Broadband Gear Report

SCTE Forms Amateur Radio Club

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:13:08 +0000

Dzuban

SCTE (www.scte.org) recently formed the SCTE Amateur Radio Club that will bear the FCC-issued call sign, W3HFC. Open to all Society members, the club will serve to increase awareness of the vital need to equip today’s technical workforce with a sound working knowledge of RF.

“Although many new technologies are being adopted by the cable industry, competence in RF technologies is a cornerstone for successful operation of modern cable telecommunications networks,” SCTE President/CEO Mark Dzuban, the new club’s president, says. “This includes not only the network itself, but RF technologies that are used in satellite and wireless. RF was once a primary skill. In order to improve the operation of cable networks, we need to bring it back into focus so that frontline personnel can effectively deal with it.”

In addition to Dzuban (K4MHZ) as president, the club’s inaugural officers are Frank Eichenlaub (N0TPR), vice president; Keith Hayes (KD4KDG), treasurer; and Steve Oksala (NI3P), secretary.

SCTE members can join the club whether or not they hold a current amateur radio license. There are no club membership dues. SCTE members are encouraged to update their SCTE membership record to include their HAM radio call sign at www.scte.org to reflect their current status and to send an e-mail to HAMRadioAdmin@scte.org to join the club.

Peterka Named Verimatrix CTO

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:12:08 +0000

Peterka

Petr Peterka is the new CTO at Verimatrix (www.verimatrix.com). Prior to this, he was a distinguished member of the technical staff in the CTO’s office at Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility Team.

He has been active with standards organizations including DECE, DLNA CPS, ATIS, SMPTE, Coral, DVB, ITU-T and others, and has worked with Hollywood studios, CableLabs, and the MPAA on content security issues.

TOA Tech Names Allen President of European Ops

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:11:03 +0000

TOA Technologies (www.toatech.com), which offers SaaS solutions for mobile workforce management, named Richard Alden as president of its European operations. He was formerly the CEO of Spanish cable operator ONO.

Bowick Joins Inlet Tech BoD

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:10:21 +0000

Industry vet Chris Bowick has joined the board of directors at Inlet Technologies (www.inlethd.com). Bowick, currently president of The Bowick Group LLC, retired as SVP of engineering and CTO of Cox in June 2009.

SeaChange Announces Exec Staff Changes

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:09:44 +0000

Kanouff

SeaChange International (www.schange.com) announced the departure of Ed Dunbar, who had held the role of president and COO. Yvette Kanouff was promoted to president, where she will be responsible for the company’s business development, overall product strategy, product management, communications and investor relations.

Additionally, Erwin van Dommelen was promoted to president of SeaChange Software, where he will be responsible for the software business including growth, profit, engineering, product roadmaps and direction, and the general management of the business unit.

BigBand Networks Announces Exec Changes

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:06:38 +0000

BigBand Networks (www.bigbandnetworks.com) recently announced a wide range of executive changes. Mike Pohl was appointed as a non-executive chairman of the board of directors. His appointment will separate the roles of CEO and chairman. Amir Bassan-Eskenazi will continue to serve as BigBand’s CEO and will be responsible for executive management of the company. In addition, Bassan-Eskenazi will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors.

The company also announced that Ray Fitzgerald has been promoted to VP, worldwide cable sales, and Wayne Gaudette will continue to service as VP, telco sales.

David W. Heard has resigned as chief operating officer effective immediately, but will remain as a consultant through June 30. Sean Rooney has resigned as SVP of worldwide sales but will remain with BigBand through April 1.

BigBand also announced the appointment of Ravi Narula as chief financial officer. He succeeds Moe Castonguay. Castonguay will serve as CFO until May 1. Narula joined BigBand in 2005 and is currently the VP of finance and worldwide controller

Charter and One Economy Partner for Free Internet Service

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:06:04 +0000

Charter Communications and One Economy, a global non-profit organization that leverages the power of technology to improve the lives of low-income people, will partner with local community agencies in a pilot program to provide up to 1,000 St. Louis area households with free Internet service, training and affordable technology. Charter will provide approximately $700,000 in high-speed Internet service, modems and digital literacy training over a 24-month period in collaboration with One Economy and local community partner agencies.

VITA Awards Cox Business Services Internet Svcs Contracts

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:05:15 +0000

The Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) awarded Cox Business statewide contracts for Internet services in selected speed tiers and zip codes. The contract now provides a vehicle for Cox to provide both Cox Business Internet and Cox Optical Internet to State customers through the VITA ordering process. Cox Business Internet has speeds that range from 2 Mbps/384 kbps to 10 Mbps/2 Mbps, and Cox Optical Internet with speeds that range from 1.5 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

Neutral Tandem Selects Cisco

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:03:59 +0000

Neutral Tandem (www.neutraltandem.com) a provider of tandem interconnection services to wireless, wireline, cable and broadband telephony companies, selected the Cisco (www.cisco.com) ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers to support its new Ethernet exchange service. Neutral Tandem’s Ethernet eXchange is said to fill a void in the Ethernet market by providing Ethernet service providers a more efficient and simplified method of interconnecting on a many-to-many basis.

Time Warner Launches DOCSIS 3.0 in North Texas

bgrstaff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:59 +0000

Time Warner Cable launched wideband Internet in North Texas propelled by DOCSIS 3.0. Residential customers can get speeds up to 50 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream for $99.95 per month. In related news, TWC will be offering wideband Internet service to Western New York as of April 5, offering download speeds of up to 50 Mbps.