Motorola, Inc. expanded its family of voice-enabled cable modems with the introduction of the SBV5100 series. The new models, based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), one of the more common voice and multimedia protocols in the telecommunications industry, provide greater choice to cable operators as they select the ideal technology for their systems.

With the pending emergence of PacketCable 2.0, which includes IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), many cable operators are adopting or evaluating SIP-based devices for their networks -- SIP is an emerging standard of choice for Inter-network communication. SIP, along with Quality of Service (QoS) based on PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM), provides a foundation for the delivery of advanced services, including fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) -- allowing consumers to "hand off" a cellular call to a Wi-Fi® network and landline phone, rich multimedia communications, such as interactive video sessions, secure signaling and encryption, and flexible Network Address Translation (NAT) and firewall traversal technologies like Simple Traversal of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Through Network Address Translators (STUN). The addition of SIP-based devices can provide operators with a viable migration path toward PacketCable 2.0.

"Operators around the world are already making the move toward SIP-based products," said Charles Dougherty, corporate vice president, Motorola Connected Home Solutions business. "By providing a voice-enabled cable modem with the SIP protocol, Motorola enables cable operators to not only expand their offerings with voice today, but to lay the foundation for new feature-rich voice and multimedia services, such as fixed-mobile convergence. This new family of gateways further establishes Motorola as a global leader in Voice-over-IP technology that fuels growth for operators and extends the concept of seamless mobility for consumers."

The Motorola SBV5100 series is expected to be available by the end of 2006.