Gigabit-class broadband is capturing the imagination of Internet users throughout the country. With Google and other companies bringing fiber-based services that deliver a gigabit of data each second to the home, subscribers are accelerating their demand to get the highest speeds. The bar has been raised for cable technology developers to provide operators with new weapons for staying ahead and profitable while delivering bandwidth-intensive content.

 With all the excitement over the new DOCSIS 3.1 specifications, people still wonder how all this came about and how a specification can help providers remain competitive in a fiber frenzied world.

CableLabs is a non-profit organization for cable research and development, and works with cable companies and equipment manufacturers. CableLabs is dedicated to creating solutions that impact cable operators; their specifications facilitate interoperability of cable modems, set-top boxes, digital televisions, and various telephony devices. CableLabs also serves to drive scale, reduce costs, and create competition in the supply chains.

But the key word in understanding the whole process is ‘specification’. What’s that mean to cable operators? Why do we have a specification in the first place? Where did it come from originally? Whose idea was it and what’s it supposed to do to help?

To get the answers to these questions and what all the 3.1 excitement is about and discover the history behind the story, download our white paper, DOCSIS Evolution and How 3.1 Will Change Everything.