The communications world is heading toward an all-IP future, and Arris is showing how cable can get there – without trashing its MPEG-based infrastructure. The company is at The Cable Show demonstrating its IP Video Architecture, an open, scalable, converged IP Video service.

The IP Video Architecture relies upon the natural efficiencies of Internet Protocol in order to carry as much voice, video and data traffic as possible in the inherently flexible IP domain.

Operators could just switch over to all-IP, but some are going to want to migrate from MPEG to IP, and Arris said the new architecture will support operators that prefer to start with a hybrid IP and MPEG/DVB.

Some of the Arris network elements that will support both hybrid and full IP architectures include:

•  EGTVIPr Video Transcoding Platform
•  DOCSIS 3.0 C4 CMTS
•  ServAssure network monitoring system
•  ConvergeMedia Management back office software and streaming servers
•  ConvergeMedia SkyVision ad insertion system
•  Whole-Home Solution of gateways and IP media players

So for those who want to migrate to IP, a substantial portion of existing headend equipment, including existing CMTSs, can be used to eventually transition to the Converged Multiservice Access Platform (CMAP) architecture.

The subscriber client component of the Arris IP Video Architecture is the Arris Whole-Home Solution. The Arris Whole-Home Solution will include a family of gateway and media player products supporting hybrid and full IP architectures.

The solution answers the demand for a single service provider offering that provides multi-room subscriber access to unicast and multicast content – whether via cable, over-the-top or the subscriber’s personal media on their home network, Arris said.