- Charter's Spectrum has been replacing old network amplifiers with AOI’s 1.8 GHz amplifiers for its DOCSIS 4.0 network
- Now, it's selected AOI's software to manage and automate all those amplifiers
- This saves on one of the biggest dreads in the cable industry - truck rolls
Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AOI) is experiencing boom times in the U.S. currently because it provides optical transceivers to the fiber broadband industry, which is going gangbusters, and it also provides amplifiers for the cable industry, which is giving it some good returns these days, as well.
Recently, AOI said it’s expanding its relationship with Charter’s Spectrum to provide software control for thousands of AOI amplifiers that Spectrum has deployed in its hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable network.
Over the last couple of years, Spectrum has been replacing old network amplifiers with AOI’s 1.8 GHz amplifiers for its DOCSIS 4.0 network.
Now, the cable operator is deploying AOI’s QuantumLink remote management software for those amplifiers.
Sahil Yadav, senior director of product management for AOI, told Fierce, “Back in the day, these devices were, for lack of a better term, dumb devices. They were just amplifiers that you would put in the field. But whenever there were issues, the biggest problem was that you needed a crew to go and fix them. Truck rolls, in our industry, are a major expense.”
He said huge cable companies, such as Charter and Comcast, have hundreds of thousands of amplifiers in the field that have historically been monitored and repaired by humans.
But AOI’s smart amplifiers, using its QuantumLink software, send health data from an amplifier to a control center every 15 to 30 minutes. And if there’s anything wrong with the amplifier it can often be solved with a remote software update.
“So, the main value proposition of our products is that we reduce the opex of our customers by reducing those truck rolls because now you can pretty much manage these amplifiers from a central location as opposed to having a crew go out there,” said Yadav.
Yadav said, “I don't think there's any amplifier manufacturer that is not building smart amplifiers. There’s a strong focus on reduction of cost.”
AOI is competing against Aurora Networks (a company formerly part of CommScope), ATX and Technetix.
Transceivers and amplifiers
AOI cut its teeth on providing optical transceivers. But about four years ago, it created a cable division that sells amplifiers.
Fierce asked if cable operators are still determined to upgrade their DOCSIS networks or if they’re choosing to lay fiber broadband in new areas, instead. Yadav said cable companies typically go through a network upgrade cycle every five to seven years and decide if they’re going to stick with HFC.
Right now, there’s huge demand for fiber optics, driven by hyperscaler need from AI. “As a result, fiber has become extremely expensive, and that makes HFC even more lucrative,” he said. “So, a lot of our customers have decided to stay with HFC for that reason.”
Fortunately for AOI, it plays to both sides: providing both fiber optical transceivers and HFC amplifiers.
In terms of the amplifiers that AOI has been selling to Charter, that’s been a process over the last couple of years to rip out old amplifiers and replace them with the new ones. “We are the primary vendor for the smart amplifiers to Charter,” said Yadav. “Now, they're at a point where they're ready to turn on the software to be able to control these amplifiers and get the benefits of automation.”
AOI also recently announced that it was selling amplifiers to Mediacom. And at some point in the future, Mediacom may also choose AOI’s automation software for those amplifiers.