Harmonic says its CableOS virtualized cable access software is now available as a containerized and Kubernetes-orchestrated solution. The CableOS software virtualizes cable modem termination systems (CMTS) for internet and video access technology within cable headends. This is important for cable companies because they deliver both internet and video services. In the past these functions required a lot of monolithic hardware devices — sometimes referred to as “big iron” — in the headend.

The CableOS software core can be deployed on common-off-the-shelf servers. And it supports both centralized architectures within the headend and distributed access architectures (DAA). Harmonic says its CableOS software has been successfully deployed in both DAA and centralized architectures for service providers.

The company also says its new containerized and Kubernetes-orchestrated CableOS has been deployed by an unnamed Tier-1 cable operator. The extensible API-based software architecture is integrated with third-party provisioning and cloud networking.

“Virtualizing the CMTS core was our first step toward unleashing a more flexible and scalable cable access architecture, and we are pleased to see this solution deployed by a growing number of global cable operators,” said Nimrod Ben-Natan, general manager of Harmonic’s cable access business, in a statement. “Now, through cloud-native support, our CableOS solution delivers a new level of performance and density.”

Earlier this year, Harmonic was awarded a patent for its CableOS technology.