CED articles from April 2000

CED archives from April 2000

Clearing out the cobwebs.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... A few random notes I've had over the past few weeks: When you live in the limelight, you need to be careful of everything you say and do. For people like America Online's Steve Case and Global Crossing's Leo Hindery, I can't help but wonder...

NCTA, CEA reach digital accord.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Following years of haggling over the issue and facing pressure from federal regulators, the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reached "voluntary agreements" designed to pave the way for...

Nortel, Motorola team on Open IP.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Motorola and Nortel Networks will collaborate on developing advanced Internet products using a modular software platform that incorporates Nortel's Open IP Environment routing software. The proposed Motorola-Nortel open programmable environment...

Broadcom stokes Digital Furnace.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Chip maker Broadcom Corp. last month acquired Digital Furnace Corp., a start-up headed by 30-year cable veteran John Lappington, in a stock deal worth roughly $136 million. Digital Furnace has developed a software solution called Propane that...

Terayon draws DVB and DSL cards.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Terayon Communications Systems Inc. recently acquired a DVB specialist and a DSL systems provider as part of a plan to become a one-stop broadband shop. In its first deal, Terayon agreed to buy closely-held Combox Ltd. for 775,000 shares...

Time Warner, AOL pledge open access.(Buyers Guide)
April 1, 2000... Just weeks after announcing their mega-media merger, AOL and Time Warner tried to get a jump on potential regulatory scrutiny by issuing a framework that asserts Time Warner Cable will open up its high-speed broadband network to multiple ISPs,...

TTC tests competitive waters.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... In a challenge to telecom testing equipment market Leader Agilent Technologies Inc., Dynatech's TTC unit agreed to purchase Wavetek Wandel. Goltermann Inc. (WWG) for about $600 million. The deal marries the number two and three providers of...

Equator puts new chip on the MAP.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Equator Technologies Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. recently unveiled the MAP-CA, a software-based media accelerated processor for consumer applications that puts a healthy amount of a broadband network's intelligence at the set-top, instead of in the...

Motorola, nCUBE strike VOD alliance.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Motorola Inc. and nCUBE have forged a video-on-demand alliance that will train its sights on creating the most powerful, affordable and scalable solution for streaming interactive video. Under terms of the deal, nCUBE will marry its...

Hawaii does VOD.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Time Warner Cable's Oceanic Cable division has deployed Concurrent Computer Corp.'s MediaHawk video-on-demand (VOD) system to the 254,000 homes it serves in Hawaii, marking the industry's largest commercial VOD launch to date, the companies...

Arris `Cornerstones' AT&T's cable telephony markets.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Arris, a co-venture of Nortel Networks and Antec, won an extended three-year deal to serve as AT&T Broadband's exclusive provider of cable telephony products in eight of the MSO's nine major U.S. markets, including Chicago, Ill; San Francisco,...

Motorola `individualizes' headends.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Motorola Inc.'s Broadband Communications Sector (formerly General Instrument Corp.) will integrate ACTV's "Individualized Television" capabilities inside its headend and encoder lines. Expanding Motorola's relationship with ACTV, which...

CableLabs adds visiting engineers.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Cable Television Laboratories Inc. has added seven additional visiting engineers to its core staff working on the organization's key interoperability projects. Joining CableLabs' DOCSIS team: Aryeh Elkon of Texas Instruments, Allan Fan of...

Comcast goes the distance with S-A.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Comcast has installed and activated Scientific-Atlanta's (S-A) Prisma Digital Transport fiber optic system in its Middletown and New Haven, Conn. networks as part of a plan to offer interactive television to cable customers in large...

ICTV allies with Zeros & Ones.
April 1, 2000... ICTV struck a strategic alliance with Zeros & Ones, a move that will complement ICTV's digital architecture, the company says. Under terms of the deal, ICTV plans to incorporate Zeros & Ones' proprietary technology, and offer MSOs a roster...

upfront.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Adelphia Communications will buy $33 million in fiber optic and RF network transmission equipment from C-COR.net to support the MSO'S near-passive network projects in Florida, Pennsylvania and New England. Under terms of the deal, C-COR.net...

Comcast lines up LAN trials.
April 1, 2000... Comcast Commercial Online Communications Inc., which provides broadband Internet services to schools and small- and medium-sized businesses, will undertake a three-month wireless LAN trial in Pennsylvania and New Jersey via its Comcast...

Digital modems fit to ship.
April 1, 2000... Worldwide digital modem shipments topped 3.6 million in 1999, reports Cahners In-Stat Group. Buoyed by DSL deployments, ADSL modem shipments surged 95 percent in Q4 1999, their highest quarterly growth rate for the year. Cable modem shipments...

EchoStar makes two-way play.
April 1, 2000... Following in the footsteps of its DBS rival, DirecTV, and start-ups like iSKY, EchoStar finally shoved its way into the two-way, high-speed data party via an agreement with Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., which expects to launch a...

TI unveils energy-saving chip.
April 1, 2000... In an effort to horn in on Broadcom's dominant position in the cable industry's chipset space, Texas Instruments (TI) introduced its TMS320C55x DSP (Digital Signal Processor), claiming it requires only 15 percent of the power of the most...

Who's the fairest one of all?
April 1, 2000... AT&T BROADBAND, MEDIAONE AND COX COMMUNICATIONS CONTINUE TO REFUTE THE SKEPTICS WITH SOLID INITIAL TELEPHONY RESULTS, AND EVEN BOLDER FORECASTS Once upon a time, in several cities not so far away, a triumvirate of aggressive cable MSOs...

Stalking the IP golden egg.
April 1, 2000... A FEW OPERATORS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN THEIR IP TELEPHONY QUEST AND THE PRIZE IS WITHIN SIGHT Fee, fi, fo, fum. I smell the blood of an IP bum! While it ain't exactly Grimm's Fairy Tales verbatim, there may be a few digital subscriber line...

Beware of the big bad wolf.
April 1, 2000... IN IT'S GOAL TO BECOME A LIFELINE SERVICE, hfc TELEPHONY MUST HANDLE A SWARM OF CHALLENGES, AND AVOID A SCAD OF PITFALLS Despite strong HFC telephony growth and bold forecasts from the likes of AT&T Broadband, Cox Communications and...

Video over ATM makes business sense.
April 1, 2000... Technology can deliver complex mix of services Data and voice services can help cable television operators realize business opportunities. To meet increased consumer demand for broadband services such as high-speed Internet access and...

Datacasting: Standing out from the crowd.
April 1, 2000... A new source of high-revenue digital television services Digital television technology enables the easy and efficient delivery of unaltered data directly to the homes of cable subscribers. Now, in addition to high-quality video and audio...

Boosting productivity with outsourcing.
April 1, 2000... One way to increase efficiency without losing control Imagine doing the unthinkable: handing over your field operations to an outside company, with the hope that it will lead to lower costs and higher productivity. Sounds crazy, right? ...

Hopping the gap.
April 1, 2000... Fixed wireless may be a low-cost way to reach the business market The cable industry is at the point of being able to put its PacketCable and DOCSIS platforms to work serving soaring demand for bandwidth and applications in the small- and...

Cable operators feeling power surge.
April 1, 2000... Demand for new services, reliability increases thirst for juice Surging power requirements for Internet, data, telephony and advanced video services are forcing cable operators and power equipment suppliers to generate more cost-efficient...

How times change ...
April 1, 2000... Getting here from there (1981) Because this is CED's 25th Anniversary year, I've spent an inordinate amount of time leafing through CED's archives. While perusing the collected issues of 1981 the other day, it became abundantly clear how...

reader service.
April 1, 2000... Advanced Networking C-COR.net RS# 59 PG# 95 Global supplier of RF and AM fiber optic products for two-way HFC networks. Provides advanced engineering and field support nationwide for network management, servicing and solutions....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.
April 1, 2000... Comcast Conn. installs S-A's fiber platform ATLANTA--Comcast of Connecticut has installed and activated Scientific-Atlanta's Prisma Digital Transport fiber optic system in two of its networks, enabling the delivery of digital interactive...

new products.
April 1, 2000... PRODUCT REVIEWS Cable network and interference emulator EATONTOWN, N.J.--Telecom Analysis Systems (TAS) has introduced its 8250 Cable Network & Interference Emulator, which emulates hybrid fiber/coax cable network impairments in a...

business people.
April 1, 2000... Fiber Options has announced the appointment of John Collins as chief operating officer and executive vice president. The company also announced that Robert DeLia, who founded the company in 1987, has rejoined the company to head the sales...

Open Access road show.
April 1, 2000... For the last month or so, I've appeared as an expert witness on behalf of the cable industry at Open Access hearings, explaining why Open Access is not technically feasible right now. While there are some ISPs who really would like to become...

2000 CED ORBITAL ARC CHART.
April 1, 2000... C-band video satellites GE Satcom C3 131 [degrees] West Longitude Proj. EOL: May 2005 Polarization: Odd: Vert./Even: Horiz. 1 = (Dig.) Fox Family Channel West (MPEG 2/PwrVu) 2 = The Learning Channel (VC2+) 3 = (Dig.) iN...