Beijing Gehua Cable TV Network (Gehua Cable) picked BigBand’s (www.bigbandnetworks.com) edge QAM BEQ platform to deliver its new interactive HDTV and broadband internet services. Gehua Cable operates the broadcasting and cable TV network as well as reception and transmission of broadcasting and cable TV programs within the Beijing municipal area. The large-scale cable network covers all 18 districts and transmits more than 100 channels to 3.2 million people.
Alcatel-Lucent Selected by ZON Multimedia
Alcatel-Lucent (www.alcatel-lucent.com) was selected by ZON Multimedia in Portugal, to supply the active equipments necessary for the deployment of a GPON-based FTTH architecture that will support the delivery of a range of services such as advanced high-definition television (HDTV) services, VoIP and VOD. ZON Multimedia will leverage Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON platform in new expansion areas and in a network development environment where HFC/FTTH technologies coexist.
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Cablevision Announces New PC to TV Media Relay
Cablevision announced the development of a new PC to TV Media Relay, which reportedly will allow digital cable subs to relay whatever information or images currently appear on their computer screen to their TV in real-time, without any additional equipment in the home. The MSO describes it this way: “This innovative service will allow Cablevision customers, with the press of a button, to transfer anything available for display on their PC, whether the information is stored on their PC, transferred from a drive or accessible on the Web, to the television for viewing on a dedicated channel that is accessible only by that customer.” The op says it plans to begin a technical trial of PC to TV Media Relay for the PC by June 2010.
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Comcast Releases Updated iPhone App
Comcast's New iPhone App
Comcast released a new version of its Comcast Mobile application, which now includes a remote DVR programming service (rDVR) that is being rolled out across the country. With the Comcast Mobile app 2.0, subs can program their DVR “at any time, from anywhere.” Comcast Mobile, the free downloadable app now available for the iPhone or iPod touch, serves as a single access point to some of Comcast’s most popular services including Comcast.net email; visual voice mail, which enables customers to view and select which voice mail messages they want to hear; address book sync; real-time TV listings and trailers of on-demand movies.
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Product News for March 4, 2010
Innovation Showcase a Centerpiece at Canadian Summit
SCTE (www.scte.org) will host its first Innovation Showcase March 9 in conjunction with its Canadian Summit in Toronto. The following vendors will participate in the inaugural Showcase:
ARRIS (www.arrisi.com) will show its Moxi whole home media solution featuring the Moxi HD DVR, Moxi Mate multi-room players and Moxi Portal, and will showcase the ability to time- and place-shift digital content throughout the home- Kindsight (www.kindsight.net) will demonstrate how its paid and no-cost/ad-funded services can provide identity theft protection for broadband subscribers and a revenue opportunity for operators
- Motorola (www.motorola.com) will demonstrate how its solutions enable the delivery of personal media experiences
- Sandvine (www.sandvine.com) will show how its latest technology can help service providers deliver transparent differentiated usage management policies to their customers
- Vecima (www.vecima.com) will showcase how its Terrace MDU gateway reclaims analog bandwidth to the outer edge of the cable network, including MDUs and household service groups, and enables the transition to all-digital operation
ARRIS Completes Testing of Digital Ad Splicing
ARRIS (www.arrisi.com) announced that it completed interoperability testing for the EGT VIPr ad splicing solution with its ConvergeMedia SkyVision digital advertising system, as well as with other ad system suppliers. According to ARRIS, these interoperability tests validate that the EGT VIPr ad splicer supports cable operator dynamic ad insertion in full compliance with the SCTE 30 and 35 specifications.
In addition to ad splicing capabilities, the EGT VIPr can rate-shape the video traffic while maintaining the highest video quality through a unique, patent-pending, encoding capability called “Intelligent Recode.” This feature provides full program decode and re-encode, closed loop Statistical Multiplexing, SD and HD programming.
Current rate-shapers typically have limitations on the amount of bit rate reduction before causing video degradation. The EGT VIPr is said to not suffer from such high bit-rate video limitations. It reportedly can routinely process high bit-rate video while preserving the best possible video quality for both the program content and the actual ads being spliced.
Clearfield Gets Clear on Fiber Protection
Clearfield (www.clearfieldconnection.com) recently rolled out its Clearview xPAK cassette. xPAK unfolds to a flat, single piece element in which all required components for fiber protection are integrated.
“When landing small port count fiber, we went back to the field and asked broadband service providers what they needed,” Johnny Hill, Clearfield’s COO says. “They told us they had the highest standards for fiber protection and reliability – but deployment needed to be fast, intuitive, small count and small form factor. And the product needed to be so inexpensive, that techs could conveniently keep small lot counts in their trucks and deploy as service calls were scheduled.”
“We get into a lot of buildings that were built more than 100 years ago, and the communications space inside those buildings is a premium,” explains Alan Shaw of Time Warner Cable’s Business Class team. “As we bring business class services to these tight spaces, Clearfield’s xPAK design delivers the functionality we need.”
Infinera to Show Off New ATN Metro Platform
Infinera (www.infinera.com) will showcase its new ATN metro edge platform at the SCTE (www.scte.org) Canadian Summit in Toronto. The ATN platform is designed to interwork with Infinera’s DTN platform to provide point-and-click services across a cable network.
The Infinera DTN is a digital ROADM based on large-scale photonic integration. With the new ATN platform, Infinera says it offers an end-to-end solution providing scalable optical transport from the metro edge through regional networks and across the national backbone. The ATN has been deployed by service providers in the U.S. and Europe, including one of the top five U.S. cable operators. Infinera also reports that the DTN is already widely deployed by MSOs, including all of the top five U.S. cable operators.
The Infinera ATN will be on display at the Canadian confab, along with a 3D interactive virtual screen that will allow visitors to view the Infinera platforms from any angle and “fly” inside the system to explore the components and product architecture.
Antronix Rolls Out MoCA Product Family
At the SCTE (www.scte.org) Canadian Summit, Antronix (www.antronix.net) will showcase a new line of products specifically designed to address applications in the MoCA pass band from 1,125 to 1,525 MHz. All enable the deployment of services over a MoCA compliant backbone, while maintaining performance in the legacy band.
Three MoCA product lines will be on display:
- Blocking filters – Installed at the point of entry, these devices are designed to keep MoCA signals within the residence. They offer the dual benefit of minimizing MoCA signals from appearing on the outside plant while preventing interference between homes that employ MoCA technology. Constructed with a solid brass, nickel-plated housing, the unit is suitable for outdoor installations.
- Splitters – Included is a full line of splitters, optimized for use in the MoCA band from 1,125 to 1,525 MHz, while continuing to provide excellent performance in the legacy band. All offer 6 kV surge protection and SCTE compliant F ports.
- Residential amplifiers – A feature selectable family of amplifiers geared to address end user topologies and applications. Available configurations include internal isolation filters, triplexers for MoCA signal bypassing and forward and return gain selections. An all ports down housing reportedly allows for ease of installation.
In related news, Antronix also announced two new VoIP residential amplifiers: the VRA50, a five-port device featuring a passive VoIP port and four amplified output ports with unity gain in the forward direction and passive return; and the VRA900, a nine-port device featuring a passive VoIP port and eight amplified output ports with unity gain in the forward and return directions.
Both offer a passive VoIP port providing for reliable service, even when power to the amplifier is disrupted, according to the company. These amplifiers employ the Antronix patented CamPort auto seizing F-port, ensuring maximum contact area and reliability for multimedia applications. The all ports down configuration allows for ease of installation in a NID enclosure.
Jones/NCTI Takes Aim at Contact Center Profitability with New Tool
Jones/NCTI (www.jonesncti.com) unveiled the LogiCALL Smart Path, a decision tree methodology screen guide that directs contact center agents through a series of questions and answers, enabling them to resolve customer inquiries and issues in a more effective and timely manner.
Accessed through an agent’s desktop, Jones NCTI says the LogiCALL Smart Path provides the tools necessary to enable agents to make better real-time decisions in resolving problems, while standardizing and ensuring accurate resolutions across the organization. It eliminates the time and expense of incorrect diagnoses and miscommunications while reducing the length of call times by keeping the call more focused, the company reports.
In addition, Smart Path’s administration screen allows company administrators to create and edit text, modify fonts, insert links and manage processes, including billing, sales and troubleshooting flows. It also can integrate with other applications currently used by employees.
Features include:
- Session ID: Captures the slides viewed by an agent on each call
- History Navigation: Displays each slide viewed during the current session
- Information Aids: Presents agents with easy access to documents and other helpful resources
- Session Notes: Provides agents the ability to record information about a specific session
BigBand Outlines Centralized IP Video
BigBand Networks (www.bigbandnetworks.com) says it will discuss the cable’s evolution to a centralized IP video delivery system where video is video, regardless of its destination and can be delivered seamlessly to multiple platforms at the SCTE (www.scte.org) Canadian Summit 2010, March 9-10, 2010, in Toronto.
As part of the company’s participation, Jay Chambers, principal engineer for BigBand Networks, will present his paper, Challenges in Migrating Cable Networks to IPTV, during the session, IPTV—Enabling Next-Gen Service Delivery on March 10. Chambers will discuss the evolution of today’s networks into a centralized IP video delivery system and dig into specific technologies that are needed today to help bridge the migration to full IP networks using DOCSIS 3.0. He will also consider a variety of technical considerations including platform selection, bandwidth availability, edge QAM technology, in-home equipment strategy, personalization and implementation.
EBIF-Enabled TV Caller ID Application is Ready for Commercial Launch by Ops Using HITS AxIS
MediaFriends (www.mediafriendsinc.com) and HITS announced that an EBIF-enabled MediaFriends’ TV Caller ID application is now available for commercial launch by cable systems using the HITS Advanced Interactive Services (AxIS) product suite to offer ITV applications. The HITS AxIS centralized service model supports the development, launch and operation of interactive applications using the enhanced TV (ETV) and Tru2way architectures and provides cable operators, programmers and application developers an efficient and cost-effective entry into the ITV market.
MediaFriends’ TV Caller ID is an EBIF-enabled ITV application that delivers personalized caller ID notifications with on-screen call logs to multiple TVs in a home and is fully controlled by the user. MediaFriends enables users to personalize caller ID notifications with nicknames and send them to multiple TVs and PCs in the home. HITS is also working with MediaFriends on field-testing their EBIF-enabled Social TV application – MediaFriends Chat.
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V+V+D =$
Tim Hermes, BGR CEO
If I understand correctly cable operators get their revenue in two key ways – subscriber revenue through monthly service fees, and local and online ad revenue (my provider does an excellent job on their portal and is my default page for news, information and all things Britney – and I often click on the Expedia ads to see the latest $100 flights).
The big question? Which of the triple play services has the highest profit margin. Not top-line, as I am sure video has that because of tiered sales and ad revenue. I’m talking pure margin percentage – costs vs. revenue. Voice? Video? Or data? Here at the Hermes Compound, we have triple play from one of the Big Boys. And a glance at my latest bill shows an even split between TV and voice of about $62 and about 20 bucks higher split for internet, however we have two modems serving the office and the outside Man-Cave my son has dubbed “the Fort,” so internet is really about 20 bills less.
So…where’s the highest margin? While I doubt an op will come right out and say it, I am going with Internet service. Hey, the net is free. People want speed, and are willing to pay for it. Opening the pipe up can’t be too hard if you have the right gear for it, and as long as the coax in the home is sound and delivering. Now the downside of course is the back-end support help but with practically every state-level university cranking out IT grads like a 1920’s Henry Ford assembly line, my guess is that the average age – and salary – of the local cable troubleshooter answering the phone once you go through the 30 prompts is probably one-sixth their IQ. These are smart kids, and every time I have had an issue they have gotten to the bottom of it. And if not, the outsourced Indian contingent can usually nail it.
Now phone? Basically the same thing. However it seems phone problems require more truck rolls and aren’t as often serviced over the phone but in person. That’s gotta add up in man-hours, insurance, overtime, fleet upkeep. But the add-on features – call waiting, caller ID, additional lines, enhanced voice mail…all set up at the touch of a button also create a recurring line item on the invoice. And while I still can’t figure out how to delete a voice mail without listening all the way through the call, I’m pretty happy with my voice service too and will keep using it.
So where are the bucks being made? Which of the Triple Play is really “Triple Pay?”
The answer is, probably, all three. The guys running these systems are uber-smart for the most part and had this knocked years ago. Me? I’m just barely keeping up. But it’s fun to think about,. And for the record? I’m guessing “internet.”
Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.
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Editor’s Letter – The Big Gig
Laura Hamilton
Google certainly got the buzz machine humming a couple weeks ago with its announcement that it plans to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. As you’ve no doubt heard, the company says it plans to deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, FTTH connections.
“We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people,” Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly, Google product managers, posted in a blog.
What that competitive price ends up being obviously remains to be seen. Sure, downloading a high-def, full-length feature film in less than five minutes or watching a 3D video of a university lecture would be very cool, but what will subscribers in the real world, beyond trials, actually pay on a regular basis to do that? While Google was careful to stress that what it wants to do is “experiment” and “trial,” it’s hard to imagine other service providers quickly jumping on any kind of ultra high-speed bandwagon if consumers don’t show a willingness to open their wallets to ensure a solid ROI.
Subs invariably want faster and faster speeds. But paying for that is sometimes another matter. One way of gauging this is to check out the blogosphere right after a major rollout by a cable op of DOCSIS 3.0. Often, bloggers will wax poetic about the new wideband speeds they’re being offered, but many will complain openly about the additional price tag.
But pricing issues aside, Google’s plan to test new ways to build fiber networks is going to be fascinating to watch. And the lessons learned will be a great benefit to cable operators — who’ll most certainly be at the forefront when the real-world ultra high-speed evolution ensues.
Laura Hamilton is editor-in-chief at BGR. Email her at laura.hamilton@comcast.net.
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Consumers Name Cost as Major High-Speed Data Hurdle
Cost is the major barrier that is keeping people who haven’t already taken up high-speed data services from doing so, according to recent data from the FCC (www.fcc.gov). The Commission just released the results of a national random survey it conducted of adults in October and November 2009 to assess attitudes toward broadband. The survey found that 35% of adult Americans do not have high-speed Internet connections at home — or approximately 80 million adults and 13 million children over the age of five.
More than a third — 36 percent of non-adopters, or 28 million adults — said they do not have home broadband because they feel the monthly fee is too expensive (15%), they cannot afford a computer, the installation fee is too high (10%), or they do not want to enter into a long-term service contract (9%).
The FCC survey also indicated that digital literacy problems as well as some people’s belief that high-speed data services lacked relevance to their lives were major stumbling blocks to high-speed data adoption.
NCTA (www.ncta.com) President and CEO Kyle McSlarrow responded to the FCC’s “Broadband Adoption and Use in America” survey results by pointing out that major cable operators recently proposed an “Adoption Plus” broadband program targeted at millions of middle-school students from low-income families that would combine discounted service and equipment with digital literacy training. “We are committed to working with the FCC and other stakeholders on ‘A+’ or other similar programs that attack the key barriers to broadband adoption, and support efforts in Congress by Sen. Rockefeller and Reps. Markey and Matsui to increase broadband adoption among low-income families,” McSlarrow said in a statement.
The FCC released the survey results as a lead-up to its planned delivery of a National Broadband Plan to Congress on March 17.
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Cable Show Engineering Preview
Network architecture, operational efficiencies and advanced hardware and software services will take center stage at this year’s 2010 Spring Technical Forum, co-hosted by SCTE (www.scte.org), CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) and NCTA (www.ncta.com). The confab – which includes SCTE’s Conference on Emerging Technologies and NCTA’s annual Technical Papers program – will take place during the Cable Show 2010, May 11-13 in Los Angeles.
Nearly 30 authors will present the highlights of their technical papers in one of the following sessions:
- Bit Players: Data, Software and the Cable Evolution
- Generation Next: Inventing the Access Networks of Tomorrow
- An Education in EBIF: Advancing Cable’s ITV Foundation
- Cloudy, With a Chance of Breakthrough: New Models for IP Service Delivery
- Quest for Quality: Optimization Approaches for the Digital Era
- Depth Perceptions: Technical Approaches for 3D Video Integration
- Capacity for Change: Capacity Expansion in Theory and in Practice
The multi-day conference will feature a series of panels including a strategic view of cable’s technology future from the industry’s chief technical leadership; practical approaches to improved energy efficiency and cost savings associated with alternative energies and best practices; and a customized view of the entire cable technology ecosystem geared for the local West Coast engineering community.
For more info, visit www.thecableshow.com.
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3DTV and Me (and you, and whoever else has it)
Tim Hermes, BGR CEO
Car keys. That’s what I think about when I think of 3DTV.
Go with me on this.
I can NEVER find my car keys (or phone, or wallet, or sunglasses) when i need them. It’s a source of constant embarrassment for me. How can a silly little piece of metal ruin my day so often? Doesn’t matter…it does. And when it does, it can really stink. And I can’t help but think about car keys when I think about the hoopla around 3DTV. 3DTV is going to happen – and pretty quick. As soon as the compression issues get smoothed out (no pun intended) the STBs can handle it, and the bandwidth gets cranked up to accept 1080p60, then I’m sure the trials will start to roll. And Quixel says a solid majority of cable consumers wants 3D channels through their systems. Me too, if…
…I can find my 3D glasses.
Imagine it’s 2012. You’re a family of four and you’re ready to watch Avatar 2 in 3D on pay-per-view through your local provider. Now the popcorn is ready, everyone’s in their favorite seat, and you realize you are missing a pair of 3D glasses so only three of the four of you can see the 3D . Where can you get more? Will your provider be mailing you an extra pair or two every month with your invoice, that you carefully nest in a drawer by the phone next to the magnets for the vet and the Chinese menus? Will the 7-11 around the corner have them on sale for $.99/each?
Here’s the thing…if my entire “viewing group” can’t get the whole 3D experience because we are missing a pair of 3D glasses probably made for eleven cents in China, I can pretty much guarantee we’ll rent a different 2D movie everyone can enjoy. And the way my household misplaces things like hats, gloves, remotes, and offspring, losing a pair or two of 3D glasses can easily mean us putting “Pirates of the Caribbean 8 – Return to Cleveland” into the DVD player. This could really be a big deal-breaker for a lot of consumers. So full-time 3D channels, that bank on ad revenue or premium -tier revenue need to start thinking this through – will the “aftermarket” take care of this – like so many companies have done capitalizing on the iPhone accessory craze? Doubtful. This is a commodity buy…but the bottom line is that until this very-real issue gets resolved so the system is delivering the gear – both for the TV and for your eyes – 3DTV will still be a few years away.
Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.
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Product News: February 18th, 2010
CableLabs and Canoe Complete New EBIF Spec
CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) and Canoe Ventures (www.canoe-ventures.com) completed the latest EBIF spec. This new version (I06) features functionality developed to meet competitive interactive television market requirements and will widen the range of EBIF-enhanced programming, advertising and applications.
In related news, Canoe and CableLabs announced a partnership between Canoe Ventures’ new Innovation Lab and CableLabs’ AdLab, as part of their ongoing collaboration to support the development and deployment of new advanced advertising technologies and services.
The first test of the new environment will prototype and evaluate the technologies required for an end-to-endinfrastructure based on SCTE 130 standards. This prototype-only environment was developed with the participation of Cisco, OpenTV, Ericsson, Motorola and This Technology, LLC. Canoe and CableLabs plan to work with other SCTE 130, OpenCable and EBIF-compliant technology and service providers for additional testing and prototyping projects moving forward.
The SCTE 130 standard is a multipart specification that defines how advertising-placement servers (ad decisions systems or ADS) communicate with video-delivery equipment (ad managers or ADM). It supports a unified platform for dynamic, addressable, and interactive ad insertion, while merging inventory metadata (placement opportunity information or POIS), content metadata (CIS), and subscriber metadata (SIS). Canoe and CableLabs are creating an environment emulating a Canoe hosted national network ADS capable of interacting with distributed MSO SCTE 130-compliant systems. CableLabs and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers hosted an interoperability event at CableLabs’ headquarters November 9-13, 2009 to focus on SCTE 130. It was the industry’s largest and most comprehensive Advanced Advertising Interop to date, with 24 companies participating.
Mixed Signals Shows Off Loudness Capabilities
Mixed Signals (www.mixedsignals.com) demonstrated the advanced audio monitoring capabilities of its Sentry digital content monitoring solution at the recent CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) Winter Meeting. Mixed Signals reports that it worked closely with major TV leaders to create its audio monitoring solution, which enables ops to identify loudness issues in programming and commercials, giving them the information necessary to fix volume changes that occur during channel changes and when commercials run.
The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act has already been approved by the House of Representatives and is now with the Senate, where passage is expected. Unless the industry can implement a viable solution for addressing loud commercials, it is feared that Congress will task the FCC with specifying a solution that operators must adopt regardless of cost or complexity.
Mixed Signals reports that it has upgraded Sentry specifically for monitoring audio level issues in the multichannel cable environment. Complementing its existing ability to continually monitor hundreds of channels simultaneously, Sentry now supports the ITU-R BS.1770 audio specification for monitoring program loudness. Developed by the ITU, the BS.1770 specification is shortly expected to be adopted by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) here in the U.S., which in turn will lead to its use by broadcasters and then cable and other multichannel video service providers. Mixed Signals reports that operators already using Sentrys can easily add support for BS.1770 via a software upgrade.
BigBand Goes Big on IP Video Delivery at CableLabs Confab
Among BigBand Networks’ (www.bigbandnet.com) demonstrations at the recent CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) Winter Conference in Denver were the following:
- Delivery of IP video to multiple screen and devices leveraging existing network infrastructure
- CVEx Converged Video Exchange — a software control plane that reportedly helps ops deliver both RF and IP-based video services across the network edge
- vIP PASS — a video solution designed to help ops capitalize on existing infrastructure with a delivery of video services to a range of IP devices via DOCSIS 3.0 modems
- QAM innovation that reportedly solves bandwidth needs at the edge of the network and integrates with video delivery platforms:
- The company’s universal edge QAM platform, which includes BigBand’s double density BEQ6200 8:1 QAM and BEQ6000 QAM
Ericsson Combines Optical Transport and Packet Technology
Ericsson (www.ericsson.com) announced the newest member of its OMS 1400 family, the OMS 1460, which is said to enable operators to evolve their current TDM networks to high capacity and low-cost packet-based networks and is specifically optimized for the metro packet transport.
Ericsson says that the business reality for many operators is related to the fact that the growth of high-speed packet-based services is coming during a time when revenues are not increasing at the same rate. So they strive to cultivate the efficiency of each network layer in order to minimize costs. For this reason, and to be more in-tune with the new IP services, there is a general migration to packet-based networking.
For its own migration, the transport network welcomes new functionality such as the transport profile of MPLS and Ethernet ring protection, while other technologies like WDM, ROADM and OTN play an important role in ensuring ever increasingly more cost-effective, high bandwidth networking. All features mentioned here appear as modular options on the OMS 1460. The company reports that the OMS 1460 will be commercially available within a year.
Rovi, FourthWall Collaborate on Enhanced TV
FourthWall Media (www.fourthwallmedia.tv) and Rovi (www.rovicorp.com) signed an agreement to offer an Enhanced Television (ETV) solution to many of Rovi’s Interactive Program Guide customers throughout North and South America. In 2010, Rovi will offer an integrated ETV Platform, including FourthWall Media’s EBIF User Agent, ETV Server, and TV Widgets as part of Rovi’s guide solutions.
Under the agreement, Rovi will make available seamlessly through its guides an initial set of pre-integrated TV Widgets from FourthWall. These include eBay on TV, Yellow Pages on TV, News, Weather, and numerous Sports widgets for nearly every major league, team and college. Each TV Widget can be hyper-personalized turning the television into an interactive, tailored experience for the viewer. In addition, the integrated solution will enable service providers to launch new EBIF applications developed by third-parties.
Active Broadband Displays App Based on D3 IP Detail Records
Active Broadband Networks (www.a-bb.net) recently demonstrated what the company calls “the first DOCSIS 3.0 IPDR collector and the first application using the new DOCSIS 3.0 IPDR capabilities,” the Subscriber Experience Manager.
Active Broadband Networks demonstrated a beta version of the Active Resource Manager Subscriber Experience Manager at the CableLabs (www.cablelabs.com) Winter Conference held earlier this month in Denver. The Subscriber Experience Manager is said to leverage new information provided by IPDR to profile network conditions and subscriber usage identifying periods where subscriber experience is impacted. The Subscriber Experience Manager then computes experience in the form of bandwidth supplied, demand served and interface delay. The solution reportedly offers increased visibility into the impact of network congestion to manage customer satisfaction and network capacity.
Active Broadband Networks is also announcing the availability of Active Resource Manager Release 4.2. This release is said to add new business intelligence style dashboards and reporting, a Web services interface with more than 60 queries that can be used to integrate accurate IPDR information with existing operational applications and updated system management capabilities including a new Command Line Interface.
DVEO Ships New MPEG-2 to H.264 Transcoders
DVEO (www.dveo.com) is shipping three new Linux-based MPEG-2 to H 264 transcoders. The MPEG Gearbox is the company’s new family of Linux-based MPEG-2 to H 264 transcoders or MPEG-2 to MPEG-2 scalers for the IPTV and cable industries.
Three systems are available: ASI to IP, ASI to ASI, and IP to IP. Each system transcodes one HD (720p) stream or two SD streams into H.264 and outputs the streams over ASI or IP. The MPEG Gearbox ASI/IP can also receive 1 to 4+ MPEG-2 channels and output them to a dedicated IP network as MPEG-2 streams. Audio support is MPEG and AAC (MPEG-4).
• Motorola Ventures participated in financing for Zenverge (www.zenverge.com). The financing will support production of a family of single-chip media ICs based on the Zenverge Entertainment Nexus (ZEN), a new architecture for digital HD convergence.
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SCTE Foundation Announces Grants
The 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
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
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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Synacor Platform Enables 9m Subs for Olympics
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
Cablevision 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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MTV Networks Int’l Orders Miranda Viewers
Miranda Technologies (www.miranda.com) reports that MTV Networks International, Amsterdam (MTVNI Amsterdam) has ordered two Kaleido-X multi-viewers and an NVISION 8576 enterprise class router for a system expansion, which will allow playout of up to 75 channels from July 2010.