CED articles from June 2004

CED archives from June 2004

Careful wishing.(in perspective)
June 1, 2004... It wasn't that long ago that the cable industry (the operators, more specifically) dreamed of a $50 DOCSIS cable modem. Back in early 2001, those hopes were pinned on the computer controlled cable modem or CCCM. By design, the device was to...

Toshiba bows out of cable modem biz.(Upfront: latest news and insight)
June 1, 2004... A high-profile cable partner has decided to suspend its cable modem business as unit prices continued to drop and margins continued to shrink. Toshiba officials have confirmed that the consumer electronics firm has shut down its cable...

PacketCable Multimedia gathers steam.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Activity around PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM) remained high this spring following completion of a three-day interoperability event held at CableLabs' Louisville, Colo. facilities. Building on DOCSIS, the PCMM architecture defines how cable...

CableHome 1.1 hits milestone.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(CableLabs)
June 1, 2004... Certification wave 28 at CableLabs ended by achieving a key goal: passing grades granted to devices based on CableHome 1.1. Receiving that honor first was Linksys, which was awarded the CableHome 1.1 stamp for its Wireless-G Cable Gateway...

AgileTV lends set-tops an ear.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Motorola Broadband will use technology from AgileTV that enables cable customers to control digital set-top functions, including channel, navigation, via voice commands. Motorola said MSOs have the ability today to integrate AgileTV's...

CableLabs rings up first 'Plug & Play' TVs.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Retail-ready, set-top-free TVs based on the FCC-backed "Plug & Play" agreement took a step forward earlier this year when the CableLabs Verification Pand gave three television manufacturers the go ahead. Those three--Sony, Hitachi and LG...

Lightpath a DWDM convert.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Lightpath, the commercial services unit of Cablevision Systems Corp., has completed a Sonet-to-DWDM conversion of its core network. The upgrade will enable the company to offer advanced IP-based and broadband services to businesses in the...

Charter architects VoIP plans.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Charter Communications)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Charter Communications is pushing ahead on its IP telephony efforts using multiple architectures. The first is a distributed PacketCable platform already in use in Wausau, Wis. There, the MSO is using Nortel Networks' Success Communication...

Time Warner testing S-As 'digital overlay'.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Time Warner Cable, Scientific-Atlanta Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Time Warner Cable is tinkering with a new technology from Scientific-Atlanta Inc. that enables S-A digital boxes to operate on cable systems based on Motorola Broadband's MediaCipher conditional access platform. Time Warner is testing the...

Comcast, Time Warner join Arroyo backers.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Comcast Interactive Capital, Time Warner Investments and Arroyo Video Solutions Inc)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Arroyo Video Solutions Inc. emerged from stealth mode to announce it has raised $13 million in a first round of funding that includes participation from Comcast Interactive Capital and Time Warner Investments. DCM-Doll Capital Management and...

Adelphia takes the 2.0 plunge.(Adelphia Communications Corp. introduces modems)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Though many operators are deploying DOCSIS 2.0 cable modems but holding off on doing the same at the cable modem termination system (CMTS) level, Adelphia Communications is clearly taking the lead with 2.0 as it rapidly cable systems. To...

ARRIS 'DMTS' big on the downstream.(ARRIS International Inc.)(digital multimedia termination system)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... ARRIS has introduced a new digital video edge device that combines traditional cable modem termination system (CMTS) and digital video QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) functions on the same platform. The company's Q5 DMTS (digital...

EGT encoders could aid all-digital shift.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(new products)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... EGT Inc. has emerged from stealth mode to reveal a new MPEG-2 encoder designed to save bandwidth costs by 30 percent while retaining video quality. Cable's big three encoder vendors are Harmonic Inc., Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola...

Game on for Grande and ICTV.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Grande Communications Inc. contract)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Grande Communications has agreed to deploy ICTV's "HeadendWare" platform and use it to offer a variety of free and premium games to the overbuilder's digital customers in San Marcos, Texas. Grande expects to add more interactive services...

Sie: movies will premiere on cable and satellite.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(John Sie forecasts)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Even before announcing his formal retirement plans, Starz Encore Group Chairman and CEO John Sie dropped a controversial bomb, predicting that movies will regularly premiere on cable and satellite rather than in theaters within the next 10...

S-A puts SciCare on-call.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Scientific-Atlanta Inc.)(SciCare Broadband Services)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Scientific-Atlanta Inc. is dialing into Voice-over-IP (VoIP) with a new program addition to its SciCare Broadband Services arm. The services include VoIP project planning, assessment of the cable company's data network, design, preliminary...

Comcast, Charter make Moxi moves.(Upfront: latest news and insight)(Charter Communications Inc.)(Comcast Cable Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Comcast Cable and Charter Communications remained bullish on advanced digital video recording (DVR) after inking or extending earlier agreements with Digeo Inc. Comcast has agreed to conduct a commercial trial later this year of...

Goin' on a SIP trip: cable is jumping on board with a technology that's poised to play a key part in IP-based applications and services.(session initiation protocol)
June 1, 2004... SIP (session initiation protocol), a technology considered more of a hobby in the late 1990s than the start of something great, is quickly coming into its own thanks to small but pioneering companies such as Vonage and its adoption by corporate...

Going out but not overseas: for MSO's 'outsource' doesn't mean going outside the U.S.
June 1, 2004... The next time you call up a cable operator, the customer service representative who answers probably' won't be sitting at a desk in Bangalore, India. But he or she may have spent more time in the classroom than ever before. Unlike other...

The big show in the big easy.(National Cable and Telecommunications Association)
June 1, 2004... New Orleans, La. -- After a three-year period of sluggishness highlighted by smaller crowds, layoffs and general gloom and doom, trends gleaned here at the 2004 National Show indicated that the industry--particularly the vendor community is on...

Feeding fiber-starved networks: DWDM can maximize the capacity of installed fiber.(Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing)
June 1, 2004... Increasing network bandwidth in areas where there is a shortage of installed fiber is likely to be one of the biggest near-term challenges facing cable MSOs. There are many places in the network where too little fiber exists, and getting the...

1080p: HD luxury or necessity? Budding format looks terrific, but it's a bandwidth hog.(Networking: advanced networking technology)
June 1, 2004... If you listen carefully to the belligerent HD format debate pitting 1080i against 720p, you may catch a murmur rising in the background: 1080p. The cable industry is still dominated by 1080 interlace and 720 progressive camps, but a small...

Bringing home the triple play: are DSL service providers poised to hit a home-run?(Networking: advanced networking technology)(digital subscriber line)
June 1, 2004... Telecommunications network providers are poised to launch a new multi-service business model in the broadband access market. They will be able to offer customers a three-in-one service: Internet access, IP telephony and on-demand video. The key...

Curing provisioning headaches: the right triple play software will help to ease the pain.(Networking: advanced networking technology)
June 1, 2004... It wasn't so long ago that "triple play" carriers--those offering voice, video, and data on a single line--seemed to he nothing more than an engineer's fantasy. As for fiber being brought directly to the home? "Never," said the cynics. "No...

Protecting against surge damage: knowing the enemy is the first step in winning the battle.(Networking: advance networking technology)(cable networks)
June 1, 2004... Editor's note: This is article one of two in a series about protecting the subscriber premise. As cable operators increasingly invest in their networks--and place expensive, advanced digital set-top boxes in consumer homes--it has become...

Getting into the (multiplayer) game: developers, publishers aim to make the connection with cable.(Broadband: business and news perspective)(massively multiplayer online games)
June 1, 2004... Long Beach Calif.--Connection lost. That's a message people like Adam Joffe dread to see. As the chief technology officer of Sony Online Entertainment, which develops and operates massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) such as EverQuest,...

Calibration images.(Ciciora's corner)(Column)
June 1, 2004... I received a number of comments about my last column (entitled, "Images, 8 mm to HDTV," CED April 2004 p. 46), so thought I'd expand a bit on this theme. a cable technologist needs a "calibrated eye." For the reason. I believe that cable...

And the winners are ... Commercial Services Case Study competition winners announced.(Broadband: business & news perspective)
June 1, 2004... During the past several weeks, CED I magazine, in conjunction with Cisco and CTAM, sponsored the first-ever Commercial Services Case Study competition. Two categories were created-technology and sales and marketing-and entries were judged by an...

Building the 'field of dreams': commercial services sector is a dream come true, say seminar participants.(Broadband: business and news perspective)(CTAM Commercial Services Seminar, Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing )
June 1, 2004... Cable operators can effectively transition from serving only residential customers and become purveyors of commercial services--if they're willing to be flexible, listen to the customer's needs and provide a reliable network. That was the...

Pursuing the enterprise market: MSOs can 'raise the bar' by offering differentiated services.(Broadband: business and news perspective, cable industry)(multiple service operators)
June 1, 2004... Over the last several years, cable TV providers have succeeded in bringing two-way, high speed digital data connectivity to residential cable subscribers. In the early 1990s, MSOs enhanced their cable networks with fiber and bi-directional...

VoCable ready to bust out of the blocks: second-generation applications will be golden.(Broadband: business and news perspective)(voice-over-cable)
June 1, 2004... Over the past decade, the cable industry has expanded its offerings by adding broadband and voice services to its video entertainment roots. Now, mature and "ready for prime time" VoIP technologies have emerged with a key application like...

U.S. cable telephony deployments and trials.(Illustration)
June 1, 2004... NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL CABLE TELEPHONY DEPLOYMMENTS AND TRIAL MSO MARKET Adams Cable Service ** New York and Pennsylvania systems Advanced Cable...

Jeff Pulver pulls few punches: VoIP pioneer juggles businesses by the dozen.(Broadband: business and news perspective)(Interview)
June 1, 2004... Jeff Pulver's name has almost become synonymous with the VoIP movement. Whenever there's a major IP voice regulatory issue on the board, you can bet that he's right in the thick of it, protecting the interests of the small guy as well as...

Remotes, base station expansion.(new products)(3 new remote controls - Unifier, Automator and Customizer)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... NEW ORLEANS--Universal Remote Control Inc. has introduced three new remote controls, as well as an RF receiver base station expansion unit. Each of the remotes features infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RF) technologies that were previously...

Decoder.(new products)(CP7600)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Terayon Communication Systems Inc. has unveiled its new CP7600 professional grade, digital-to-analog multichannel integrated decoder (MID). Cable operators currently transport duplicate digital and analog programming...

Automatic headend analyzer.(Headend)(860 DSPh Automatic Headend Analyzer)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.-Trilithic has announced its new 860 DSPh Automatic Headend Analyzer, a rack-mounted unit which makes it convenient and economical to monitor the performance of unattended headends, according to the company. More than just a...

A new multichannel competitor?(capital currents)(USDTV (US Digital Television))
June 1, 2004... Cable and DBS are getting a new multichannel video competitor, at least in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Albuquerque. USDTV is leasing capacity from existing TV stations and using that capacity to deliver a package of 11 cable channels and 8...