CED articles from February 2005

CED archives from February 2005

VOD needs a reality check.(in perspective)(Video-on-demand)
February 1, 2005... Cable's ability to deliver VOD over a true, two-way network gives it a major technological advantage over DBS. But that "advantage" sustained a blow to the chops at last month's surprisingly cold and snowy Consumer Electronics Show in Las...

N2 Broadband gives Tandberg solid U.S. cable foothold.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Tandberg Television)(mergers and acquisitions)
February 1, 2005... Beating out a handful of potential suitors to the table with a cash-rich offer, Tandberg Television has inked a deal to acquire N2 Broadband in a deal valued as high as $130 million. The agreement, set to close in the first quarter of 2005,...

Arroyo unveils the goods.(Up front: latest news and insight)(video server software )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Arroyo Video Solutions Inc. has released the vitals behind its next-gen video server and software platform and has shed some tight on its activity b, with MSOs. The company claims its VOD platform-which uses standard Intel "Xeon" servers...

Blockbuster fee eliminations nuts competitive eve on VOD.(Up front: latest news and insight)(video-on-demand )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Blockbuster's decision to drop late fees from movie rentals this year could have an "incremental negative" impact on cable's video-on-demand efforts, according to Fulcrum Global Partners. Blockbuster has extended due dates to one week for...

Bird gooses EchoStar capacity.(Up front: latest news and insight)(EchoStar Communications Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The lunch of another SES American satellite will give EchoStar Communications Corp. a boost in its national and spot-beam capacity. The American 16 bird lifted off from Cape Canaveral in December and successfully gained a geostationary...

FCC: the telcos are catching up.(Up front: latest news and insight)(United States. Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The Federal Communications Commission has issued its biennial report on the state of broadband competition in the United States, and it looks like digital subscriber line providers are continuing to bite into cable's high-speed Internet...

Comcast, Cox take control of Liberate.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Comcast Corp.)(Cox Communications Inc.)(Liberate Technologies)
February 1, 2005... In a move that gives them firm internal control of their interactive television (iTV) futures, Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications have jointly signed a deal to acquire the bulk of iTV software firm Liberate Technologies. In a deal valued...

OpVista scores Cox deal.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... OpVista Inc. has won a multiyear deal to supply Cox Communications with the vendor's MetroVista optical transport system. OpVista's platform is designed to deliver up to 800 Gbps on a single fiber. It can deliver those speeds up to 1,000...

Group makes VOD icon recommendations.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing)(video-on-demand)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The CTAM On Demand Consortium has issued a list of recommended user interface (UI) symbols for video-on-demand and other advanced services. Designed to push consistency in next-generation program guides across the cable industry, the...

MediaCell gets the drop on wireless.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(MediaCell Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Although the market is rife with equipment that can extend DOCSIS signals wirelessly to serve commercial customers, MediaCell is taking a different tack with a "WirelessDrop" system designed to serve wide swaths of residential users. ...

Road Runner speeds up, puts video on call.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Speed thrills. Time Warner Cable has ratcheted up its Road Runner flagship data tier to 5 Mbps and has Launched a new video application designed to take advantage of the speed upgrade. Before the upgrade, the MSO capped its basic...

NCTI to assess Cogeco skirts.(Up front: latest news and insight)(MSO Rogers Cable Inc.)(Employee training contracts)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Broadband training specialist NCTI has inked a professional services agreement with Canadian MSO Cogeco Cable. Under the deal, NCTI will provide skills assessment services to Cogeco staff in 12 locations. Financial terms were not disclosed....

GFC keeps tabs on QC.(Up front: latest news and insight)
February 1, 2005... Acquiring other broadband contractors and fulfillment firms was not the only thing that kept GFC busy last year. GFC also moved ahead on the launch of a new process that aims to fix and maintain quality work from field technicians and vastly...

ANSI re-elects Oksala.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Appointment of Stephen Oksala)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has re-elected Stephen Oksala to vice chair of the organization's board. Oksata, vice president of standards at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, enters a second, three-year...

Terayon plants 'CherryPicker' upgrade.(Up front: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Terayon Communication Systems has added a few bells and whistles to its DM 6400 Network CherryPicker designed to help operators with their all-digital migration strategies. The new CherryPicker 4.0 software release features a number of...

Getting to know BPL.(fine lines)(broadband over power lines)
February 1, 2005... There are two groups of people who don't savor the idea of broadband over power lines (BPL): Ham radio operators, and those who already deliver broadband in another way. That makes BPL technology an easy foe for cable, which already...

Grave danger? While it is being eclipsed by newer voice-over-IP technology, there is still plenty of life left in circuit-switched systems.
February 1, 2005... A classic, oft-quoted line out of the Monty Python comedy "The Search for the Holy Grail" has a plague victim protesting, "I'm not dead yet." The same may well be said these days for circuit-switched telephony. The technology that gave...

IPTV: the quiet rise of an underrated technology: Telcos choose IPTV to defend markets against competitors.(Networking: advanced networking technology)(Internet Protocol television)
February 1, 2005... As recently as just 12 months ago, Internet Protocol television (IPTV) was discounted as a niche technology with little chance of competing with the cable and satellite companies which were already well-established as preferred providers of...

VOD: an affordable infrastructure: the technology of RAIDed SATA can tap into rich new revenue streams.(Networking: advanced networking technology)(Serial ATA drives)(Video-on-demand)
February 1, 2005... At one time, video stores had a virtual lock on distributing recent movies directly to consumers, but the advent of digital formats changed the market and changed the picture dramatically. Home distribution is shifting rapidly to digital...

Viva las gizmos: cable plays up two-way TVs, DBS touts portability, iTV and 'VOD'.(Broadband: business and news perspective)
February 1, 2005... Las Vegas-From a drool-worthy 102-inch television to a batch of ultra-sharp 1080p HDTV sets, showgoers had plenty to feast their eyes on here at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show. Although the size, scope and sounds of CES could crush the...

Analog broadcast shut-down?(Ciciora's corner)(Column)
February 1, 2005... I was in an office supply store picking up printer paper when I saw a 19-inch color TV with a built-in VCR and a built-in DVD player. The price was $149! That's about what it costs for two couples to go to a modest restaurant in Connecticut and...

Disruptive weather, disruptive technology: ET '05 peered into the future of competition and tech.(Broadband: business and news perspective)(achievement and awards at Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers meeting)
February 1, 2005... The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' Conference on Emerging Technologies saw a flood on many levels this year--not only from the weather, but also from attendee numbers and the array of technical information presented during the...

Future fusion: BroadLogic a key cog in emerging 'Wideband' movement.(Broadband: business and news perspective)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Last April, CableLabs announced plans for DOCSIS 3.0, a next-gen spec that aims to blow by DOCSIS 2.0 as if it were a horse and carriage. Although CableLabs has not yet had much to say about the "guts" of 3.0, last month's SCTE Conference on...

Optical Fiber Mapping (OFM) software.(New products: product reviews)
February 1, 2005... GERMANTOWN, Md. -- Acterna has announced that its Optical Fiber Mapping (OFM) software can now help determine the best fiber optic route to connect two points, as well as manage inner duct connections and usage. Acterna's OFM software is...

Fiber optic transceiver.(New products: product reviews)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. -- Radiant Communications has launched a universal fiber optic transceiver, the DL-227. This single unit enables aura negotiation of various transmission speeds including 10, i00 and 1,000 Mbps. Radiant's...

Handheld test gear.(Test Equipment)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... QUEBEC CITY, Canada -- EXFO Etectro-Optical. Engineering Inc. has expanded its line of handheld test instruments designed for installation and maintenance applications in optical, networks. The 600 handheld series consists of the FOT-600...

California jams up the digital transition.(capital currents)(California Energy Commission)
February 1, 2005... California has just given a big boost to broadcasters' efforts to delay the return of the analog TV broadcast spectrum. In mid-December, the California Energy Commission adopted regulations that would prohibit the sale in California of the...

PocketCable Multimedia: QoS for everything IP.(quality of service)(internet protocol)
February 1, 2005... PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM)--taking a step beyond the primary-line, voice-centric PacketCable 1.x architecture and layering itself on the DOCSIS 1.1 and 2.0 platforms--injects quality of service (QoS) into a wide range of IP-based,...