CT's Pipeline articles from January 2003

CT's Pipeline archives from January 2003

Where to Get the Nitty-Gritty on HD Standards.
January 7, 2003... Almost all the technical specifications used in the national HDTV agreement announced recently are based on SCTE (www.scte.org) standards, and as a Society member, that means you have an easy and free way to access them. "If I were a technical...

Keep the Customer in Charge.
January 7, 2003... DBS competition and digital churn have forced broadband engineers to come up with some creative ideas for keeping the biggest boss of them all - the subscriber - happy in 2003. For example, a new technology is in trial in three MSO sites...

Download Tech Papers from Western.
January 7, 2003... Missed the Western Show (Broadband Plus) in Anaheim last month? Then you'll definitely want to check out www.scte.org/forum/index.cfm, where some of the technical papers are posted. Use your SCTE membership user name and password to log in. ...

1,024-QAM: Who Needs It?
January 7, 2003... Just because you've made the big commitment to 64- or 256-QAM, that doesn't mean you won't be experimenting with 1,024-QAM. After all, the higher you go, the more bandwidth you have. But critics say it's not that elementary. There are...

Register On-Site in Miami for ET 2003.
January 7, 2003... Register on-site for SCTE's Conference on Emerging Technologies, taking place Jan. 14-16 at the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami. Attend, and you'll learn how tomorrow's technologies impact your business decisions today. Plus, reserve your...

HDTV: Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'.(high definition television)
January 14, 2003... We've been talking a lot about HDTV on these pages over the last few weeks, and it's for a good reason: Cable's honchos have made big high-def promises recently, and as with any technology commitment, it's the engineering community that will do...

Is Microsoft Undermining MPEG-4?
January 14, 2003... In what is being called "yet another barely cloaked attempt to extend its operating system monopoly to all consumer devices," Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) plans to undermine the most promising new audio/video industry standard, MPEG-4, says...

How to Avoid OSS Pitfalls.
January 14, 2003... "The telcos have pioneered with OSS in their much larger, monopoly systems," Paul Kagan, a veteran media analyst, says. "So as cable operators migrate to their own new operational platforms, including telephony, they have to learn to avoid the...

1,024-QAM: Too Early to Worry?
January 14, 2003... Just because you've made the big commitment to 64- or 256-QAM, that doesn't mean you won't be experimenting with 1,024-QAM. The higher you go, the more bandwidth you have. But, if you've migrated from 64- to 256-QAM, you know that 256 offers...

Chapter Leaders: CLC Registration Ends This Week.
January 14, 2003... Make sure you register for SCTE's Chapter Leadership Conference (CLC) 2003 by this Friday (Jan. 17). Set for Feb. 20-21 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport hotel, CLC is an exclusive forum for current SCTE chapter leaders, and...

CE, Enterprise Issues Hot at ET '03.
January 21, 2003... Broadband's brain trust met in Miami last week for SCTE's (www.scte.org) Emerging Technologies Conference to rate and debate engineering issues ranging from consumer electronics, enterprise opportunities, multimedia over IP and evolving network...

ET Preconference: OSS and CableLabs Update.
January 21, 2003... How would you like to stay in front of your subs' need for bandwidth, ensure enterprise-level service agreements, indemnify yourself against legal action, empower your field techs, and improve relationships with bot your marketing dept. and...

Why 'Silo-Based' Approaches to OSS Won't Work.(office networks)(Brief Article)
January 21, 2003... Before SCTE's Emerging Technologies Conference kicked off in Miami last week, attendees had the chance to discuss the why and how of OSS at a Kagan Summit. The running theme? If you're still compartmentalizing your services into "silos," that...

1,024-QAM: When and Why?(request for letters )
January 21, 2003... Just because you've made the big commitment to 64- or 256-QAM, that doesn't mean you won't be experimenting with 1,024-QAM. The higher you go, the more bandwidth you have. But, if you've migrated from 64- to 256-QAM, you know that 256 offers...

Kudos to Bowling, Simons, Winners of ET 2003 Awards.(Society of Cable Television Engineers awards; Anthony Bowling, Theresa Simons)(Conference on Emerging Technologies)(Brief Article)
January 21, 2003... Congratulations to Anthony Bowling, winner of the 2003 Star of Integrity Award (sponsored by C-COR), and Theresa Simons, winner of the 2003 Polaris Award (sponsored by CommScope). SCTE recognized these winners last Wednesday, during a special...

IP in Cable: Intimidating and Irresistible.(video on IP)
January 28, 2003... "There's a little bit of a threat and an opportunity in the ability to put video on IP," said Tim O'Keefe, Comcast VP for IP technologies, in response to the talks on that topic at SCTE's Emerging Technologies 2003 earlier this month in Miami....

Waking and Feeding the HD Beast.(HDVOD on the horizon)
January 28, 2003... "Like VOD, HDTV has been a sleeper technology," Greg Thomson, CTO at nCube (www.ncube.com) said earlier this month in Miami at SCTE's Emerging Technologies 2003. "It was over-hyped early on, had to wait for technology to mature and costs to...

Network Efficiency = OSS.(OSS World 2003 )(Brief Article)
January 28, 2003... Two of the major holes in your network efficiencies come from service fulfillment and service assurance. That's where OSS comes in, as it promises to: * Reduce revenue leakage from lost orders and inaccurate inventory * Accelerate...

1,024-QAM: When and Why?(Brief Article)
January 28, 2003... Just because you've made the big commitment to 64- or 256-QAM, that doesn't mean you won't be experimenting with 1,024-QAM. The higher you go, the more bandwidth you have. But, if you've migrated from 64- to 256-QAM, you know that 256 offers...

Register Online for SCTE's Expo 2003.
January 28, 2003... Registration is now available for SCTE's 20th anniversary Cable-Tec Expo, set for May 11-14 in Philadelphia. At Expo 2003, you'll have the chance to meet face-to-face with hardware and service providers in the Expo Exhibit Hall, and also learn...