Armstrong规划同轴与光纤宽带渐进升级路径

 A flexible upgrade path

Armstrong leverages Harmonic's virtualized broadband technologies, including its cOS platform, to transition toward DOCSIS 4.0 infrastructure and expand PON-based FTTH services.

By using the Harmonic platform, Armstrong can deploy HFC and PON in the same enclosure and use the same back-end systems.

Additionally, Armstrong has been leveraging RFoG, which replaces the coaxial cable portion of a traditional HFC network with a single-fiber PON. As an early RFoG pioneer, it adopted the architecture to reach new customers and meet subscribers’ growing demand for high-bandwidth services, particularly in rural areas.

“When we're looking at different opportunities, wanting to go and upgrade to 3.1, and then when we can do a virtual core and remote by nodes that could also do PON, it was really helpful in us deciding to go that route,” Svenson said. “One of the things that we have to do in a hybrid situation is we've got a lot of RFoG out there as well, so we have a combination of traditional HFC and RFoG.”

Svenson added that deploying PON from the same enclosures enables it to offer RFoG customers “a better experience and solution.”

“One common platform gives us the opportunity over time--whether it becomes a need based on subscriber growth, home growth, or just the demand in that area--we can slow that migration or do it at a pace that works for us,” he said.

A phased rollout

With a focus on a phased rollout, Armstrong is upgrading DOCSIS customers and giving them special gigabit speeds, then allowing PON to scale as needed.

Based on market demand, the provider wanted to upgrade its HFC networks and then have a path toward PON.

“We really do focus on what our customers and communities need, and we want to keep demand with that,” Svenson said. “We look at the subscriber growth, the traffic, and want to make sure that we're on the right journey in the right areas at the right time.”

By leveraging existing capital expenditure and network deployments, Armstrong has already factored in how it affects the buildout's economics.

“Being able to leverage a technology that can grow or add new features is very beneficial,” Svenson said. “The other thing is when you are dealing with multiple technologies, which could be different configurations and different systems, it is more of a seamless transition.”

He added that being able to work within the same ecosystem and then move to new technologies really has been beneficial.

“The investment we've made is not lost because we're just swapping out some components to go towards what's new, which is what you have to do in most systems,” Svenson said.

While Armstrong didn't anticipate early in the upgrade process that moving customers from HFC to PON is sometimes difficult, the focus was to ensure consistency regardless of the last-mile infrastructure they're served off.

But despite the new speeds and capabilities FTTH offers customers, as well as the efficiencies of operating a common network, some of Armstrong’s customers weren’t in any hurry to switch to fiber.   

“Our approach is we want to make sure that it's a great experience whether you're on HFC or PON,” Svenson said. “And the biggest winning factor in money savings will be when we're on one network versus operating both. It was a surprise that some customers were hesitant to move to fiber.”

Before conducting its high split, Armstrong had different tiers based on where customers were and the technology platforms. It can now offer a common set of speed tiers in its markets.

The migration strategy also allows Armstrong to offer a more consistent set of speed tiers across its footprint. It offers speeds from 25 Mbps to 3 Gbps on its fiber networks.

“As long as we can get to a hybrid situation where we have high split in most of our areas and fiber in others, we feel like we can have better consistent speed tiers,” Svenson said. “That helps with the offers we have out there. And what we're trying to do is enable higher speed tiers of packages available to those customers that want it.”

He added that while 1 Gbps is the foundation, Armstrong wants to be prepared to offer even higher speeds for customers who want them.

“We kind of feel like gig is going to be the baseline,” Svenson said. “And then some of those users are going to want multi-gig services, and we want to make sure that we're offering those to our customers, so the most important thing is that whatever the customer needs and wants are, we're meeting them regardless of the technology.”

Still, customer profiles vary within Armstrong’s footprint.

On one hand, some customers are willing to pay a premium for a broadband-only service like a 3 Gbps option. However, others still want to access a hybrid video offering that combines live TV and streaming.   

“With the services we offer, having a video product has really helped us maintain our base," Svenson said. "Some customers want a dumb pipe, and they may look for the least expensive option, but most of our customers are looking for a customer-driven company that has many services that they're looking for us to offer.”

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