Telecom network major Nokia plans to acquire Gainspeed, a US-based start-up offering DAA (Distributed Access Architecture) solutions for the cable industry.
MSOs in the global cable industry has adopted the Virtual CCAP (Converged Cable Access Platform) from Gainspeed, a privately-held technology company, as its next generation solution to address increasing capacity requirements.
Founded in 2012, Gainspeed is located in Sunnyvale, California, and employs approximately 70 people. Nokia did not reveal the financial details of the acquisition.
Jeff White is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of Gainspeed, while Krish Padmanabhan is the CEO of Gainspeed.
Nokia aims to strategically diversify and bring products for cable access customers and expand Nokia’s footprint in this growing market. Gainspeed will be part of Nokia’s Fixed Networks business group. Nokia has added the Fixed Networks business group following the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia’s Ultra Broadband Networks – including the mobile networks and fixed networks business groups – reported EUR 18,079 million revenues in 2015. Out of this, Nokia’s mobile networks net sales was EUR 15,694 million, and fixed networks net sales were EUR 2,385 million. Nokia says its Ultra Broadband Networks business contributes 35.5 percent to total revenue.
“The combination of Gainspeed and Nokia would deliver a complete portfolio of cable access solutions. Nokia’s broad expertise and resources would expedite the implementation of our Virtual CCAP solution and enable us to deliver a fully integrated coax and fiber access solution to the cable industry,” said Jeff White, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Gainspeed.
Virtual CCAP enables cable operators to meet customer demand for high-speed data services and IP video. Virtual CCAP enables cable operators to increase the capacity of their existing HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) infrastructure and deploy new services, while reducing space and power requirements in the headend. Cable operators can cost-effectively migrate their networks to a software-driven, all-IP architecture.
Federico Guillen, president of Nokia’s Fixed Networks business group, said: “Cable is one of the fastest growing areas in our fixed networks business, and we are committed to delivering a complete solution set to cable operators. Gainspeed’s Virtual CCAP perfectly complements our fiber access solutions for cable MSOs.”
Virtual CCAP eliminates the physical CCAP by leveraging software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) to distribute cable-specific functions – including DOCSIS processing and RF modulation – to the edge of the network while centralizing control and management in the data center.
“Innovative services in broadband are important to us and to customers. We appreciate technology partners who make innovation one of their core values and look forward to Nokia and Gainspeed joining forces to bring new technologies and products to the industry,” said Tony Werner, president, Technology and Product, Comcast Cable.
“Gainspeed is one of the pioneers in the Remote PHY and Remote MAC-PHY architecture development. They have been committed to developing this solution for the cable industry,” said Balan Nair, chief technology officer of Liberty Global.
“We are well down the path testing and preparing for deployment of Gainspeed’s Virtual CCAP solution and have been using Nokia access products for years. We are excited to see these technology leaders coming together, and view their solutions as a key strategic component in our network evolution and delivery of gigabit services,” said Cash Hagen, chief technology officer, WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone.
Gainspeed’s virtual CCAP would be a strategic addition to Nokia’s cable access portfolio, which includes routing, video and PON solutions.
Baburajan K
