CED articles from March 2006

CED archives from March 2006

Deja vu all over again.(in perspective)(downloadable conditional access)(Editorial)
March 1, 2006... Reflecting on recent events involving cable's push toward downloadable conditional access (DCAS), I might have been better served by adding some additional punctuation to the headline of a story that appeared here last month. Instead of...

IMS poised to break service silos.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(IP Multimedia Subsystem)
March 1, 2006... Among all of the new technologies discussed these days, the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) has bubbled to high levels in terms of both interest and hype. To help cut through the IMS clutter and to explain what the technology is and how it...

Buckeye preps bandwidth-on-demand.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(partnership of Buckeye CableSystem and Camiant)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Get ready to place "bandwidth" in the on-demand category alongside video, music and games. Buckeye CableSystem, in partnership with Camiant, is laying the groundwork for a bandwidth-on-demand service that leverages the emerging PacketCable...

ICTV switches gears.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(merger with Switched Media)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... ICTV Inc. has inked a merger with Switched Media, a San Francisco-based start-up that provides "mass customization" of live video streams. The combined company, which will retain the ICTV name, will collaborate on personalized,...

Dutch MSOs connect on VoIP.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(voice over internet protocol)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Offering a glimpse of how U.S. cable operators might hook together their own voice grids in the near future, five Dutch cable operators have forged a VoIP peering agreement in partnership with Kayote Networks and XConnect. The joint...

EchoStar, Liberty invest in Sling Media.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)
March 1, 2006... The concept of "place-shifting" got a big vote of confidence after EchoStar Communications, Liberty Media Corp. and Goldman Sachs & Co. led a $46.6 million round of funding for Sling Media Inc., the maker of the Slingbox. Sling Media has...

Auspice ships DOCSIS power.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(Auspice OpsLogic PowerSense system)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Auspice has introduced an automated power monitoring system that employs DOCSIS technology. The Auspice OpsLogic PowerSense system will. use the DOCSIS Hybrid Management Sub-layer (HMS) platform to automate cable network power supply...

Mountain Cablevision closes the loop.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(distribution of encoders of EGT Inc. )(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Mountain Cablevision Ltd. of Canada has introduced closed-loop encoders from EGT Inc., a move that promises to increase bandwidth efficiency. The operator, one of the earliest to deploy digital simulcast, has upgraded its existing EGT...

Charter levels up.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(Charter Communications Inc. uses Voice over Iinternet Protocol from Level 3 Communications Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Charter Communications has extended a deal with Level 3 Communications that will include the deployment of Level3's (3)VoIP Enhanced Local, a service that provides local phone numbers, local number portability, and fixed location E-911 support...

ITU gives standard status to PacketCable 1.5.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(International Telecommunication Union)(Cable Television Laboratories Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The International Telecommunication Union has blessed the CableLabs PacketCable 1.5 suite of specifications as an ITU standard. The PacketCable-based standard, known internationally as IPCablecom, covers elements such as IP service...

Cox looks to Gemstar for guidance.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. and Cox Cable of San Diego Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Gemstar-TV Guide International and Cox Communications have forged a tong-term deal that will include the "future deployment" of Gemstar's interactive program guide (IPG). A Cox spokesman said the MSO expects to introduce Gemstar's IPG...

Capture IP data, capture lost revenue.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(Primal Solutions Inc.)(internet protocol)
March 1, 2006... As MSOs move more services and applications under the IP umbrella, the potential for revenue to slip through the operational cracks only increases. But there is help to be had for operators that need to keep close tabs on the IP...

Atlantic Broadband delivers VoIP.(partnerships and services of Atlantic Broadband)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Atlantic Broadband is launching a set of IP telephony services in partnership with Net2Phone Inc. The MSO initially is offering the service to about 145,000 subs in central. Pennsylvania. Atlantic Broadband also operates cable sites in...

ChoiceStream puts personalized VOD in sight.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(video on demand)
March 1, 2006... Considering the number of titles available today via traditional cable-delivered video-on-demand as well as fare that's delivered via the Internet, it's a small wonder that anyone is able to find what they are looking for. Helping users...

Tandberg gooses investment in IPTV.(upfront: LATEST NEWS AND INSIGHT)(Tandberg Television acquires SkyStream Networks)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Tandberg Television stayed on an acquisition binge last month, agreeing to buy IPTV video distribution specialist SkyStream Networks for $80 million in cash and stock. The deal marks the third acquisition by Tandberg during the last 12...

What used to be On TV: the past paves an ominous path for 'a la carte'.(memory lane)
March 1, 2006... Motorists traveling west on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, after slithering up and around several of the road s legendary curves, will come upon a spectacular view of the San Fernando Valley. A flat carpet of land that's dense with buildings...

Cable's next crusade: MSOs--big and small--have embarked on a quest for the coveted quad-play.(Cover story)(Company overview)
March 1, 2006... Sparked by the recent landmark joint venture between Sprint Nextel and four of the U.S. cable industry's top MSOs (Advance/Newhouse, Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner), the addition of a wireless service that would join video, voice and data to...

Walls of confusion: the emergence of content portability has given cable cause to seize upon the requirements and complexities of digital rights management.
March 1, 2006... DRM systems are like ambrosia to hackers," says Mike LaJoie, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Time Warner Cable, as he expounds on the need for cable systems to embrace Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. Because...

Taming 'over-the-top' services: PCMM balances sub satisfaction, network capacity and capital.(communications networks)
March 1, 2006... Most industry veterans acknowledge that bandwidth has long been the advantage that cable has held over competitive access technologies. Hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks have been modified in myriad, creative ways to expand network capacity. ...

When less is more: network inventory systems do the work of many.(company forecasts)
March 1, 2006... When Cox Communications expanded its core video services to include high-capacity broadband voice and data, it knew it would need a more robust software capability to manage its physical and logical network components for both inside and...

After further review.(telecommunications regulations)
March 1, 2006... I don't usually heap praise on the FCC. In fact. probably the last time I gave the Commission kudos was in 1992. when it promulgated cable TV technical standards that had been jointly developed by industry and franchising authority engineering...

Mapping out business success: plant requirements for cable-based business services.(surveys )
March 1, 2006... As the cable industry directs increasing attention to the sizeable opportunity presented by business services, a detailed understanding of market structure and resulting technical requirements is essential both for business planners and plant...

Handheld test equipment.(new products: PRODUCT REVIEWS)
March 1, 2006... HICKORY, N.C. -- Corning Cable Systems has introduced the OTS-400 series of "intelligent" handheld test equipment-optical meters, sources and testers offering simultaneous testing and storage of dual-wavelength attenuation measurements. ...

Carrier ethernet.(new products: PRODUCT REVIEWS)
March 1, 2006... SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- World Wide Packets has added the LE-135 to its Lightning Edge product family, which brings delivery of simultaneous telephony, business and entertainment video, broadband data and Internet access services to the...

VoIP media gateway.(VOICE-OVER-IP)
March 1, 2006... FOXBORO, Mass.-Tetco Systems has introduced a new contemporary design for its Access211 voice-over-IP(VoIP) media gateway, which enables service providers to offer their residential and small office/home office (SOHO) customers a VolP service...

IPTV privacy risks.(capital currents)(internet protocol television)
March 1, 2006... I went to the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show with the goal of learning more about IPTV, and in particular, whether there are any services that IPTV can deliver but traditional hybrid fiber/coax cable technology cannot. What I learned is...