Toshiba hits 3-million modem mark

By SUSAN RUSH
From CED Broadband Direct, August 14, 2002

Toshiba America Information Systems is moving full steam ahead in the cable modem sector. To date, its networks product division has shipped more than three million DOCSIS cable modems in North America.

In the first half of 2002, the company sold 858,000 cable modems, mostly to MSOs. During that time frame, Toshiba shipped 50,000 more DOCSIS modems than its closest competitor, Motorola Broadband, according to data reported by Kinetic Strategies Inc. in May. Motorola Broadband, however, regained its quarterly lead in North America over Toshiba at the end of the second quarter of 2002. Still, according to Kinetic Strategies figures, Motorola and Toshiba ran almost neck-and-neck in the region during the second quarter, with Motorola shipping 478,000 DOCSIS units, compared to Toshiba's 428,000.

Toshiba's PCX2500 became the first cable modem to receive Euro-DOCSIS 1.1 certification from the Euro-DOCSIS Certification Board last month. The modem also was the first "production-ready" model to receive the DOCSIS 1.1 stamp at CableLabs back in Sept. 2001.

The PCX2500 was introduced in the fourth quarter of 2001, along with the DOCSIS PCX3000 and the PCX5000. The PCX3000 is a voice-over-IP-enabled broadband cable modem that is based on PacketCable specifications. The PCX5000 has wireless networking features based on the 802.11b standard.

Earlier this month, Toshiba was named a “preferred” vendor of cable modems based on the advanced DOCSIS 1.1 specification by Cox Communications. Motorola Broadband also lays claim to that distinction.