CED articles from July 2006

CED archives from July 2006

To Build or to Buy?(IP television services)(Editorial)
July 1, 2006... By Jeff Baumgartner, Editor-in-Chief VoIP peering, video services and a general convergence to IP are among the keys driving cable backbone strategies The promise of a converged, all-IP future is one of the big drivers cable...

Net neutrality legislation--My take on it.
July 1, 2006... By Jeffrey Krauss, President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy I've been watching the net neutrality debate recently, and it has heated up. While the goals might seem reasonable--"to keep the Internet free and open to all"--a...

Out of band, out of mind.(Multisystem Operator)
July 1, 2006... By Brian Santo, Senior Editor MSOs are preparing to unlock the DOCSIS Set-top Gateway The cable industry is on the verge of moving out-of-band (OOB) signaling from a proprietary channel to a DOCSIS channel. The primary means to achieve...

Network duality.(telecommunications industry)
July 1, 2006... By Thomas G. Robinson, Executive Vice President, CBG Communications Inc. As Congress scurries toward its Independence Day recess, it continues to wrangle over network neutrality. It was a hot issue that was somewhat backburnered by the...

Gaming's Becoming a Big Deal.(cable television industry's games)(Editorial)
July 1, 2006... By Brian Santo, Senior Editor With OCAP on the Horizon and Competitive Forces here now, more and more Operators are Playing the Gaming Card PC game sales in 2005 totaled $1.4 billion. The casual games industry generated annual income...

Power surge.
July 1, 2006... By Stewart Schley The crime of battery refers to the infliction of physical violence, an idea that seems worlds away from the production of electrical energy in general, and certainly from the compact wafers and cartridges people rely on...

Expo notebook.(Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' Cable-Tec Expo)(Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification)(Editorial)
July 1, 2006... Jeff Baumgartner, Editor-in-Chief As I'm writing this, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) is putting the final touches on another successful Cable-Tec Expo. Here's a quick blush at some of the key trends and takeaways...

New Products.(Corning Cable Systems)(Electroline Equipment Inc.)(Broadband Telecommunications )
July 1, 2006... Staff Sealed LCP enclosure Staff Hickory, N.C.--Corning Cable Systems has introduced the OptiTect Premier Sealed Local Convergence Point (LCP) Enclosure, a prestubbed, preconnectorized enclosure which provides protection from...

Cable & wireless convergence.(Sprint Corp.)
July 1, 2006... By Brian Cappellani, CTO; and Preston Gilmer, VP Product Marketing, Sigma Systems OSS service management as the enabler The relationship between the cable industry and Sprint's mobile arm is generating excitement for consumers and...

New specs to help scale VOD content.(by Cable Television Laboratories Inc.)
July 1, 2006... Staff CableLabs has released the 2.0 version of its video-on-demand content specifications, promising better searching capabilities and other enhancements that will come into play as the industry continues to scale up its on-demand...

BigBand, NETGEAR bond on DOCSIS 3.0.(Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Staff BigBand Networks and NETGEAR Inc. have cut an integration deal that aims to comply with DOCSIS 3.0, a developing CableLabs spec that will enlist channel bonding and product speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. The integration will team...

What's next for OCAP?(Cable Television Laboratories Inc. developed OpenCable Application Platform)
July 1, 2006... Staff CableLabs is working on a new version of the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) that will incorporate enhancements tied to IP-based tuning, home networking, switched broadcast, advanced graphics and mobile applications and...

Time Warner meddles with OpenTV middleware.(Core 2.0)
July 1, 2006... Staff Time Warner Cable will use middleware from OpenTV Corp. to ensure that its in-house digital navigator application runs on Motorola-made set-top boxes. Under the multi-year licensing deal, the MSO will deploy OpenTV's Core 2.0...

Full speed ahead for WildBlue.(Wildblue Communications Inc. signed deals with DIRECTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Staff WildBlue Communications Inc.'s on-again/off-again relationship with the satellite video industry is back on again after it secured exclusive, five-year wholesale distribution deals with EchoStar Communications and DirecTV. The...

Fellows shifting to part-time role at Comcast.(David Fellows moving to executive role)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Staff One of the cable industry's top engineers is preparing to go part-time. David Fellows, the chief technology officer of Comcast Corp., will move into an "Executive Fellow" role with the MSO starting in January 2007. Although...

Concurrent does small town VOD.(Concurrent Computer Corp.)(Morristown Utility Systems' video-on-demand services )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Staff Morristown Utility Systems of Tennessee has launched video-on-demand services using a small market platform developed by Concurrent Computer Corp. The utility company introduced VOD earlier this month, and is offering "hundreds"...

Comcast, Cox throttle up on bandwidth.
July 1, 2006... Staff Comcast Cable and Cox Communications are beefing up their bandwidth on the fly, albeit via two different methods. Comcast revealed some details about "PowerBoost," an in-house, patent-pending technology designed to ratchet up...

Time Warner sets 'Start Over' expansion.(Time Warner Cable)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Staff Time Warner Cable is expanding the reach of "Start Over," a new service that enables customers to restart select programs (i.e. those with copyright clearance) already in progress. Following an initial launch in South Carolina...