CableLabs’ 10G Lab, located at our headquarters in Louisville, Colorado, drives innovation and fosters collaboration among industry partners. We welcome partners to leverage this valuable asset and co-innovate with us. In this blog post, I’ll explore the capabilities and benefits of the 10G Lab, with a special focus on its role in promoting collaboration with our vendor partners.

10G Lab Capabilities

The 10G Lab is an ideal playground for a multitude of use cases. It supports an array of hardware infrastructure, including powerful compute nodes, high-capacity storage and ample bandwidth capacity. Specialized hardware such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) provide the computational power necessary for signal processing, 3D rendering and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) workloads.

The lab uses Kubernetes through the Red Hat OpenShift unified platform to build, deploy and manage applications at scale. In addition to these general compute infrastructure provisions, the 10G Lab hosts a converged environment containing DOCSIS®, PON and 5G networks, along with traffic-generation and network-simulation software to reproduce a wide variety of network topologies and conditions — a unique value proposition! Together with CableLabs’ subject matter expertise, the 10G Lab is a world-class facility with a powerful set of capabilities in a single location.

Leveraging this underlying infrastructure and networking capability, CableLabs continues to develop intent-based APIs that enable network-aware application deployment and enhanced performance as part of our Network as a Platform (NaaP) project. These APIs provide a level of insight and control of network features that ease the development of applications requiring intent-based networking. Many of the NaaP APIs are being standardized through the CAMARA project, an open-source project within the Linux Foundation to define, develop and test the APIs. Stay tuned for more details about current and future standardized API work with the NaaP project at CableLabs.

The 10G Lab also recently served as the host lab for the 5G Challenge, sponsored by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) — the research and engineering arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The goal of the 5G Challenge is to accelerate the development and widespread deployment of open and interoperable 5G networks with true plug-and-play operation.

10G Lab Benefits

At CableLabs, we firmly believe in the power of collaboration. We work with our vendor partners to develop proof of concept (POC) applications, facilitate the interoperability of network components, and enable the testing of next-generation network and service capabilities. CableLabs shares the output of the work conducted in the 10G Lab with our member operators and showcases the developments at leading telecommunications conferences and in CableLabs publications such as white papers and blogs.

Our goal is to bring cutting-edge innovations to the forefront, using the 10G Lab environment as a catalyst to bring those innovations to fruition.

Vendor Partner Success Stories

Flash Networks

Flash Networks is a company that improves subscriber quality of experience, drives radio spectral efficiency and monetizes mobile internet traffic with its vHarmony Mobile Internet Services Gateway. Initially lacking access to a DOCSIS network to test its solution, the company found a lifeline in the 10G Lab. Partnering with Flash Networks, CableLabs provided the necessary infrastructure and networking in the 10G Lab to enable the company to gather informative metrics on running its product within the DOCSIS network under various network conditions. The results that Flash Networks obtained were invaluable in presenting its offerings to potential customers in the broadband industry.

“This was Flash Networks’ first experience with CableLabs and a very positive one. The CableLabs 10G Lab environment is very flexible and allowed us to test our value in multiple real-life use cases. The CableLabs team was very professional and collaborated with us efficiently while using their vast experience to achieve great results. We truly hope that this collaboration with CableLabs is a great first step for Flash Networks as it enters the cable industry. The Flash Networks team is looking forward to further cooperation with CableLabs.” — Ofer Gottfried, CTO at Flash Networks

Casa Systems

Casa Systems designs and builds networking systems for the broadband and wireless industries. CableLabs partnered with Casa Systems to enable both the DOCSIS access network and a 5G network in the 10G Lab. The company’s virtual Converged Cable Access Platform (vCCAP), Remote PHY devices (RPDs) and 5G Core are foundational components that make up a substantial part of the backbone of the 10G Lab. With this networking capability in place, CableLabs has been able to demonstrate use cases involving converged networks and intent-based networking APIs at conferences and directly with network operators that are members of CableLabs.

“Casa Systems proudly stands at the forefront of innovation alongside CableLabs, shaping the future of networking technology. Together, we've unlocked the potential for converged networks and intent-based networking APIs, showcasing use cases that redefine connectivity at its core. We look forward to continuing our partnership to unveil a new era of possibilities for network operators.” — Colin Kincaid, CPO at Casa Systems 

NVIDIA

CableLabs collaborated with NVIDIA to develop a proof of concept around GPU split rendering at the edge, utilizing the NVIDIA CloudXR platform and NVIDIA GPUs, including the NVIDIA L40 and A40 GPUs, in the 10G Lab. This unique opportunity allowed CableLabs to research what the networking requirements would be to enable virtual reality (VR) gaming using edge resources in lieu of local gaming equipment.

“Advanced computing and networking are needed to tackle today’s biggest VR innovation and collaboration challenges. Working with CableLabs enables us to build meaningful extended reality experiences and expertly demonstrate it to the CableLabs members, who are leading providers of broadband.” — Greg Jones, Director of Global Business Development for Extended Reality at NVIDIA

The 10G Lab is open to collaboration with CableLabs members and the NDA vendor community. We encourage members and vendors to partner with us to showcase innovations in the 10G Lab. You can also join the CableLabs community as an NDA vendor.

Driving Industry Progress Together

In a rapidly evolving technology landscape, our 10G Lab stands out as a beacon of innovation and collaboration. Its comprehensive hardware resources, diverse network environments and integration capabilities make it a playground for experimentation and development.

Vendor partner success stories serve as testaments to the 10G Lab's versatility. With CableLabs and its vendor partners working in harmony, the 10G Lab becomes a place where breakthroughs are shared with the industry through blogs and white papers, at conferences, and directly with leaders that operate wired and wireless networks around the world.

We look forward to a future in which the 10G Lab continues to drive industry progress and foster a spirit of shared knowledge and success.