CED articles from September 2001

CED archives from September 2001

Devil's in the details.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... The cable television industry's vision of a time when consumers can purchase digital set-top boxes at local retail electronics outlets, hook them up at home and enjoy interactive services is as far off in the distance today as it was five years...

Motorola to purchase RiverDelta.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Motorola Inc. is buying RiverDelta Networks Inc., in a transaction valued at $300 million, subject to certain adjustments. According to the merger agreement, which is subject to various closing conditions, Motorola will acquire all of...

Antec buys Arris, changes name.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Antec Corp. completed its purchase of Arris Interactive LLC from Nortel Networks in a stock transaction, forming Arris Group Inc., a holding company that began trading last month. Arris Group is now Antec's parent company, and Antec has changed...

Cablevision selects Harmonic's NSG.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Cablevision Systems Corp. has selected the Harmonic Narrowcast Services Gateway (NSG) 8100 to support Cablevision's rollout of VOD throughout the New York metro area. The Cablevision Launch, scheduled for later this year, will bring...

Cable MSOs eye OCAP revisions.(Cable Television Laboratories Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Cable Television Laboratories Inc. and its members are working on a revised version of the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP), a standardized middleware specification designed to run applications on forthcoming OpenCable-compliant digital...

Best Buy Co. Inc. and AT&T Broadband.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Broadband are partnering to offer broadband services at Best Buy retail stores within AT&T Broadband service areas around the nation. Financial terms were not disclosed. Best Buy consumers will be able to check for AT&T Broadband service...

Time Warner adds new Wink interactive service to L.A.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Wink Communications Inc.'s Enhanced Broadcasting is being offered as a standard feature for all of Time Warner Communications' digital cable customers in its Los Angeles West Valley region. With this agreement, more than 125,000 analog and...

CableLabs starts testing for Wave 19.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... CableLabs started the Wave 19 certification and qualification process in Jury and will continue through this month. This round includes 43 modems, according to CableLabs spokesman Mike Schwartz. Thirty companies seek 1.0 certification, while 13...

CableHome project issues two documents.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... The CableLabs CableHome project has made public an interim specification for Quality of Service (QoS) and also has released its architecture framework technical report (www.cablelabs.com/homenetworks/specifications.html). "The CableHome...

OpenTV deployment in Half Moon Bay features many iTV applications.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... OpenTV and USA Media Group are partnering to deploy an indepth interactive TV (iTV) content package available to U.S. cable operators using the Motorola DCT-2000 set-top box. USA Media Group's iTV deployment in Half Moon Bay, Calif. features 29...

Warner Bros., In Demand to use N2 Broadband MediaPath system.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Warner Bros. Tech Operations and In Demand have each signed agreements to use N2 Broadband's MediaPath system to transmit digital content to cable headends to support the deployment of video-on-demand services. N2 Broadband signed a...

Verizon offers broadband home networking.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Builders, developers and new homebuyers in the Boston metro area, including Massachusetts and New Hampshire suburbs, can now purchase in-home broadband networking from Verizon that will enable consumers to take advantage of broadband Internet...

Scientific-Atlanta receives @Home approval for WebSTAR cable modem.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Scientific-Atlanta's WebSTAR DPX110 cable modem has received @Home level 2 approval from Excite@Home. WebSTAR modems have surpassed the 150,000 unit sales mark with shipments over the past several months in North America, Europe, Latin America...

Pace Micro Technology plc.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Pace Micro Technology plc announced the extension of its Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) division into the U.S. Industry expert Philip Lonigro will head this new team as the director of product management. The new IPTV division, Americas is based...

IP cable-telephony market to reach $6.5B.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Although its rollout has taken longer than expected, the worldwide IP cable-telephony market is expected to increase from $1 billion in revenue in 2000 to more than $6.5 billion in 2005, according to a report released by Cahners In-Stat Group....

RCN launches ResiLink service in new markets.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... RCN Corp. recently launched ResiLink bundled communication services in Natick, Mass. and San Francisco's Mission District, giving the residents in both communities a competitive choice in local telephone, cable TV and high-speed cable modem...

WideOpenWest unleashed to buy Ameritech systems.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... WideOpenWest recently announced that the Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act for its proposed acquisition of the Ameritech New Media cable TV systems in Illinois,...

CopperCom and Kenetec to deliver VoB.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... CopperCom is partnering with Kenetec Inc. to deploy a joint voiceover-broadband system. The system will consist of CopperCom's CSX 2100 media gateway, CopperController softswitch and VoB gateway, combined with Kenetec's EdgeXpress 5000 Service...

Taking a look at the THICK and THIN of it.(thin set-top boxes)
September 1, 2001... Nothing in life is easy. Interactive television is certainly no exception to that particular adage. The industry is trying its darnedest to focus on thick and thin set-top boxes (STBs), and what they can do to make interactivity real. It's...

IN CONTROL.
September 1, 2001... Spurred by satellite operators, companies like TiVo and Microsoft, and consumers who reportedly love having total control over their television viewing habits, the race is on within the cable TV industry to add personal video recorder (PVR)...

The best of both worlds.(hybrid fiber coaxial network)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Synchronizing deep fiber baseband access network design with HFC Increasingly, optical network technologies are being evaluated for their suitability as a residential access network platform. Clearly, optical networking holds promise for...

Bootstrapping the fall.
September 1, 2001... Broadband providers retrench The hollow, thudding sound that marked mid-year broadband subscriber growth could accelerate an industry-wide evaluation of pricing tiers, open access, and other methods to lift subscriber tallies--while...

Set-top's future looking slim, trim and modular.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Mindful of economics, box makers gradually add new features While AT&T Broadband applied the brakes to deployment of its advanced digital set-top platform this year, it was far from a fatal blow to the development of tomorrow's set-tops....

IPGs to lead viewers through VOD maze.(interactive program guide)
September 1, 2001... On-screen guides will be crucial to the success of interactive TV Impressive revenue potential, falling component costs and re-tooled business models for video-on-demand (VOD) services by cable operators which could add revenue from ad...

`The Shadow knows'.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... I became a fan of old radio drama while I was in college, although the original productions were somewhat before my time (sometimes, though. I feel as old as some of the shows). Listening to those old radio serials was especially fun because...

Rogers, Bell Canada square off.
September 1, 2001... Convergent devices are latest weapons in broadband battle Convergent devices--hardware able to handle video, Internet, voice telephony, and anything else that can be packed into a single box--have been an engineer's Holy Grail for years....

Evaluating content storage systems.
September 1, 2001... Fibre Channel versus SCSI in video server architectures Video-on-demand, or VOD, continues to generate much buzz in the broadband industry today. With the number of commercial VOD deployments increasing daily, it is dear that VOD has moved...

Cable installation rods.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... CAMARILLO, Calif.--Straightlinesupply.com has launched a new line of Push-Pull Rods that assist installers in placing wire and cable above ceilings, through conduit and behind walls and crawl spaces. Each set of rods includes four...

Nine amplifiers in 3RU with redundancy.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.--VisionTeq has introduced its new series of space-saving modular headend amplifier and automatic RF switching products. Providing a high degree of reliability and critical path redundancy, the DC-300 product line supports a...

Return path test system.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... AVENTURA, Fla.--Quantek dB Electronics has introduced a new test device for return path activation and maintenance. The RTD-5-V25/42 is a portable test system which consists of a transmitter-generator and a receiver-fever tester. The...

Drop-in replacement for amplifier.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... MILPITAS, Calif.--ISG Broadband has introduced the ISG56518, designed to be a digital, drop-in, data-ready replacement for Motorola's discontinued MHW1184L module. Optimized for upstream amplification in apartment complex systems as well as...

Security/network management.(Core Networks)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--Core Networks Inc. has released CoreOS 3.2, which has a number of new features that "provide a further enhanced tool set for cable operators as they scale and secure their networks," according to Jeffrey Campbell, Core...

Cable cutter.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... SYRACUSE, N.Y.--The Eraser Company Inc. has introduced its CCB100 portable cable cutter, designed for a range of cutting applications. Powered by a rechargeable Ni-Cad battery, the CCB100 can cut cables up to 1,000 kcmil soft drawn copper, 750...

Variable optical attenuators.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... SUNNYVALE, Calif.--Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. has released its Variable Optical Attenuator VOA2200 series. AFOP's variable optical attenuators are specifically designed for applications in DWDM networks: power control in OADMs,...

EAS products have -48 VDC power.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... SALT LAKE CITY, Utah--Vela has updated all of its FrontLine EAS products with a -48 VDC power option, addressing a trend in cable operations to reduce power consumption and increase efficiency. "The new digital headends are going to -48 VDC...

Fractional Gigabit Ethernet service module.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... SAN DIEGO--Sorrento Networks has announced a new Fractional Gigabit Ethernet service module for the GigaMux platform. The new module enables service providers to simultaneously support up to 256 GigE services over a fiber pair, when used with a...

Single chip cable modem tuner.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2001... MILPITAS, Calif.--LSI Logic Corp. has introduced an integrated cable tuner/receiver chip, the flagship product in its new wideband radio frequency VLSI product line. Initially designed for use in cable modems, the Hi-IQ tuner, DPS7000,...

Fusion splicer line.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2001... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--Sumitomo Electric Lightwave has introduced its new Type-37 fusion splicer line, which serves both outside plant and factory environment applications. The line includes two flag-ship products: the Type-37 Micro-Core...

Optical network monitoring.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... SAN JOSE, Calif.--Clear has announced that its Clearview Optical 7.0 product suite is generally available. Version 7.0 provides real-time monitoring functionality including fault, performance and Service Level Agreement management for...

Fiber optic test kits.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
September 1, 2001... MEDFORD, Mass.--Fotec has introduced the DT500 series dual source fiber optic test kits, which offer the capability of testing both multimode and singlemode fibers at all the wavelengths of interest. The new kits contain LED sources for...

Electronic display accessories.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... MONON, Ind.--APW Enclosure Products has announced its new line of electronic display accessories, the RackMax, which helps reduce the display space utilized in its enclosures and open-frame relay racks. The RackMax product comes in multiple...

Dodging obligations.(Telecommunications services industry)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... Telecom companies in the U.S. have public obligations. Cable companies must provide channel capacity for local government programming and for broadcast stations, and they must carry emergency alerts. Telephone companies must provide "universal...

The Big Bang theory.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2001... FANS OF THE MONTY PYTHON comedy troupe who recall the hilarious part of the movie "The Meaning of Life"--in which an outrageously obese man continues to feast on calorie-laden food until he explodes-might see some similarity between that scene...

LETTERS.
September 1, 2001... HELPING TECHS HELP CUSTOMERS Dear Mr. Lafferty: I found your article "Freeze frame" in the July issue of InDepth (see page 35) (to be), at best, lacking. I have been in the cable communications business since 1972 and have had decades...

CLEAN & CLEAR.(passive optical networks in the race for fiber to the home)
September 1, 2001... PON architecture could be the answer to solving the `last mile' bottleneck problem It really is a race to the home. As customers/subscribers see fiber creeping closer and closer to them, they're going to start questioning the value of...

BURSTING at the Seams!(no shortage of optical fiber)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... The fiber shortage is now history and is leaving many fiber-related companies stranded SHORTAGE? WHAT SHORTAGE? The lengthy and often-times frustrating wait for raw fiber and optical components is over. In fact, fiber is readily...

SMOKE & MIRRORS.(optical networking companies)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... A Peek at the telecommunications and technology sectors today may easily resemble a scene from Alice in Wonderland. Through Wall Street's looking glass, the sectors, with a few exceptions, have tanked, with massive layoffs, reduced revenue...

BEEFING UP with DWDM.(dense wavelength division multiplexing)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2001... Network operators are poised to pump up the metro portion of their networks with dense wavelength division multiplexing Since its introduction, dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) has been a technology applied primarily in the...

2001-2002 Fiber Topologies Comparison.(Aurora Networks' Passive optical network)
September 1, 2001... Passive optical network In a passive-optical-network system as specified by the Full Services Access Networks consortium, a single fiber connects an optical line terminal to an optical power splitter, which supplies the signal to a number...