Operators are dealing with different approaches to the PHY layer, but benefit from the same management and operating systems. These approaches can simplify a providers operating model in order to protect and even increase the value of their capital investments.

Equipment manufacturers across the industry are adapting to the new ways of providing access technology, and solution providers like CCI Systems are reshaping how broadband access can be done. With cloud native operating systems, built in bottom-up management and telemetry, and a modular approach to the building blocks of an access solution, operators are able to build and grow broadband networks based on their business needs while simultaneously saving money in operations and excessive capital outlay.

 

A Little About Us

CCI is one of the most comprehensive solution providers in the Broadband Access market. We achieve this by delivering on 4 major pillars.

  1. Tech: We have cultivated relationships with the best providers of access, core, data center and optical equipment in the world in order to support and help further our already impressive in-house expertise. 
  1. Design: We don’t just sell equipment; we can design the network from pedestal placement and fiber trench locations all the way to the network connectivity in your data center (Headend/Central Office). 
  1. Consultation: CCI also provides continuous consultation to our customers. From needing to know the power consumption of their network equipment, to the best approach and plan to upgrade and improve network performance while continually achieving business outcomes, CCI provides ongoing and expert consultation.
  1. Support: Finally, CCI supports our customers with several layers of coverage. Our sales teams always track warrantees and licenses so customers never have issues regarding compliancy. CCI Services has call center and operations expertise that can take be used in place of an operators contact center or be used as overflow management for a customer’s operation.

CCI takes a customer first approach when solving a wide array of needs. We ask the right questions to discover exactly how we can leverage our expertise to help you achieve the goals that you have. We operate a service provider network ourselves and truly understand customer pain points because they are our pain points as well. Please reach out to your CCI sales team and find out more about how we can help you with PHY anywhere solutions.