Cable modems certified for 100Mbps plus

The first "wideband" cable modems employing the DOCSIS 3.0 transmission standard, which can deliver download speeds of 100Mbps or more, have been certified for production.

CableLabs, which is licensed to test for the standards, approved two modems from Motorola and models from Ambit, Arris Group, Cisco Systems and SMC Networks.

Headend equipment has also been approved as complying with the complete DOCSIS 3.0 standard for the first time. Two cable modem termination systems from Casa Systems were certified. A CMTS from Motorola was certified as supporting only the basic features.

Brian Roberts, chief executive of US cable provider Comcast and chairman of CableLabs, said: "We have now achieved successful certification testing for a system of very high-speed cable data products.

"This is a great accomplishment, ensuring that cable customers will continue to have access to the fastest Internet service available, along with access to more advanced service offerings."

In the UK, Virgin is in the process of implementing a version of DOCSIS 3.0 in some areas to provide downstream speeds of up to 50Mbps.