CT's Pipeline articles from April 2003

CT's Pipeline archives from April 2003

Make Way for Switches.(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2003... If you still flinch when you hear the word switch, you may be a telcohating cable dog, but you're probably not a broadband engineer up to speed on the latest trends in video transport. A few years ago, tech-lab visionaries talked of their...

Letters to the Editor: How Easy Is Uncapping?(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2003... Here are some letters Pipeline received last week on the topic of cable modem uncapping: Smarter Mice -- "Take a walk through the student union of the local university, or stroll through your high school computer lab paying close attention...

Supercomm to Strike Up the Broadband.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... SUPERCOMM, to be held June 1-5 in Atlanta, is boasting a special broadband cable focus this year. Two of the industry's bigs -- Patrick Esser, VP of operations at Cox Communications and Richard Green, president/CEO of CableLabs -- will...

IP In This Corner, MPEG In That One.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... In the debate over IP vs. MPEG, which is better? While there's no clear answer right now for every MSO, many engineers says that cable will migrate from broadcast-centric services that rely on MPEG to on-demand services that call for IP. ...

Hear from Industry Leaders at SCTE's Expo.
April 1, 2003... Richard R. Green, president and CEO, CableLabs, Mindy Herman, president and CEO, E! Networks, and Richard Roscitt, chairman and CEO of ADC, will take center stage at SCTE's Annual Engineering Conference on Monday, May 12. Hear their views on...

Qwest Eyes Your Dinner.(proceeds with video-over-DSL service)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2003... Last week, beleaguered telco Qwest (www.qwest.com) announced its plans for shining up its future, and some of them involve taking aim at broadband cable's subscriber base. An example is in Nebraska, where Qwest "lost more market share in...

DPI Standards Advance in Geneva.(digital program insertion )
April 8, 2003... This may not be the "year" for digital program insertion (DPI), but behind the scenes, its advocates are pressing ahead, especially on the standards front. Last week, for example, the U.S. delegation to the International Telecommunications...

Looking for a Job?
April 8, 2003... Check out www.broadbandcareers.com for access to a job database that covers more than 8,500 companies. BroadbandCareers offers a broadband/telecom/IP career opportunities resource for jobs and employer information. The site touts itself as...

IP vs. MPEG.(Brief Article)
April 8, 2003... In the debate over IP vs. MPEG, which is better? While there's no clear answer right now for every MSO, many engineers says that cable will migrate from broadcast-centric services that rely on MPEG to on-demand services that call for IP. ...

Reid, NFL Coach of the Year, to Appear at SCTE's Expo Awards Luncheon.(Andy Reid -- head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles )
April 8, 2003... Attend the Society's Annual Awards Luncheon on May 12 during SCTE's 20th Anniversary Cable-Tec Expo, May 11-14 in Philadelphia, and honor the winners of SCTE's prestigious awards, such as Member of the Year, Hall of Fame and Women in...

First CMSs PacketCable-Certified: What Does It Mean for VoIP?(call management servers )(voice over IP )(Brief Article)
April 15, 2003... A major PacketCable turning point occurred last week when call management servers (CMSs) from Cisco (www.cisco.com) and Syndeo (www.syndeocorp.com) got the qualification nod from CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com). This is big news for any broadband...

How to Sustain Growth with Home Networking.
April 15, 2003... Urgency and momentum appear to be rising simultaneously around the home networking category. For momentum, there's Cisco's (www.cisco.com) acquisition of LinkSys (www.linksys.com). There's also CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) certification...

SCTE Beefs Up Professional Focus.(Brief Article)
April 15, 2003... SCTE's (www.scte.org) board of directors says it will shift from "training, certification and standards" to "professional development, information and standards." "This expanded mission positions the Society to provide more and better...

Is IP Better than MPEG?(Brief Article)
April 15, 2003... In the debate over IP vs. MPEG, which is better? While there's no clear answer right now for every MSO, many engineers says that cable will migrate from broadcast-centric services that rely on MPEG to on-demand services that call for IP. ...

Cheer on Your Colleagues at SCTE's Cable-Tec Games.(Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 15, 2003... Watch regional winners compete in Cable Jeopardy, Meter Reading and Cable Splicing at the Cable-Tec Games. Sponsored by Sunrise Telecom, Toshiba and Telecrafter Products, the competition will be held Tues., May 13, from 6-8:45 p.m. during...

HDTV's Star Still Rising Fast.(high definition television)
April 22, 2003... Information continues to roll off the presses that HDTV is here, with broadband cable engineers playing a major role in its success. In the past, when buying a TV set, the three main criteria for purchase were brand, price and screen size....

Can Cable Take Asset Management Real-Time?
April 22, 2003... Remember the once-a-year inventory check? It's a thing of the past for world-class companies. And should be for cable operators, too. That's one of the messages from Broadband Services Inc. (www. www.broadbandsvc.com), which announced its...

8,000 Square Feet of HD at the National Show.
April 22, 2003... Building on the recently announced "plug-and-play" digital TV transition agreements between cable operators and consumer electronics manufacturers, the NCTA (www.ncta.com) will showcase the latest in HDTV with a centerpiece convention floor...

MPEG-2 Over IP vs. MPEG-2 Over RF.
April 22, 2003... First off, a clarification: As both Harmonic's Pat Waddell and HFCNET's Max Morales pointed out in letters to Pipeline, our headline in last week's issue "Is IP Better than MPEG?" doesn't state the issue correctly. "You are talking about...

Hear from Industry Leaders at SCTE's Expo.
April 22, 2003... Charles Dietz (senior VP, engineering, Insight Communications), David M. Fellows (CTO, Comcast Cable Communications), Sudhir Ispahani (chairman and CTO, United Pan European Communications), and Michael LaJoie (executive VP, advanced technology,...

Your Subs Are Squawking for HD.
April 29, 2003... If you haven't rolled out HDTV yet, then more than likely you're developing an engineering strategy to make it happen. And proof continues to spill in that it's a key technology in reducing churn, and squeezing more dollars from all those...

Nail Pirates and Convert Thieves.
April 29, 2003... Time Warner Cable took top honors in this year's cable and broadband security case study competition, sponsored by the Broadband and Internet Security Task Force, a collaboration of cable operators, programmers and equipment vendors. The...

How the Headend Handles Increased Traffic Flow.(Brief Article)
April 29, 2003... As the type and variety of services you offer expands, your technical team needs to remain consistently updated about how the headend accommodates and processes increased traffic. Broadband Learning Live (www.broadbandlearninglive.com)...

The Power of MPEG-4.(Brief Article)
April 29, 2003... "MPEG-4 Part 10, a.k.a. H.264, is set to revolutionize the video delivery industry. DVD quality video, at ~1.25 Mbps per stream with full viewer control and interaction capabilities is right around the corner," HFCNET's Max Morales said in last...

Last Chance to Save $100 on Expo.
April 29, 2003... Pre-register for SCTE's 20th Anniversary Cable-Tec Expo ? May 11-14 at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Convention Center ? by this Friday (May 2), and you'll save $100. Your registration to Expo includes entry to the Annual Engineering Conference...