Secretive Cable Access Startup Packs On Industry Muscle
By: Jeff Baumgartner Aug 22 2013 – 09:58am
MultiChannel News
Gainspeed, the secretive cable access startup launched by Terayon Communications co-founder Shlomo Rakib, has revealed little about its product strategy, but the company continues to shed light on who’s providing key guidance to the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.
Gainspeed, previously known as Cohere Networks, sent an email alert Thursday announcing that David Juliano, the former executive vice president of sales and marketing for Comcast Cable, has joined Gainspeed’s board of directors. Juliano, who joined Comcast in 1997, recently retired, Comcast confirmed. Greg Butz is now in the role of EVP of sales and marketing operations for Comcast Cable.
Gainspeed also said it has turned up Fast Track, an extranet that will provide info about the company and its products, and has extended an invite to “cable operators and business partners” to request access.
Cohere changed its name to Gainspeed in July while revealing a cable-heavy group of advisors and executive advisors that include Chris Bowick, the former CTO of Cox Communications; former Comcast SVP of technology Steve Craddock; and Dan Moloney, the former president of Motorola Home and Motorola Mobility, among others.
Gainspeed, which secured $22.8 million in funding last fall, has not publicly discussed its technology strategy and product plans other than to say it aims to redefine “how cable networks are built” and enable MSOs to move to a “software-driven all IP-architecture.”
Industry sources familiar with those plans have said Gainspeed is developing a “micro” cable modem termination system that could fit into a more distributed access network architecture and perhaps target DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging CableLabs spec that’s shooting for downstream speeds up to 10 Gbps and upstream capacities of 2 Gbps.
Among other hints, Rakib secured a patent last year that describes a Cable Modem Remote Termination System.