ZyXel Communications Inc. – a provider of secure broadband networking, Internet connectivity and routing products – has received DOCSIS 3.0 and PacketCable 1.5 certification from CableLabs for the company’s P-2910 series embedded multimedia terminal adapter (E-MTA).

The all-in-one E-MTA – which offers downstream speeds of up to 160 Mbps, and upstream speeds of up to 120 Mbps – features two analog phone lines, a four-port gigabit Ethernet switch, 802.11n wireless capability, a USB host so it can hook up to any external USB storage devices or printer devices, and the ability to be shared by several computers, as well as battery backup (included).

If a cable MSO wants just one or two features, ZyXel’s director of marketing communications Jake Salia told CED, ZyXel can customize the E-MTA to the MSO’s liking. And in the future, ZyXel, which designs and manufactures all of its products, can take away or add features to the P-2910 series as needed.

Because ZyXel does design and manufacture its own goods, and because the E-MTA is customizable, Salia said that the “competitive price” of ZyXel’s E-MTA makes it stand apart from similar products from the “big guys.”

ZyXel counts Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable as MSO customers, and the company said only that it is currently in discussions with Charter.

The company is trying to expand in the U.S. market and is pushing for new products faster, and for a broader product line. “In the next few months, we’ll announce a DOCSIS 3.0 commercial offering,” Salia told CED. “We see a lot of opportunity in this market.”

“Right now, with the economy the way it is, people are staying home,” Salia continued. “They want a home offering and their connectivity to be good, to enjoy entertainment and Internet with their family at home. Cable operators, with this speed, will have a great solution to provide to their customers. We will work with them to customize it to their needs.”

CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.0 specifications feature support of four bonded downstream channels and four bonded upstream channels. ZyXel’s P-2910 series is designed to be backward-compatible for use as a single-channel cable modem with DOCSIS 1.1/1.0 and 2.0 networks.

ZyXel was a part of Sprint’s WiMAX launch in Baltimore last September (story here). The company offered their MAX-206 series CPEs for that service.

And Taiwan-based ZyXel is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.