For this month’s “A Closer Look”, we sat down with one of our Sales Engineers to talk about Ethernet over Hybrid Fiber Coax, or Ethernet over HFC. We have been seeing an uptick in Ethernet over Hybrid Fiber Coax orders and we thought this would be a good time to address some of the more common questions in the event this is something that could benefit your customers.
Editor: First, can you tell us exactly what Ethernet over Hybrid Fiber Coax is?
SE:That’s a great place to start! HFC is the Comcast Hybrid Fiber Coax infrastructure that is used for the Business Class or Coax products. The most significant benefit of Ethernet over HFC is service availability.
Fiber comes from the Comcast facility out to the street. It is then converted from fiber to coax at the fiber node and coax is then delivered to the customer’s location.
It’s not a new product but rather Ethernet over HFC is a new delivery method for Ethernet. It expands the Comcast Ethernet footprint beyond the normal fiber-only footprint.
Editor: When should I tell my customers about Ethernet over HFC?
SE: It is worth repeating that the most significant benefit of Ethernet over HFC is service availability.
When fiber build costs are prohibitive, Ethernet over HFC integrated with a fiber-based solution provides a great option for serving customers with multiple locations. For example, a business might have fiber going its headquarters, data center and largest office, but use Ethernet over HFC for multiple smaller office locations with lower bandwidth needs.
Fiber is always the preferred media of our Ethernet services. We can support a mix of fiber and coax for the remote locations, but the main site must always be fiber. However, if we have a point-to-point opportunity and then both ends could be Ethernet over HFC.
Editor: How does Comcast Ethernet over HFC compare to Ethernet over Copper offers in the market?
SE: Both Ethernet over HFC and Ethernet over Copper are used to expand the footprint of carrier Ethernet services. Ethernet over Copper, however, is often limited by distance from an associated central office facility or by the number or quality of available copper pairs into a customer’s building.
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