SCTE Foundation Announces Grants

By bgrstaff | Published: February 17, 2010

SCTE FoundationThe SCTE Foundation (foundation.scte.org) announced the grants it approved during the fourth quarter of 2009. One of them was a major grant, which was provided to Robert Dignum of Yelm, Wash., as previously announced. PHOTO: sctefoundation.jpg

The other six grant recipients during the fourth quarter were:

  • Lowell Flanner, Sunflower Broadband
  • Erik Jenson, Cogeco Cable
  • Gary Paulson, Comcast
  • Brent Sager, Broadband Solutions
  • David Stuart, in-transition member
  • Amelia Urban, Jones/NCTI

The fourth quarter’s SCTE Foundation grants were earmarked for such professional development purposes as Cable-Tec Expo, Jones/NCTI courses, a bachelor’s degree program, and an industry certification program.

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OK, There IS a Difference

By Tim Hermes | Published: February 17, 2010
Tim Hermes, BGR CEO

Tim Hermes, BGR CEO

The winter blues. Never had em so bad after the winter we have had here in DC. So last weekend I grabbed the wife, kid and pot-roast-with toenails we call our bulldog London and headed south to our little beach place that we had used our son’s college savings to afford. ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING to get away from the snow. If we didn’t, there may have been a few shallow graves in the backyard.

I had it all set up in my mind. Lots of running, sleep late, and watch the Olympics over the long weekend. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that my cable was out. After all I heard about the horrible luge incident and mercifully was spared the live broadcast. So I picked up the phone (cable triple play) to call my local provider and of course that was out too. Internet access? Toast.

The hell with it. I took the cable out of the STB, ran it into the TV and got a few channels  although the signal died completely intermittently. And I GOTTA watch my Spongebob! I have based my life on his teachings! Granted, this is a tough-weather area prone to hurricanes, salt corrosion, rain and wind. Gotta be a tough locale to run an op. However I remember the day we had the install done and the contractor had to leave for two hours because “he forgot his tools.” I saw at least four outdoor enclosures that had been struck by vehicles that were listing, exposing their protected equipment to the elements.

And when I got home? I had a letter from said provider saying my bill was over-due. Funny, I paid that a month ago by auto-pay from my bank, and they cashed the check. $80 bucks to pay a bill for a service I hadn’t used and when I needed it it didn’t work.

So for this cable-ista, the front end and the back end of this local op doesn’t get very high marks. My guess is that many local cable companies still have a way to go on reliability, service, and billing. But I take great confidence that cable’s willingness to improve, put the customer first, and deliver fast reliable service. I’m still a believer.

And we still had a great long weekend.

Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.

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Insight Upgrades Network with Nokia Siemens

By bgrstaff | Published: February 17, 2010

Insight Communications is upgrading its network using Nokia Siemens Networks (www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com) optical transport and Metro Ethernet technology to deliver better services, improving the overall experience of its customers.

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Cox Launches All-Digital Ad Distribution System

By bgrstaff | Published: February 17, 2010

Cox Media, the advertising services division of Cox Communications, launched an all-digital system for managing ad distribution. Cox Media is the first MSO to provide an enterprise-wide digital media management system to clients. The new system, known as SpotXpress, is part of the company’s efforts to facilitate more efficient services for clients in a rapidly changing advertising environment.

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Synacor Platform Enables 9m Subs for Olympics

By bgrstaff | Published: February 17, 2010

Synacor (www.synacor.com) reports that its entitlement platform will enable over 9 million subscribers of select multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to view a wealth of Internet video content at NBCOlympics.com during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, which run through Feb. 28. Fourteen cable operators, all of which are participating NBC Olympics affiliates, will use Synacor solutions to provide their sibs access to “Olympics Online Connect,” where their video subscribers can watch exclusive Olympic Winter Games coverage on NBCOlympics.com.

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Cablevision and NBC Announce Olympic Content Offering

By bgrstaff | Published: February 17, 2010

ActiveVideo LogoCablevision and NBC Universal announced a multiplatform content offering for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games starting with the Opening Ceremony on Feb.12. Cablevision and NBC Universal are providing Olympics coverage that will include interactive applications powered by ActiveVideo (www.activevideo.com). Cablevision subs have access to all of NBC Universal’s more than 835 hours of Olympics programming, and this reportedly represents the most total hours ever and the most live hours ever for an Olympic Winter Games.

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CableLabs Attendees Taste-Test Taste Engine

By bgrstaff | Published: February 10, 2010

Laura Hamilton

What exactly is a taste engine? According to attendees at the recent CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) Winter Conference held in Denver, it’s the “The Best Product Idea” from the confab’s Innovation Showcase. Dubbed Jinni (www.jinni.com), the solution is described as the first taste engine for movies and TV shows that uses content genetics and user taste profiling to power next-generation TV guides. And if you’re wondering just what that means, Jinni is a good example of a tool that tends to be best understood after you’ve put it into action. So, a quick visit to jinni.com to play around with the engine there is a solid way to get a feel for what it does.

Cable operators can integrate Jinni’s features into their systems via a comprehensive set of Web-based APIs for content delivery to set-tops, PCs and mobile devices. Jinni also partners with SeaChange International (www.schange.com), OpenTV (www.opentv.com) and NDS (www.nds.com), who offer Jinni’s discovery features as part of their solutions.

Jinni TV User Interface Example

Jinni Sample TV Interface

Most Likely to Succeed

The Innovation Showcase featured 11 vendors – both startups and established companies – who participated in a lightning round of presentations where each company had 10 minutes each to strut their technical stuff. In an informal poll of the audience, Jinni snagged the bragging rights to boast that attendees thought it was the solution most likely to succeed. And beyond this nod, the company also has enjoyed some other fresh indicators that Jinni’s time just might have come.

Triveni Digital

“We’ve received numerous RFPs in recent months that indicate operator interest in implementing search and recommendations, including advanced features,” Mike Pohl, Jinni’s CEO, tells BGR. “So we feel like 2010 could be a great year for us, as many operators are seeking the kind of service we offer. And in conversation, potential customers and partners immediately grasp the value of our service: enabling users to easily, intuitively choose within large content libraries and across many channels.”

Pohl also reports that a Tier 1 U.S. cable company is a new customer, and is in process of implementing Jinni features now. “We are in advanced negotiations with an additional Tier 1 cable company,” he adds. “We hope to add to this in the course of the year.”

Miranda iControl

Ideas Galore

The Innovation Showcase also featured a wide variety of other pioneering technologies, mainly revolving around four themes: hardware at the chip level, social networking, TV everywhere, and interactive video. Here’s a rundown of what attendees saw:

• Clearleap (www.clearleap.com) demonstrated an application that it developed with FourthWall Media (www.fourthwallmedia.tv) and The Weather Channel – a proof of concept branded EBIF weather app integrated with video. The unbound app integrates data and graphics to deliver current weather conditions updated every few minutes, and video from on-camera meteorologists to present the local forecast information for multiple U.S. cities. The video, updated twice daily, is available to viewers within minutes of its production, delivering a Web-like experience on TV. Using FourthWall’s ITV development tools and Clearleap’s IP-based video content management and advertising platform, the video is integrated into the application and the operator’s existing VOD infrastructure.

• iLoop Mobile (www.iloopmobile.com) used case studies and a live demo to display turnkey solutions for cable operators that enable mobile marketing for local, regional and national advertisers. The vendor reports that SMS text messaging is available on 97% of phones in use, with 60% of all mobile phone users texting regularly. That’s a big opportunity for MSOs, iLoop thinks, since SMS-based mobile marketing “easily integrates with cable ad schedules, allowing the viewer to instantly interact to receive mobile coupons and promotional offers that convert to measurable in-store traffic and sales.”

The Cable Show, Los Angeles, CA

• IPgallery (www.ipgallery.com) exhibited its advanced multimedia application suite, “My Contacts Zone” – via a personalized end user communications portal. By leveraging the growing communications across social networks, and use of Internet telephony services like Skype/Google Talk, IPgallery says it will provide cable ops with the ability to expand their customer base by “marketing to any customer that has broadband” and deploy new advanced multimedia applications to their embedded base, independent of their current switching or access networks. IPgallery has developed this application suite through the creation of a social networking gateway, with integration across Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, Google Talk and Google Maps.

• Miniweb Interactive (www.miniweb.tv) displayed its Broadband Content Guide and used a hybrid set-top capable of playing both traditional broadcast (DTH, DTT or cable) TV, and Internet video, either over the cable network or the home network. Miniweb’s solution converges any number of Internet video sources into a single TV experience. With Miniweb, MSOs reportedly can provide centralized billing, community, search, recommendations and advertising functions that compliment and work with every online provider that is part of the extended guide.

SCTE Canadian Summit 2010

• Pace Americas (www.pace.com) took on the red-hot topic of multi-room DVRs. The company’s Home Content Sharing Multi-room DVR reportedly pushes the bandwidth limitations of MoCA 1.1 and demonstrates advanced video processing and routing technology through a dedicated high-performance, low power consumption 1200 MIPS network processor. The architecture is said to enable a capacity of nine simultaneous HD streams within the home, including six simultaneous recordings. “With the Pace Home Content Sharing system, every television in the home becomes a fully functioning dual tuner HD-DVR with all the features that subscribers are familiar with,” the company says.

• In the cloud was Related Content Database, also known as RCDb (www.rcdb.net), which currently provides software and network services to the likes of Disney, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Netflix. At the CableLabs Winter Conference, it demonstrated a Java client application that currently powers secure network communications for millions of Blu-ray Disc and connected devices; an enterprise class J2EE server for managing IP-connected device services, content updates and user profiles; and a cloud database service of timecode-based related content metadata for movies and TV programs.

• SeaChange International (www.schange.com) concentrated on multi-screen video delivery via its Intelligent Video Platform. The conference exhibition used the company’s Intelligent Video Platform to show seamless content delivery across three screens – TV, PC and mobile — and focused specifically on the ability to pause/resume across multiple screens. The demo began by showing streaming to the PC. The content then was paused and resumed from the same point on a mobile phone, and again on the TV.

• Trailer Park (www.trailerpark.com) teamed with Jargon Technologies to present a mobile platform using various mobile devices — iPhones, Blackberrys or Androids — to connect to tru2way cable boxes over local home networks to interact with the TV. Instead of using the TV remote, the demo showed how subs could use their phones to guide their cable experiences. For example, they could engage in live voting or find out more info on what’s currently playing on screen. Trailer Park says that the product is not only a mobile application but also a mobile platform that can be extended with ideas from third parties, such as creating interactive mobile/TV advertisements.

• Wowza Media Systems (www.wowzamedia.com) showed off its newest unified media server focused on simplifying video/audio delivery for Web TV, mobile TV and OTT IPTV by eliminating the need for multiple client specific encoder and server infrastructures. The company reports that its media server employs a unified workflow model capable of streaming video from one common H.264 live encode or VOD asset base to a variety of desktop, mobile and living room playback clients from a single server infrastructure. The CableLabs demo showed a simultaneous delivery from one multi-bit rate MPEG-TS live source to multiple players using appropriate transport protocols: Adobe Flash player (RTMP), Microsoft Silverlight player (HTTP smooth streaming), Apple QuickTime player (RTSP), iPhone (HTTP Live Streaming), Android phones and other mobile devices (RTSP/3GP), as well as the IPTV set-top boxes (MPEG-TS).

• Zenverge (www.zenverge.com) explained the technology behind its ZEN-powered single-chip, whole-home DVR and multi-screen solution. Through a RUIV (remote user interface embedded in video), the user interface is virtualized in a central gateway/server and inserted into each video stream. All display devices (including those in the installed base) are said to benefit from the same look and feel without the need for special middleware or application software running on a client set-top or the display device. Additionally, ZEN reportedly enables the gateway to transform all content (live or recorded) to fit the decode and to display capabilities of each screen and the available network bandwidth at any given time. This provisioning also is said to enable the technology to be deployed ubiquitously with all networks including 802.11n, MoCA, HPNA, G.Hn, etc., while lowering and/or eliminating the need for rewiring or adding repeaters, etc. “The total cost of the whole-home/multi-screen solution is thus optimized by significantly reducing the cost of client set-tops or eliminating them altogether, as well as by reducing the cost of whole-home network coverage,” Zenverge reports.

Laura Hamilton is editor-in-chief at BGR. Email her at laura.hamilton@comcast.net.

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Super Bowl – I Won’t Get Fooled Again

By Tim Hermes | Published: February 8, 2010

Ouch. As a music lover, sometimes its hard to admit when a band needs to pack it in. But following the show by half of the Who that is still alive during the Super Bowl halftime (congrats Saints,) I ALMOST wanted to throw the remote through the TV. Now THAT would have been a cool blog – can a plasma screen TV withstand the impact of a four-ounce cable remote? (Speaking of destroying stuff – side note to Pete Townsend – go back to Les Pauls and Marshalls, buddy, that Fender sound is too thin for a single-guitar band.)

So how did my system perform for the big game? Well I ran a test.

1. Kept all TVs on
2. Used my wireless network the whole game
3. As did my son
4. Talked to my Mom during the game for an hour on the landline
5. Watched some Jon Stewart during commercials on the DVR
6. Used my iPhone on the wireless network to update Facebook

Now this might seem run-of-the-mill. But factor this in. Friday and Saturday we had 3 FEET OF SNOW. The heavy wet stuff, not the fluffy pow-pow you Coloradans get. This was cloud-mush that weighed down the utility lines and put 59,000 of my fellow Arlingtonians out of power for several days. Now of course no power means no modem, set-top or TV, which means no service. But in the areas that had power I have not heard of a SINGLE outage due to a fallen cable line. Inside, my ARRIS, CISCO (nee S-A) and Signal Vision gear delivered the goods inside the home. But more importantly all the OSP stuff seemed to prevail as well. All those closures, trunk and feeder cable (shout-out to CommScope who supplies my ‘hood,) amplifiers (MOTOROLA nee GI) et al weathered the storm beautifully. Hey I even made a fake 911 call just to see if I could get through. OK that’s not true.

So, hat’s off to you cable. You played a perfect game.

P.S Note to Jim Caldwell , coach of the Colts: playing a soft-zone defense agains the most accurate arm in the NFC is suicide. You had that game. Better luck next year.

Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.

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Just Why Are Those Trucks Rolling?

By Tim Hermes | Published: February 5, 2010

Sitting here in the office looking out at the street in my little Northern Virginia town – despite being three miles from the nations capital and all the attendant hubbub – not a heck of a lot happens here. In fact the most exciting thing I’ve ever witnessed from my home-office window is the time the neighbor across the street had a tree taken down and a horned owl flew out of it and landed on my roof.

And that was five years ago.

So what do I end up doing when day-dreaming (not that I ever do) while I watch my little neighbor go through its daily machinations? I count white vans. Namely the ones from my local cable provider and that of “the Big V.” Don’t laugh, it’s fun. At least for me. Especially when I see a lot more Big V vans on my street and notice they are spending a LOT more time at the homes they are parked in front of. But are they doing installs, or repairs? Ahhh, that was the big question…until of course I started reading my local neighborhood chat-room posts. And of course when I noticed that these vans from Big V tended to be parked in front of the same houses two, even three times in the span of a few weeks. (As a runner I tend to take the same routes when I run so I notice this stuff.)

Wow. That gave me a clear answer. Big V is rolling a LOT of trucks. The fact that my friend Pat, who switched to Big V in 2007, threw up his hands in frustration and told me he was switching back to cable also gave me a hint.

Meanwhile my happy cable triple-play connection hums along. My phone line always works (ok my son unplugged the modem for his Wii once.) My internet speed is crazy-fast. My picture is always clear, and most importantly I am pretty much guaranteed I’ll have a perfect picture at 6:30 PM Sunday for the Big Game. Now, Saints or Colts? Gotta stay neutral…BGR has advertisers and subscribers in both areas. But let’s hope for a great game won by a field goal in overtime.

Thanks to my provider, I am pretty much guaranteed I’ll see the game.

Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.

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Product News: February 4th, 2009

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

Editor’s note: We’re always looking to improve the BGR reader experience, so we’d appreciate your candid opinions about what we’re doing right, and what you think we need to pay more attention to. Tell us what you think by participating in our short reader survey.

BigBand Double-Density BEQ6200 8:1 QAM Now Available

BigBand Networks BEQ6200

BigBand Networks BEQ6200

BigBand Networks (www.bigbandnet.com) announced commercial availability of its double density BEQ6200 8:1 QAM, which the vendor says gives ops twice the capacity to address the growing bandwidth demands at the edge of the network where rack space is at premium.

“We’re at a tipping point in terms of bandwidth congestion at the network edge. As new applications such as high definition content, niche programming and time-shifted TV come online, congestion at the edge of the network demands denser and more cost efficient QAM platforms,” David W. Heard, COO at BigBand, says. “With our continued investment in QAM technology, we can now offer service providers the density they need paired with the manageability and lower cost of ownership.”

The BEQ6200 is BigBand’s fourth generation 1.5 RU edge QAM and increases density to 96 QAMS per chassis. It features 8:1 up-conversion and is directly stackable for improved hub operational efficiency. The BEQ6200 operates with BigBand’s VMS 4.3 to support configuration and management.

Vecima

Jones/NCTI Launches Broadband Opportunity Learning Development Program

Jones NCTIJones/NCTI (www.jonesncti.com) recently launched its Broadband Opportunity Learning Development (BOLD) Program, which is designed to provide underserved and displaced workers, as well as at-risk inner city students, with workforce job training that will allow for entry into career opportunities in cable and broadband.

In launching the BOLD program at Montbello High School in Denver, Jones/NCTI is partnering with The Urban League of Metropolitan Denver, Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op (Hope Online) and TUFF SHED.

Beginning this year, selected students from Montbello will begin taking the Jones/NCTI Installer Qualification (IQ) Program, the same industry-recognized online course used by major cable operators and independent contractor agencies nationwide. Upon completion of each online course, the student will undergo a hands-on assessment using the BOLD Program’s official Hands on Training (HOT) House, a scaled version of a typical residence, provided by TUFF SHED. The HOT House provides students with the hands-on training needed to perform broadband installations in a true residential setting. An industry “tool kit’’ has been provided by ARRIS at a reduced rate.

Upon completion of the program, the student is awarded industry recognized certification and college credit. The opportunity for job placement will be determined by the hiring company and community leaders through the outreach and job placement programs provided by Hope Online and The Urban League of Metropolitan Denver.

Bigband

SeaChange to Display Set-Top, Mobile Phone and PC Video Place-Shifting at CableLabs Conference

SeaChangeAt the CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) Winter Conference in Denver next week, SeaChange International (www.seachangeinternational.com) will demonstrate how cable operators can create seamless subscriber experiences across televisions, broadband-connected PCs and smartphones including Apple’s iPhone. The company will demonstrate its Intelligent Video Platform as part of the Innovation Showcase kickoff and during the main conference. The Intelligent Video Platform is the open SeaChange Axiom on Demand-based software solution for seamless place-shifting across any consumer video device.

SeaChange’s Winter Conference representation will include VividLogic Inc., the recent SeaChange acquisition whose in-home products include tru2way and Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) software solutions for TV operators and manufacturers of set-tops and consumer electronics.

Megger

SCTE Launches Major New Green Initiative

SCTE SEMISCTE (www.scte.org) announced a new initiative designed to help cable operators to leverage the financial and environmental advantages of implementing “green” strategies. The Smart Energy Management Initiative (SEMI) is intended to drive the creation of meaningful solutions for more efficient operations and economic benefit, as well as positive community impact. SCTE has targeted several key areas, including Energy Management processes and products that can reduce current operational costs; Renewable Energy technologies that can benefit operators with ROIs of three-to-seven years; and Recycling and Recovery techniques that can minimize the disposal effects of outdated equipment.

The initial agenda for 2010 and beyond includes multiple forums to raise awareness of developing solutions and how they apply to cable operations; an intensive research and thought leadership program; expanded panels and exhibit platforms at Cable-Tec Expo and other SCTE events; development of best practices in the area of energy management; and practical technology demonstrations.

SCTE will host the first of several 2010 SEMI events in March at the Comcast Center in Philadelphia. The agenda is expected to include a variety of topics, such as development of a process for calculating baseline energy usage; updates on alternative heating and cooling solutions; and approaches to reduce outside plant powering costs and consumption. An inaugural forum in December 2009 addressed facility powering issues and the industrywide need for, and benefits of, comprehensive energy management plans.

The Society established an e-mail address – energy@scte.org – specifically for SEMI program inquiries and input, and plans to create additional vehicles for the collection and communication of information. SCTE anticipates that the collaboration will result in case studies, demonstration projects and standards-based solutions that will positively impact the bottom lines and public images of cable system operators.

BGR Reader Survey

Incognito to Demo IPv6 Management Capabilities at CableLabs Confab

Incognito Software LogoIncognito Software (www.incognito.com) announced the addition of CALEA reporting to its Address Commander software. A live demonstration of this capability, along with IPv6 planning and management capabilities, will be held at the CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) Winter Conference 2010 in Denver next week.

Address Commander, Incognito’s carrier-grade IP address management software, supports the planning, management and reporting of IPv4 and IPv6 dual stack network resources, and now also supports CALEA reporting for law enforcement compliance. Address Commander can also be integrated with DHCP solutions enabling it to automatically capture DHCP scope configurations of regional deployments and detect problematic DHCP configurations.

The Cable Show, Los Angeles, CA

SageQuest Unveils Mobile Control’s New Control Center

SageQuestSageQuest (www.sage-quest.com) announced an addition to its Mobile Control GPS vehicle tracking solution with the release of Control Center, which provides proactive analysis of vehicle activity.

Using GPS vehicle activity data, Control Center calculates a variety of performance metrics for all drivers, vehicles and even divisions within a fleet. Individual performance is ranked against company defined benchmarks. These rankings visually highlight specific opportunities to improve performance regardless of whether they are captured by exception reporting. With a single click, customers can drill down to view driver scorecards or detailed activity reports. This drill-down supports managers’ and executives’ need to quickly identify the specific factors driving best practices or bad performance.

SCTE Canadian Summit 2010

Cisco Teams with itaas for Enhancements to SARA EPG

itaas, Inc. (www.itaas.com) announced an agreement that designates itaas as the source for ongoing enhancements and support for the existing Scientific-Atlanta Resident Application (SARA) viewing guide for Cisco’s (www.cisco.com) Explorer set-top platform. itaas will provide feature updates and product enhancements desired by Cisco as well as those requested directly to itaas by MSOs.

Feature updates to the SARA guide will be guided by the Cisco product teams and software releases will still undergo System Verification and Testing (SVT) in the Cisco labs prior to release. This stringent testing process will also be required for enhancements to the guide that are developed by itaas at the direct request of MSOs.

Aurora Snags ISO 9001:2008 Certification

Aurora NetworksAurora Networks (www.auroa.com) recently received ISO 9001:2008 Certification. The ISO 9001:2008 standard outlines requirements and provides guidance on good quality management systems for businesses and other organizations. Companies that achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification have demonstrated to independent auditors that their quality management system consistently provides products and services that meet customer needs.

For more info on the ISO Management Standards, visit www.iso.org/iso/management_standards.htm.

• Artel Video Systems (www.artel.com), in cooperation with Media Links Inc., completed an interoperability test between DL4000 and MD8000 video transport platforms. The test included operation between Artel’s DLC300, DLC170AD, DLC170DA and DLC270 modules and Media Links’ MD8000-VIF. In addition to SD-SDI, DVB-ASI, HD-SDI, and ATSC, the DL4000 enables the transport of composite NTSC or PAL analog video over Media Links IP and SONET networks.

• Vecima Networks (www.vecima.com) signed a multi-year worldwide supply agreement with a major networking company to private label and exclusively sell a platform providing secure HD video. Vecima will retain the rights to sell the platform directly to a single leading U.S. MSO. The new cable network product is designed to provide cable operators with technology delivering HD digital video streams in a secure format connecting directly to newer flat panel TVs, eliminating the need for an additional digital set-top.

• EchoStar Satellite Services (www.echostar.com) announced that Mega Hertz (www.go2mhz.com) joined the ViP-TV Reseller Program. As a reseller, Mega Hertz will market the ViP-TV transport solution to cable systems and telcos seeking an IPTV solution for popular video and audio channels, including high definition.

• Ixia (www.ixiacom.com) made available what it says is the world’s first solution for HDMI Ethernet Channel networking test. By combining Ixia’s IxN2X traffic generator and Agilent’s (www.agilent.com) HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC) and Audio Return Channel (ARC) physical layer test solution, the two companies become the first to offer a complete solution for testing devices according to the HDMI 1.4 Compliance Test Specification (CTS), Supplement 2.

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Malone Named to Ascent Media’s Board of Directors

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

John Malone has joined Ascent Media Corp.’s (www.ascentmedia.com) Board of Directors. With Malone’s appointment, Ascent Media has expanded its board to seven members.

Posted in Playing Field | Comments closed

SeaChange Appoints Dabaghi GM of Middle East Regional Sales

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

SeaChange International (www.seachangeinternational.com) appointed Georges Dabaghi to the new position of general manager to oversee Middle East regional sales and market development for its content management subsidiary, On Demand Group Ltd. Dabaghi will establish a Middle East base office in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates.

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SMC Networks Promotes Keever to Director of Strategic Accounts

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

SMC Networks (www.smc.com) promoted Jason Keever to director, strategic accounts. He will be primarily working with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House, Cablevision and Cox.

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Singh of Rogers Named Young Canadian Engineering Professional of 2010

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

Sandip Singh

SCTE (www.scte.org) announced that Sandip Singh of Rogers is the 2010 honoree of the Young Canadian Engineering Professional of the Year Award. The second annual award recognizes outstanding technical achievements and contributions made to the advancement of the cable industry by a young Canadian engineering professional.

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Harris Named a Director at SCTE

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010
Steve Harris

Steve Harris

Steve Harris, a veteran trainer and network administrator, was named director, advanced network technologies program development by SCTE (www.scte.org). Most recently, he was with Comcast University.

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BigBand Networks Ships Over 700,000 QAMs

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

BigBand Networks recently announced that it has shipped 700,000 QAMs shipped to over 60 service providers worldwide over the life of its edge QAM platforms.

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Motorola Announces 100 Million Digital Entertainment Devices Shipped

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

Motorola (www.motorola.com) announced that its Home and Networks Mobility business has shipped 100 million digital entertainment devices. “With over 100 million unit shipments, Motorola’s digital entertainment devices are the most widely deployed in the world,” Mike Paxton, principal analyst with In-Stat, reports.

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Telnet Standardizes on Sunrise Telecom for Field Techs

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

Sunrise Telecom CM2800E

Telenet, Belgium’s largest MSO, has standardized on Sunrise Telecom’s (www.sunrisetelecom.com) CM2800E for its cable services field techs. The solution combines non-intrusive, high-resolution sweep and triple-play services, including video, cable modem and VoIP analysis in one instrument

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Cablevision Monterrey Offers 50 Mbps Cable Internet Service

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

Cablevision Monterrey in Mexico is now offering cable Internet broadband service with an ultrafast downstream transmission rate of 50 megabits per second. The 50 Mbps connection is based on Cisco (www.cisco.com) technology.

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Cox Selects Syniverse for CDMA Mobile Voice Network

By bgrstaff | Published: February 3, 2010

Syniverse Technologies (www.syniverse.com) was selected by Cox to support the operator’s CDMA mobile voice network. With this new deal, Syniverse will provide a broad suite of mobile messaging, roaming and network solutions. Syniverse also will continue to support Cox’s SS7 class services.

Posted in Deployments | Comments closed
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  • Tim's Blog

    • Taking a World View Tim Hermes, BGR CEO

      Can it be True? Well, can it?
      A press release hit my in-box March 1 where UK-based STB provider PACE announced it was now the second largest set-top provider in the world. Wow. I woulda never guessed it because in my usual way of thinking, if its not used primarily in a US system it [...]