CED articles from May 2003

CED archives from May 2003

When pigs fly. (in perspective).
May 1, 2003... Hell froze over. Pigs flew in New Orleans. Hey, I'm not kidding! This has to be true-why else would I have found myself in the Crescent City last month, attending a CTAM conference? I mean, technical people don't go to those, do they? ...

ACA: `plug-and-play' doesn't fit all ops. (Upfront: latest news and insight).
May 1, 2003... The proposed "plug-and-play" agreement struck by the consumer electronics industry and several large cable operators apparently is not without its critics. Creating a potential fly in the proverbial ointment of that proposed landmark deal,...

AOL flexes broadband muscle. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Hoping to trim the erosion of its base of dial-up Internet customers, America Online has taken the wraps off a new broadband-centric service teeming with rich media content. The new service, dubbed AOL for Broadband, bolted from the blocks...

Pioneer ships new HD box to Time Warner. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. has begun shipping its new Voyager 3510HD digital box to Time Warner Cable. Pioneer did not say how many units it is contracted to ship to the MSO, which is offering HDTV to the majority of its digital cable...

SercoNet seeking home net partners. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... SercoNet Inc. believes e home networking system, dubbed "NetHome," will help broadband service providers get a bigger bite of the home networking revenue pie. SercoNet's proposed claim to fame is the concept of an "embedded" home...

PHILA signatories breach a dozen. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... CableLabs said the number of companies to sign its POD-Host Interface License Agreement (PHILA) has reached 14. TV maker Pioneer Consumer Electronics and chipmaker Broadcom Corp. are among the recent signatories, CableLabs said. Pioneer's...

Wharton wins Shapp scholarship. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Matthew Wharton, 17, has won the 2003 Milton Jerrold Shapp Memorial Scholarship, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers said. Matthew, valedictorian at Apache Junction High School in Apache Junction, Ariz., is the son of Mark...

Comcast begins receiving Pace boxes. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Pace Micro Technology has begun shipping digital set-top boxes to Comcast Corp., marking the third U.S. cable MSO to receive digital equipment from the U.K.-headquartered manufacturer. Time Warner Cable has been receiving Pace boxes since...

EchoStar eyes sky for DTV-broadband bundle. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... EchoStar Communications--despite a series of fits and starts with companies such as StarBand Communications and WildBlue Communications--is moving ahead on plans to offer a better two-way broadband satellite service. To that end, the DBS...

Jokerst joins Broadbus. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Cable technology veteran Tom Jokerst has joined Broadbus Technologies Inc. as chief technology officer, a move that should give the video-on-demand start-up a well-heeled base of entry into the cable industry. Jokerst, most recently the...

Motorola puts DCT-2600 on hold, pushes ahead on HD-DVR combo. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Motorola Broadband has postponed the development of the DCT-2600, a digital cable set-top that was to feature on-board digital video recorder (DVR) capabilities. Motorola instead will focus its DVR efforts on the DCT-5200, a thick-client...

EarthLink pumps up dial-up. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... EarthLink Inc. said it will offer its dial-up Internet subs Web surfing speeds up to five-times faster than standard rates. That service, called EarthLink Plus, uses a proprietary, Web acceleration tool from Propel Software Corp. that...

New SCTE standard highly symbolic. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers has approved a new standard designed to provide common graphic symbols for use on cable system plant maps. The standard, entitled "Graphic Symbols for Cable Telecommunications Part 1-HFC...

Time Warner, Viadux partner. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Time Warner Cable has teamed up with Viadux to offer broadband services to multi-tenant units in the San Diego area. Thus far, the MSO is leveraging the Viadux platform to offer services in three office buildings in the city. Using a...

Internet Photonics hits mark with deal, new VOD transport platform. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Cablevision Systems Corp. is supporting its ambitious video-on-demand service rollout with the deployment of an optical` Ethernet transport platform from Internet Photonics. Cablevision marks the first publicly announced MSO customer for...

BayPackets scores more funding. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... BayPackets Inc. has secured $21.7 million in series-C funding, extending its total to $43.7 million raised thus far. BayPackets, a Fremont, Calif.-based company that carries a PacketCable-based record keeping server (RKS) among its wares,...

Jones taps Web for new tech encyclopedia. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Jones Knowledge, the brainchild of cable and distance education pioneer Glenn R. Jones, has launched a new online encyclopedia featuring more than 500 articles on topics such as broadband, cable television and satellite technologies. A pay...

Pike joins GCI. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Cable vet Dan Pike has joined Alaska-based General Communication Inc. as chief technology officer of the company s cable and entertainment division. Pike most recently was CTO of Classic Communications, an MSO that emerged from bankruptcy...

Baumgartner promoted to editor. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Jeff Baumgartner has been promoted to editor of CED magazine and now supervises the day-to-day editorial functions at the magazine. He had been assistant editor. In his new role, Baumgartner will be primarily responsible for the editorial...

Motorola gets Next Level. (Upfront: latest news and insight).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Motorola Inc. in mid-April completed its cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of Next Level Communications for $1.18 per share. In an unsolicited deal that grew cantankerous at times, Motorola's tender offer boosted...

Harnessing power: MSOs grapple with their battery back-up and bottom line needs. (Cover Story).
May 1, 2003... The trend toward cost-efficiency and the savvy management of power in today's sophisticated, powerful cable networks isn't a trend any longer. It's a reality. And that reality is sparking a new mentality 'among power management companies,...

Empowering the CSR: new technologies, tools and training are helping customer service reps troubleshoot a raft of new broadband services and retain valuable subscribers.
May 1, 2003... Thanks to the introduction of new, and much more complicated broadband services, the cable customer service representative (CSR) has evolved into somewhat of a know-it-all. But that's meant in a good way. They must be able to think on...

Ringing up new revenues: hosted model enables carriers to introduce VoIP services. (Analyst's corner: industry research).
May 1, 2003... Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has matured to the point here it is now considered by any business evaluating its telecom options. One relatively low risk approach for businesses to take advantage of next-generation IP features...

Reducing optical loss: how ultra low-loss connectors impact system design. (Fiberline: fiber optic technology).
May 1, 2003... Reducing optical loss in a cable TV network can yield substantial savings by reducing electronic costs and increasing network reliability. Performance of advanced ultra low-loss optical connectors produces loss specifications that approach...

Closing the gap on customer connectivity: driving customers to service providers through EBPP and online self-care. (Networking: advanced networking technology).
May 1, 2003... To drive revenues and acquire new customers, telecommunications service providers have begun to tap into new Web-based ways to deliver customer service. In the age of information technology, end consumers want interaction at their own...

What does DOCSIS mean to MSOs? CableLabs' spec answers need for open supplier market, advanced services. (Networking: advanced networking technologies).
May 1, 2003... In North America, there have been two prevalent and proven two-way path out-of-band (OOB) channels used in broadcast cable systems: DVS-178 and DVS-167. Comcast chose the SCTE-ratified method DVS-178 developed by General Instrument. This was...

A whole different animal: what business customers really want from MSOs. (Broadband: business and news perspective).
May 1, 2003... Most cable operators agree that the commercial services sector is an attractive target. The experiences of Cox, Comcast and smaller MSOs have proven that businesses welcome alternatives to the incumbent telephone companies and have no qualms...

Network rhyme. (In the loop).
May 1, 2003... Considering wireless WANs, individual PANs and offsite SANs, how does your network grow? Whether you are a network planner, a provider of IT services or just a frustrated network user, it's like some sort of high-tech nursery rhyme, trying to...

Exploring routerless aggregation: a new way of converging data and circuit-switched networks. (Broadband: business and news perspective).
May 1, 2003... MSOs interested in remaining competitive and deploying new services are faced with two network architecture options: traditional routed metro networks and routerless aggregated metro networks. Traditional routed metro networks offer benefits...

Decoder.
May 1, 2003... ATLANTA -- With space inside a cable headend at a premium, a new Scientific-Atlanta Continuum DVP Decoder (Model D9010) will offer a space-saving digital decoding solution for converting compressed MPEG-2 digital feeds to analog, according to...

Wireless DSL router.
May 1, 2003... IRVINE, Calif. -- SMC Networks has introduced its secure broadband router for residential and SOHO use--the SMC7404WBRA Barricade Wireless DSL Router. The new router will be available through DSL service providers. The router combines...

Polishing fixture. (Fiber Optics).
May 1, 2003... SYCAMORE, Ill. -- Targeting professional fiber optic installers, IDEAL Industries Inc. has announced its Model 45-342, a long-life plastic polishing fixture designed for use with ST, SC and FC connectors with 2.5 mm ferrules. The company is...

Grounding kits.
May 1, 2003... ORLAND PARK, Ill. -- Andrew Corp. has announced Compact SureGround Grounding Kits to protect communications equipment from lightning strikes. The new one-piece grounding assemblies have the weatherproofing molded directly into the grounding...

8-channel CWDM.
May 1, 2003... ATLANTA -- Cube Optics has introduced a small, 8-channel Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexer (CWDM). Its Flexible Fiber Connection (FFC) enables the user to decide on the location of the fiber ports, resulting in efficient use of space and...

Miniature power monitor.
May 1, 2003... FUZHOU FUJIAN, China -- Koncent Communication Inc. has released its mini size power monitor, the newest addition to its power reconfiguration series. Based on Koncent's unique manufacturing process, these power monitors significantly reduce the...

Tool system.
May 1, 2003... CROMWELL, Conn. -- Ripley Company has introduced its Cablematic MDU 320QR Tool System, specifically designed for cable preparation of MDU 320 CommScope Quantum Reach (QR) cables. The tool system includes all of the tools that are needed for...

Cable-Tec Expo 2003 booth guide: May 12-14, 2003: Pennsylvania Convention Center.
May 1, 2003... A Novo Broadband Inc 2441 ACI Communications, Inc. SERVING THE CATV INDUSTRY SINCE 1986 ACI Communications, Inc 835 253-854-9802...

Response to the plug-and-play agreement. (capital currents).
May 1, 2003... The first round of comments has come in to the FCC in response to the "plug-and-play" agreement between the cable industry and the consumer electronics industry. And the comments make it clear that the cable industry is caught in the middle,...

Chasing the fortunes of VoIP: IP telephony deployments and trials will remain sparse until operators and vendors work out the technical and operational kinks.
May 1, 2003... IP telephony's big payday has been somewhat of a moving target. Just when it looks like the technology and business of IP telephony are about to converge and finally cash in, a number of influential folks in the industry say it's still at least...

Getting ready for CALEA: wire-tapping in a packetized world.
May 1, 2003... Among the dozen or so external links on the to-do list for launching carrier-grade telephone service is a nine-year-old law, known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. In general, CALEA is to modern, digital...

Catching a ride on broadband's tail: as independent VoIP players such as Vonage charge boldly into cable telephony, wary cable operators wonder if they're broadband partners or parasites.
May 1, 2003... While cable operators are still waiting until next year to roll out voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) service commercially, that doesn't mean other phone players are waiting so long. Independent IP telephony firms--tired of wasting time...

All together now: integrating an ensemble of PacketCable components so that they make beautiful music together is among VoIP's most pertinent challenges.
May 1, 2003... In one way of looking at it, operating a distributed PacketCable network is a bit like conducting a 20-piece orchestra. When everyone's playing their instruments properly and timing themselves just right, it can be a beautiful thing to behold....

The CED Broadband Software Universe.
May 1, 2003... Vendor CRM Billing IP IP CPE Provisioning Configuration Acterna X ADC AM Communications Agilent Alopa...