CED articles from August 2002

CED archives from August 2002

Are MSOs playing to win? (in perspective).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... As a journalist covering the broadband industry, I have the opportunity--and obligation--to meet with dozens of technology companies that aspire to sell equipment to system operators. Some of their products and ideas are pretty straightforward...

With S-A on deck, Digeo hits two-for-two. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Scientific-Atlanta Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Digeo Inc., a division of Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, has struck a deal with Scientific-Atlanta to create a home media center that operates Digeo's Moxi platform. Corporate cousin Charter Communications will be the first to deploy the...

Study bullish on DVR. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(digital video recorder)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2002... Digital storage and personalization will continue to lead the way as the digital video recorder (DVR) market reaches 28.6 million users (and 28 percent of all U.S. TV homes) by 2008, The Carmel Group predicted during test month's Cable &...

Shareholders smooth road for AT&T Broadband--Comcast merger. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... As expected, no bumps in the road popped up last month as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Corp. shareholders approved a pending $27 million merger of cable MSOs AT&T Broadband and Comcast. If the merger makes it through regulatory review by the U.S....

Arris, Toshiba first to get EuroDOCSIS 1.1 nod. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Arris' C4 cable modem termination system and Toshiba's PCX2500 cable modem became the first equipment last month to pass the test for the EuroDOCSIS 1.1 specification. The EuroDOCSIS Certification Board said the milestone was achieved...

Com21 gets a late break on DOCSIS 1.1. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... CableLabs awarded DOCSIS 1.1-certification to Com21 Inc.'s DOXport 1110XB cable modem last month, nearly a month after the end of certification wave 22. The Louisville, Colo.-based R&D house historically has given certification and...

Comcast to dial up IP in Philly. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(telephony service)(Pennsylvania)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Comcast is moving on plans to offer residential primary-line IP telephony service to customers in its home town of Philadelphia, Pa. by the second quarter of 2003. To fuel those plans, the MSO is installing Arris' DOCSIS 1.1-qualified C4 cable...

C-COR.net to expand global reach via Philips Broadband buy. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Philips Broadband Networks)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... C-COR.net has struck a deal valued at about $78 million to snap-up Philips Broadband Networks (PBN), a move that is expected to widen C-COR.net's international scope by three-fold. The deal, expected to close by the second half of this...

SCTE approves IPCablecom standards. (Upfront: latest news and insight). (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) said its data standards subcommittee has approved four new standards for IPCablecom, a global architecture for packetized applications and services whose roots are found in North...

Charter puts VOD into orbit with TVN. (Upfront: latest news and insight). (Charter Communications Inc., video-on-demand, TVN Entertainment Corp.).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... After signing two video-on-demand server deals in the wake of Diva Systems' bankruptcy, Charter Communications Inc. said it will answer the content side of the VOD equation via a deal with TVN Entertainment Corp. Under terms of the deal,...

Time Warner gives Gig E a chance in Green Bay. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Time Warner Cable)(Gigabit Ethernet)(Wisconsin)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Latching onto a platform that is quickly gaining steam, Time Warner Cable is giving Gigabit Ethernet a shot over ASI (asynchronous serial interface) to support its video-on-demand rollout in Green Bay, Wis. "Gig E is evolving and will be a...

Final bell rings in IPG patent battle? (Upfront: latest news and insight).(interactive program guide)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... In a much-anticipated decision involving contested interactive program guide technology, an International Trade Commission judge in June ruled against Gemstar-TV Guide International, claiming that EchoStar Communications, Pioneer New Media...

AM picks up Nex-Link. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(AM Broadband Services Inc.)(Nex-Link Communications)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Calling it a step toward diversification and overall growth, AM Communications Inc. said its wholly-owned subsidiary, AM Broadband Services Inc., has completed its acquisition of start-up Nex-Link Communications, a provider of cable...

Wavexpress nets IP multicast trials. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Wavexpress has locked down its first trials for its IP broadcast service with Missouri-based St. Joseph Cablevision and with USA Media in Osburn, Idaho. Wavexpress-whose backers include USA Media Group and News-Press & Gazette Company...

AT&T Broadband gives EarthLink the go-ahead. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(EarthLink Network Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Moving forward on a deal signed in March, AT&T Broadband said today it is offering EarthLink services over its high-speed network in Seattle, Wash. EarthLink also participated in AT&T Broadband's $20 million, 320-subscriber ISP Choice...

Narad speeds SMB with IBM. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Narad Networks)(small- and mid-sized businesses)(International Business Machines)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Narad Networks hopes to give its commercial broadband over cable plans a big boost following a new alliance with IBM. Under terms of the deal, IBM and Narad will team on an open standards-based architecture designed to give cable operators...

Oops! Diverging interests and an unwillingness to break old paradigms have cable's retail set-top strategy going nowhere fast. (Retail set-top box strategies).
August 1, 2002... Last winter, the cable industry's top brass toured the floor of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and were blown away by the level of innovation and new products they saw there. DBS receivers with functional personal video...

Chip wars.
August 1, 2002... It is a period of high competition in the DOCSIS silicon sector. Long-standing chipmakers and scrappy start-ups and spin-offs have come forth to tussle with North America's entrenched providers of cable-based semiconductors, hoping to plant...

Winning the advanced services race: overcoming white noise, ingress and other hurdles to return path performance. (Fiberline: fiber optic technology).
August 1, 2002... Several years ago, top MSOs began a program to upgrade their cable TV infrastructures to "full service" networks. The architecture of choice for these upgrades was hybrid fiber/coax, or HFC. This provided an architecture that allowed for growth...

Jumpstarting status monitoring standards: SCTE subcommittee attempts to make the network more manageable. (Networking: advanced networking technology).
August 1, 2002... With little fanfare, a relatively obscure subcommittee of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineer's Engineering Committee is making big strides toward standardizing a host of network status monitoring specifications. While not as sexy...

VoIP: leveraging existing cable architecture: paving the way for new sources of revenue. (Networking: advanced networking technology).
August 1, 2002... Internet Protocol (IP)-based residential telephony service over cable promises to revolutionize the telecommunications industry. Complementary services over the hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) plant, such as high-speed data and digital video, will...

The mother of all networks: creating a unified all-IP network for existing and future services. (Broadband: business and news perspective).
August 1, 2002... To prepare for the future, cable operators are looking beyond their current service transport technologies and considering migration to a unified all-IP (Internet Protocol) network topology that can efficiently deliver all of today's services...

Who wants HDTV? (Ciciora's corner).
August 1, 2002... Thinking further on the currently popular HDTV issue. I wonder who wants it. I believe there are three categories of drivers for HDTV: 1) market. 2) economic, and 3) political. The first category, market drivers, is relatively easy to deal...

Fiber optic switch/convertor.(Electro Standards Laboratories QuickSwitch 4185 Fiber Optic Switch/Convertor)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... CRANSTON, R.I. -- Electro Standards Laboratories has introduced the QuickSwitch 4185 Fiber Optic Switch/Convertor, which gives the user the ability to access two separate fiber optic 100 Base FX ports (ports A and B) from a 100 Base TX Fast...

Return path hybrid amplifiers.(ISG Broadband ISG52124-L)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... MILPITAS, Calif. -- ISG Broadband has added another new hybrid to its family of silicon return path amplifier modules. With its 5 to 210 MHz bandwidth and low 12-volt operation, the new ISG52124-L provides a digital, drop-in, data-ready...

Powering.(American Power Conversion)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... WEST KINGSTON, R.I. -- American Power Conversion (APC) has unveiled a new modular powering product line. The Total Solution Power (TSP) product line incorporates a transformer module and an electronics module that have been designed to...

Metro access platform. (Access Platform).(Luminous Networks E-Series PacketWave)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Hoping to penetrate business parks and the multi-tenant unit sector for commercial-class services, Luminous Networks has launched its E-Series PacketWave metro access platform. Based on the evolving Resilient Packet Ring...

Tower light monitoring system.(Vela)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Vela has launched ks TMA-1 tower light monitoring system, designed to automatically alert cable operators of any tower light outages or errors. It works in conjunction with the controller of Vela's emergency alert systems to...

Ladder bracket.(Alpha Technologies)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Alpha Technologies has introduced a ladder bracket, designed to be used in conjunction with its PWE Series of pole-mount enclosures. The ladder bracket option attaches to all PWE Series enclosures and does not require a...

Ingress management.(Electroline Equipment CLEARPath Integrated Module)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... MONTREAL, Canada -- Electroline Equipment Inc. has introduced its CLEARPath Integrated Module (CPIM), which provides cable operators with the capacity to maintain a reliable and robust return path network for customers subscribing to telephony,...

Tunable OTDR.(Tempo Optical Time Domain Reflectometer)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... OAKVILLE, Ontario -- Tempo, a division of Textron, has announced a wavelength tunable version of its High-Resolution Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (Hi-Res OTDR) for optical fibers and components used in DWDM optical communications. The...

Weatherproofing.(PROTEX Weatherproofing)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2002... SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- PROTEX Weatherproofing Inc. has introduced new re-enterable, re-usable, hardline weatherproofing for existing connectors. Users can remove the new weatherproofing from existing connector interfaces without using a torch,...

The slow, slow pace of E911. (capital currents).
August 1, 2002... Did you think anything could be slower than the rollout of HDTV? What about the rollout of E911 mobile location service? The FCC began a proceeding in 1994 to promote this capability, but public safety agencies are still unable to determine...

iTV end game: over the years, interactive and enhanced television has suffered a series of false starts. Today, iTV players are coalescing under the banner of new standards, and hoping momentum for their interactive services follows. (iTV standards).
August 1, 2002... With MSOs focused on delivering efficient high-speed data services, and readying their networks for the inevitable monster of video-on-demand, the market for interactive television services looks as if it's been lost in the shuffle... again....

Pasting the pieces together: if all goes to plan, certified OCAP middleware could roll off the line by mid-2003, opening the door on a common platform for a mixture of interactive applications and services. (OCAP update).
August 1, 2002... In today's precarious economic environment, interactive TV beyond video-on-demand seems a distant reality. However, a clearer picture of how common set-top middleware will come to market, cementing secure, retail-ready set-top boxes with...

Digital dangle: `free' on-demand content could give cable operators a valuable VOD teaching tool, shrink digital churn and forge a new weapon to wield against their satellite foes.
August 1, 2002... Until the big Hollywood studios decide to play some serious on-demand ball with cable operators, MSOs are taking a closer look at filling their video servers with a variety of re-purposed and unique "free" fare. In addition to creating a...

North American VOD deployments.
August 1, 2002... North American VOD Deployments VOD platform/ Service Launch Market ...