CED articles from July 2002

CED archives from July 2002

On your marks, get set ... (in perspective).(federal government and broadband policy)
July 1, 2002... As a general rule, engineers make lousy politicians. That's because they answer questions with facts and make judgments based on a trail of supporting logic that they use to formulate an answer. Most politicians, conversely, don't do that....

Out of cash, Diva files Chapter 11. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Diva Systems Corp.; Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. acquires intellectual property and technology assets )
July 1, 2002... Collapsing under the weight of a $500 million deficit and only enough cash on hand to last a few more weeks, video-on-demand vendor Diva Systems Corp. completed its death spiral in late May, filing Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for...

Necessary goes to the Xstreme at Concurrent. (Up front: latest news and insight).(PowerTV Inc.'s Steve Necessary joins Concurrent Computer Corp. video-on-demand division)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Cable vet Steve Necessary has left the top post at PowerTV Inc. to join Concurrent Computer Corp. as president of the company's "Xstreme" video-on-demand division. Necessary reports to Concurrent President and CEO Jack Bryant, who had been...

More gear breaks through DOCSIS 1.1 barrier. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specification; CableLabs' cable modem certifications)
July 1, 2002... Getting through CableLabs with a passing grade for the complex DOCSIS 1.1 specification apparently is becoming old hat. Following certification wave 22, CableLabs said it certified or re-certified eight cable modems and qualified or...

Turner serves up interactive Wimbledon fare. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Turner Sports Inc. and All England Lawn and Tennis Club collaborate on Wimbledon 2003)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Wimbledon, tennis' most regal fortnight, is getting an interactive facelift this year, thanks to a collaboration between Turner Sports Inc. and the All England Lawn & Tennis Club. In addition to the usual coverage on TNT, some viewers are...

Xtend trumpets 3 GHz cable overlay. (up front: latest news and insight).(Xtend Networks Inc.)
July 1, 2002... Israel-based Xtend Networks Inc. is marketing an electronics-laden overlay designed to boost a cable network's capacity by as much as 3 GHz without upgrading the network's infrastructure. The company has already found a supporter in Israeli...

DirecTV, Starz team on free SVOD trial. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Starz Encore Group; subscription video-on-demand service)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Parrying cable's video-on-demand lunge, DBS giant DirecTV Inc. will begin testing a subscription-VOD service this summer with premium programmer Starz Encore Group. Because the DBS architecture isn't capable of offering real-time, two-way...

Motorola sells off fix-it unit. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Manhattan Digital Corp. acquires Motorola Inc.'s Matamoros)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Manhattan Digital Corp. (MDC) has inked a deal to purchase Motorola Broadband's Matamoros, Mexico-based set-top and cable modem repair business for an undisclosed sum. MDC said it expects to close the deal for the division, dubbed...

Broadcom, Microtune trade punches over tuner tech. (Up front: latest news and insight).(patent infringement)
July 1, 2002... Aiming to leverage a recently awarded patent, silicon maker Broadcom Corp. has filed a counterclaim against Microtune Inc., which filed a lawsuit against Broadcom early last year over tuner-on-a-chip technology. Broadcom hopes to include...

Moloney takes top spot at Motorola Broadband. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Dan Moloney to head Motorola Broadband Communications Sector)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Dan Moloney has been named president of Motorola Broadband Communications Sector, replacing company veteran Dave Robinson, who stepped down to pursue CEO-level opportunities elsewhere. An 18-year Motorola veteran (including time at General...

Advent, General Bandwidth dial up telephony plans. (Up front: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Advent Networks and General Bandwidth said they have integrated their respective products as part of a plan to market cable telephony products to cable operators. Specifically, Advent has linked up its proprietary Ultraband system with...

nCUBE claims victory in VOD patent spat. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(nCUBE Corp. v. SeaChange International Inc.; video-on-demand patent infringement)
July 1, 2002... A Delaware District Court jury has unanimously upheld an nCUBE Corp. patent for video-on-demand, ruling that rival vendor SeaChange International "willfully infringed the patent." The jury also ruled that SeaChange must pay nCUBE in excess...

MidStream pins hopes on economical, high-density server. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(MidStream Technologies)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... MidStream Technologies hopes to take video-on-demand to the next level with a new high-density video server designed to push costs below $115 per stream, and perhaps break the $100 barrier in big volumes. The Bellevue, Wash.-based start-up...

Pioneer puts pen to paper on PHILA. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Pioneer Cable and Communications Group signs Point of Deployment Host Interface License Agreement)
July 1, 2002... Pioneer Cable and Communications Group has added its name to the short list of companies to sign the CableLabs Point of Deployment Host Interface License Agreement. The PHILA agreement gives Pioneer access to Motorola Broadband's...

Might cable ops do leased line? (Upfront: latest news and insight).(RAD Data and Narad Networks partnership )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Easier access to dedicated leased line services via coax is behind a new partnership formed by RAD Data and Narad Networks. The companies plan to offer cable operators a solution to channel TDM over IP. Under the deal, Narad, a company that has...

Cogency bows HomePlug wall adapter. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Cogency Semiconductor)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Hoping to spur the powerline home networking sector, Cogency Semiconductor has launched a HomePlug wall. adapter reference design with a USB interface. Cogency said it will sell the design and manufacturing kit to consumer electronics companies...

The skipper: SCTE Expo attracts 10,000 attendees: Hayes re-elected to chairman post. (GTS).
July 1, 2002... Last month, Keith Hayes was elected to serve a second term as the chairman of the board of directors of the Society of Cable and Telecommunications Engineers. Hayes, the chief operating officer of Gibson Technical Services, goes into his...

Expo serves up a crowd pleaser: a variety of new products and enhancements take center stage. (Cable-Tec Expo Wrap up).
July 1, 2002... Unfortunately for many in the industry, technology stocks are anything but hot right now. But as 10,000 cable tech personnel discovered last month, there's still some heat being generated by technology--and it isn't all related to the weather...

Inventors unite tech trio honored with Field Operations Awards. (Cable-Tec Expo Wrap up).
July 1, 2002... SCTE recognized three technicians, honoring them as the winners of this year's 2002 Field Operations Awards. This year's winners are: Mario de Oliveira, maintenance chief for Uruguay-based Equital s.a. Montevideo, for his "Power Cellular...

Nobles named 2002 member of the year. (Cable-Tec Expo Wrap up).
July 1, 2002... A retired but still effervescent Les Read held court at this year's Expo annual awards Luncheon, naming the 2002 Member of the Year, inducting three new members to the SCTE Hall of Fame and recognizing a spate of additional award winners. ...

They came, they saw, they conquered ... (Cable-Tech Expo Wrap up).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Participants in this year's annual SCTE Cable-Tec Games matched wits and used their tech skills in a lively, but friendly, competition designed to determine who's the fastest gun in the West. Twenty-eight of the country's best cable techs...

Testing's Inherent Evolution: alongside the development of today's increasingly complex HFC networks, the tools techs rely on for testing and measurement are evolving to include digital technology, smaller form factor, and greater functionality as operators migrate to advanced services.
July 1, 2002... For years, much of the technology used for testing and analysis of cable network performance went relatively unchanged. Headend operators had a select set of testing tools, which mainly served the purpose of troubleshooting video delivery...

Fiber optic reality check: MSOs intend to funnel more information down existing fiber. (Fiberline: fiber optic technology).
July 1, 2002... How much fiber optic cable does today s cable TV network really need? Moreover, just how small must the nodes actually be? Is 500 homes per node small enough, or do MSOs need to budget billions more to drive fiber-to-the-curb as competition...

Getting to know Brad Dusto: Comcast Cable CTO comes out of self-imposed quiet period. (Networking: advanced networking technology).
July 1, 2002... Brad Dusto doesn't talk to the media much. By his own admission, he's an "inside guy," focused on bringing new business segments to life. If it's true that people fall into two categories-lifters and leaners-Dusto is the former. As executive VP...

What's the Big Idea? (Networking: advanced networking technology).
July 1, 2002... Gus Gonzalez' Big Idea came to him during a dream he had a few years ago. In the dream, he was driving down the road, searching for the cause of a cable system outage. Although most of us would have awakened from a dream like that thinking,...

Plugging the leaks: operators losing millions in revenue to dysfunctional operations. (Broadband: business and news perspective).
July 1, 2002... The broadband industry's high-stakes balancing act of generating fresh revenue while reducing operating costs and capital investments is taking center stage as the industry grapples with mounting revenue assurance and revenue leakage issues,...

Summertime, and the livin' is IP. (In the loop).(Internet Protocol)
July 1, 2002... At the recent SCTE conference in San Antonio, the topic of IP (Internet Protocol) transport was as hot as the weather. Whether it was traditional data, or voice-over-IP (VoIP) or packetized video, a variety of vendors were pushing IP as the...

Capturing niche markets with copper: how operators can use network edge devices to serve new customers. (Broadband: business and news perspective).
July 1, 2002... Niche market segments represent a significant opportunity for cable TV delivery of television and high-speed Internet signals. But the existing telecommunications infrastructure in those developments frequently presents unique challenges for...

Fiber optic node. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... GILBERT, Ariz. -- PCT International, a subsidiary of Andes Industries, has introduced its outdoor version of its mini-fiber optic node (patent-pending). PCT's GMN and TMN models are compatible with its existing outdoor tap product line,...

Ground blocks, hard-line connector. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Thomas & Betts Cable Communications Division has introduced a stainless steal ground block that provides two-way connectivity and 2 GHz connectivity. The SC12-SS Series ground blocks feature a low-profile, rust-free housing...

GigE transport system. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... ATLANTA -- Scientific-Atlanta has unveiled a new gigabit Ethernet transport system, which the company says delivers 10 times the video streams in traditional Ethernet offerings. S-A is billing the system as a potential "shot in the arm" for...

Reverse path qualification. (Test Equipment).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... HARRISONBURG, Va. -- ComSonics Inc. has introduced its CyberTek Qualifier Home Qualification System, which consists of an "Installer" signal level meter capable of measuring digital power, and a vehicle-mounted ingress transmitter. Initiated...

CWDM system. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Jedai Broadband Networks has introduced LightRunner 800, a coarse wave division multiplexing (CWDM) system that reuses existing infrastructure in fiber constrained access networks. The LightRunner was designed to work in...

Fiber optic cables. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... HICKORY, N.C. -- CommScope Inc. has announced a new line of LightScope ZWP fiber optic cables, which offer cable operators increased useable bandwidth by eliminating the E-band (1360-1460 nm) water peak while retaining full backward...

Segmentable node. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- C-COR.net has introduced a new segmentable node, the NQ5, which includes full forward and return segmentation, 1550 nm analog and 2:1 time division multiplexing ITU digital return path options, dual power supplies,...

CMTS with VoIP. (new products).(cable modem termination system )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Juniper Networks Inc. has enhanced its G10 cable modem termination system (CMTS) to support Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. The G10 CMTS from Juniper is sold exclusively in North America by Scientific-Atlanta...

OTDR. (new products).(Corning Cable Systems )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... HICKORY, N.C. -- Corning Cable Systems has announced its 240 OTDR, which offers multi-testing capabilities on singlemode or multimode fiber, full-event analysis and visual fault location. Part of the company's Evolant Solutions for Evolving...

Connectors. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Corning Gilbert has introduced its new cable TV connector technology. Gilbert Cable Assemblies (GCAs) are flexible, braidless 75-ohm cable assemblies designed as an alternative to 90-degree adapters, 180-degree adapters,...

Ground rod driver. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... GRAYSLAKE, Ill. -- Harger Lightning & Grounding has introduced a new ground rod driver, which provides a simple and effective way to install ground rods, according to the company. The tool drives a ground rod to ground level without the need...

Power supplies. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Alpha Technologies has announced two new UPSs (uninterruptible power supplies) for distributed communications networks: the ELA100-48D and the ELH100-48D-85. Both units are designed to provide backup power for element...

Air filters. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SAUGET, Ill. -- Universal Air Filter Co. has introduced new fungus-resistant air filters that meet Telcordia requirements for outside plant electronic equipment housed in above-ground, pad or pole-mounted cabinets. The company's new Quadrafoam...

Chips. (new products).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... MILPITAS, Calif. -- ISG Broadband has added another new hybrid to its family of silicon return path amplifier modules-the ISG52124-L. With its 5 MHz to 210 MHz bandwidth and low 12 V operation, the new module provides a digital, drop-in,...

Equipment enclosures. (new products).(RHINO Internal Meter)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... TEMECULA, Calif. -- Channell has introduced its new RHINO Internal Meter (RIM) enclosures, which house Lectro, Alpha and other popular standby power supplies, and up to 12 back-up batteries for broadband telecommunications systems. As required...

New DBS satellites? (capital currents).
July 1, 2002... Did you think that DBS subscribers are forever doomed to a choice between EchoStar and DirecTV? Or to no choice at all, if they merge? If so, you've forgotten about the plan for DBS orbital slots, and the possibility of changing that plan. ...

The sky is not yet falling. (point of entry).(digital video recorder users skip past commercials)(Editorial)
July 1, 2002... NEWS: A NEXTRESEARCH STUDY suggests that about one in five people who own a digital video recorder never watch the commercials. Views: That's it? I'm guessing that at least two of those five people are either lying through their...

Command and control: a new breed of media center motherships deployed alongside a fleet of ultra-thin clients could give cable its answer to the whole-home digital entertainment question--but costs and still unproven networking technology will determine whether the concept will fly.
July 1, 2002... A year ago, the cable industry was still debating the virtue of ultra-thick set-top boxes, weighing their advantages and disadvantages. Although big boxes could provide the muscle for new services that consumers thirsted for, operators were...

A peek under the hood.(set-top boxes)
July 1, 2002... Digital set-tops ticketed for North American cable operators come in varied shapes and sizes, and harness mottled levels of muscle power and overall capabilities. In the following pages, we've sifted through and profiled most of the models...

Cashing in on advanced set-tops: can HDTV, PVR and other new services help more powerful (and more expensive) boxes pay their way?
July 1, 2002... Advancing the business case for next-generation set-top boxes and the services they will enable is emerging as a top strategy for cable operators and the vendor community in the drive to fresh revenues, better cost efficiencies and the growing...

I, set-top: speech recognition, personalization, mass storage among the advances that will drive the box of 2010.
July 1, 2002... Forty years ago, George Jetson and his family buzzed their way into the American consciousness, stoking a futuristic lifestyle in the imaginations of millions of TV viewers. Today, the digital set-top is being positioned as the "gateway" device...

PVR: in satellite's sights ... Is it in cable's? After a slow start, personal video recording is catching on with consumers, in part because of a recent promotional push from DBS providers. So, cab]e operators, what are you going to do about it?
July 1, 2002... It's the end of TV as we know it. Or, at least, that's the gist of some of the scare propaganda being spun out there by broadcasters and media companies in response to the growing popularity of personal video recording technology. In reality,...

Understanding digital video test.
July 1, 2002... Digital QAM modulation and the constellation display Understanding how the constellation display is derived will help explain quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and how the digital signal is transmitted. The constellation display can be...