In today’s world of instant communication, it is crucial for businesses to have fast, effective lines of data transmission in order to keep pace with the global economy. In many cases, companies are using the pre-existing lines of cable laid for cable television to transmit data at high-bandwidth. But this application, known as DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification), has a major issue—noise. Cable networks are vulnerable to noise and related issues that can cause big problems when it comes to quality of service.

On this episode of Broadband Linkup, a Promptlink Communications podcast, we discuss pin-pointing and troubleshooting the noise transmitted through cable modems with Foad Towfiq, President and CEO of Promptlink Communications.

“The detection of noise is very challenging," said Towfiq. “There’s not a single indicator imbedded in the cable modems or CMTS or other network elements that can show you where the noise is coming from. So this is the basic challenge that we have.”

But he divulged what tools he’s excited about that are helping remedy this common issue. These tools are helping probe, collect, and analyze data over time, assisting technicians in finding impairments before they develop into costly problems.

“How the noise is evolving, coming and going, is very important,” said Towfiq, explaining how algorithms and data are helping find problem areas before they progress.

“When you have a lot of data and analyzing this data, you can find pattern,” he said. Previously, without these tools, technicians would often need hours, even days, to troubleshoot and pin-point the source of noise in complex system.

Towfiq thinks companies will be “pleasantly surprised,” to discover a tool to assist in noise detection and localization and will be eager to try new methods to help keep business running smoothly.