Found this in my QTN alert
CED Magazine
Bresnan centralizes on simulcast
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 9:26:00 AM
Bresnan Communications is deploying digital simulcast feeds via a centralized platform from the Comcast Media Center and SES Americom.
The platform, dubbed the Total Digital Solution, enables operators to launch simulcast or all-digital service without big headend equipment investments. SES Americom’s AMC-4 satellite distributes dozens of basic and expanded channels, and CMC’s HITS (Headend In The Sky) digital overlay allows cable operators to pick and choose their video and audio lineups.
Bresnan is leveraging the system to offer digital simulcast – a technique in which analog channels are replicated in the digital domain – in Newcastle, Wyo. and Delta, Utah.
“The CMC’s content management capabilities permit us to digitally encode channels nearly six times more efficiently than headend-based solutions and provide an extensive array of high-quality video services that allow operators to remain competitive in their communities,” said CMC COO Gary Traver.
RealNetworks OK for ‘OCUR’
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 9:15:00 AM
CableLabs has approved a digital rights management (DRM) system from RealNetworks Inc. for the OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR), a platform that enables cable video programming – including premium services and high-definition television content – to be delivered to PCs over high-speed connections and without the need for a separate set-top box.
The approval will give PC manufacturers the ability to build OCUR-based devices that incorporate Real’s universal Helix DRM platform. OCUR-enabled media center PCs will be equipped with a CableCARD slot. A CableCARD supporting the operator’s conditional access system will be required to authorize digital services on the PC.
“Our agreement with CableLabs is great for consumers because it will give them an easy way to take compelling video content and extend it throughout their digital home,” said RealNetworks Chairman & CEO Rob Glaser. “This initiative is also great for the cable industry because it will open up new opportunities for operators to develop innovative video services that bridge the traditional video world and the high-speed data parts of their businesses.”
CableLabs approval should push Real’s cable IPTV agenda forward. Among earlier work, Real’s DRM - as well as its media player and streaming servers – is supporting a “Broadband TV” trial in the San Diego area launched last summer by Time Warner Cable that delivers the operator’s expanded basic tier (about 75 channels, but no premium services) via IP to the PC.
“This DRM solution provides a secure environment while guaranteeing a high-quality customer experience. We hope this will lead to a competitive marketplace for secure DRM technologies,” said Time Warner Cable President & CEO and CableLabs Chairman Glenn Britt.
PC makers and cable operators already have multiple vendor options in this area, as RealNetworks marks the second company to win the OCUR seal of approval. In November 2005, CableLabs gave its blessing to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media Digital Rights Management (WMDRM) platform.
Motorola expands all-digital STB lineup
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 9:01:00 AM
Motorola Inc. has boosted its all-digital set-top portfolio with the introduction of the DCT3080 and the DCC100.
The DCT3080 is a standard-definition, dual-tuner set-top/digital video recorder. The set-top can also provide multi-room DVR capabilities when connected to a special network interface module (NIM) that supports the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), a home networking technology that pipes data (including high-quality video) over existing home coax networks at speeds up to a theoretical 270 Mbps. Motorola’s NIM can also MoCA-enable other DCT models.
The vendor’s QIP set-top family, already in use with Verizon, supports MoCA natively.
The DCT3080 marks Motorola’s second go at an SD-DVR. Motorola once had plans for the DCT2600, a hybrid digital/analog SD-DVR, but removed it from the roadmap to focus on what became the DCT6412 HD-DVR.
“When we originally [offered] the DVR, it was targeted at high-end customers, so it didn’t make sense to offer it without HD,” a company spokesperson said. Since then, “massive DVR adoption” by consumers, especially those without HD sets, is pushing the need for SD-only DVRs. Indicative of that trend, Pace Micro Technology recently introduced “Vegas,” an all-digital dual-tuner SD-DVR.
Motorola’s DCC100, meanwhile, is a slimmed-down, all-digital satellite box that, thanks to embedded MoCA capabilities, will feed off of and play back content (digital video, photos, etc.) recorded on a primary DVR/set-top. The DCC100, just bigger than a standard deck of playing cards, is also capable of “down-converting” and playing back shows initially recorded to the DCT3080 in high-definition format. The DCC100, available this September, also supports a “proxied” DOCSIS Set-top Gateway (DSG), a standards-based signaling protocol.
Both boxes support the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP), a middleware specified by CableLabs.
The DCC100 and DCT3080 complement the DCT700, Motorola’s first all-digital set-top.
Bresnan taps CMC for VOD
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 8:52:00 AM
Bresnan Communications is the latest MSO to leverage the Comcast Media Center’s national video-on-demand (VOD) content management and distribution service.
The CMC’s platform offers operators a range of VOD content creation, management and distribution services. Insight Communications and CMC corporate cousin Comcast Cable are already using the CMC to manage customized packages of VOD programming from a raft of TV networks and other sources.
The Colorado-based CMC launched VOD services in spring 2004. Its platform encodes and delivers more than 3,000 VOD “assets” per month, equating to roughly 1,200 hours of content.
“Providing on-demand services from the CMC platform broadens the variety of programming available to our customers and solidified this important competitive advantage [against DBS],” said Bresnan VP of Operations Jim Gemmill.
Bresnan has launched VOD in several markets in Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming.
CED seeks ’06 ‘Pacesetter Award’ nominations
By CED staff
4/10/2006 8:43:00 AM
CED is seeking nominations for its third-annual Pacesetter Awards. Each year, the awards recognize a select group of individuals at cable and other broadband service providers who have broken new ground or have taken innovative “first steps” with a particular advanced service, application or technology.
The 2006 Pacesetters – sponsored by Arroyo Video Solutions and Vyyo Inc. – will be awarded in the following five categories:
- High-speed data/IP convergence
- Telephony
- Digital video
- On-demand services
- Business services.
Nomination forms are available on the Web. The deadline for nominations is May 12, 2006. CED and the award sponsors will formally announce the 2006 Pacesetter Award winners during this year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, set to run June 20-23 in Denver, Colo.
2006 will mark the third year for the Pacesetters. Last year’s winners included Paul Brooks and Matthew Stanek of Time Warner Cable (digital video category); Stephanie Mitchko of Cablevision Systems Corp. (on-demand services category); Bruce McLeod of Cox Communications (telephony category); Tom Buttermore, formerly of Charter Communications, now with Nortel Networks (high-speed data category); and Steve Santamaria, formerly of Charter Communications, now with Vyyo Inc. (business services category).
RGB supports TWC simulcast rollout
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 8:27:00 AM
Time Warner Cable is supporting a rollout of digital simulcast with RGB Networks’ Simulcast Edge Processor (SEP), a high-density device that handles decoding, modulation and upconversion.
Time Warner Cable has deployed the SEP in “several” systems in the Carolinas, Ohio and New York. The MSO also plans to deploy it in some Texas cable properties.
Digital simulcast, a long-term answer to bandwidth reclamation, replicates analog channels in the digital tier.
“With our rollout of digital simulcast, we are laying the necessary groundwork to deliver the all-digital package to our subscribers,” said Time Warner Cable SVP, New Product Development Kevin Leddy, noting that RGB’s SEP has been “instrumental” in the MSO’s simulcast strategy.
RGB has also announced simulcast deployments with Adelphia Communications.
Cox okays Ciena for metro, regional transport
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 8:21:00 AM
Cox Communications has certified Ciena Corp.’s FlexSelect Advanced Service Platform for deployment in the MSO’s metro and regional networks. Cox will use the gear to aggregate and transport traffic tied to residential voice, video and data services, as well as business offerings.
Cox has already deployed the CN 4200, the flagship of Ciena’s FlexSelect architecture, in “several” regions initially to support high-speed data and commercial services. The MSO is also using optical Ethernet equipment from the vendor for video-on-demand transport.
The CN 4200 supports a range of transport protocols, including Sonet, GigE and 10 GigE, as well as a set of storage platforms, including Fibre Channel, FICON and ESCON.
“Part of our ongoing strategy is to shift away from service-specific equipment and evolve to a converged, multi-service network that can adapt to the changing demands from residential and business customers over time,” said Cox Director of Network Architecture Darryl Ladd. The CN 4200, he added, will reduce Cox wavelength utilization and enable the company to leverage a single line card for Sonet, GigE and storage services on different reprogrammable ports, rather than needing to install different line cards or network devices.
Gemstar-TV Guide stirs in Java
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 8:17:00 AM
Gemstar-TV Guide International has introduced j-Guide, a Java-based interactive program guide (IPG) application for OCAP (OpenCable Application Platform).
The new offering, which promises a richer user interface, is the first from Gemstar to work with OCAP, a CableLabs-specified middleware.
The initial release of j-Guide will be targeted to CE devices that support OCAP and two-way CableCARDs, which means it will handle video-on-demand and other interactive cable applications. Gemstar plans to release it in late summer 2006. A “full-feature” version is set to debut in 2007. j-Guide will support Motorola and Scientific Atlanta digital cable systems.
The latest guide “combines all of the core i-Guide IPG features that operators have deployed today, plus new rich graphics, including 3D buttons, background imagery and translucent overlays,” said Mike McKee, Gemstar-TV Guide’s COO and president of the IPG division.
C-COR, OpenTV switch it up
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 8:09:00 AM
C-COR Inc. and OpenTV Corp. are getting into the switched digital broadcast (SDB) video business.
The companies, which will compete in the sector with vendors such as BigBand Networks and Scientific Atlanta, claim their version is the “first open architecture” for SDB.
The combo, which is being demonstrated this week, features OpenTV’s Core 2.0 middleware running on Motorola-made DCT2000/2500 digital boxes, alongside C-COR’s nABLE Global Session and Resource Manager and Harmonic Inc.’s Network Services Gateway.
SDB is growing popular with operators as they seek ways to free up bandwidth for other apps and services such as high-definition television and video-on-demand.
“This is the first time anyone has been able to offer a multi-vendor switched digital broadcast capability on broadly supported protocols for Motorola’s most widely-deployed set-top boxes,” said OpenTV Chairman & CEO Jim Chiddix, in a statement.
C-COR’s nABLE platform, traditionally used in support of VOD, has been extended to handle SDB.
“By leveraging C-COR’s extensive experience in delivering on-demand solutions and OpenTV’s leading client-side software, operators will be able to offer virtually unlimited broadcast programming, regardless of the set-top box, while drastically reducing bandwidth requirements,” said Michael Pohl, president of C-COR’s Global Strategies group.
VDC launches Internet-based direct-to-consumer video service
By Jeff Baumgartner, CED
4/10/2006 8:01:00 AM
VDC Corp. has taken the wraps off a “virtual” cable subscription service that delivers linear video programming directly to consumers over high-speed broadband connections.
To facilitate the offering, VDC, an eight-employee startup based in Northbrook, Ill., has carved out carriage agreements with programmers to deliver their networks via the Internet to PCs and handheld devices capable of running the Microsoft Windows Media Player.
VDC is launching the $11.95 per month service with enough carriage agreements in hand to deliver a lineup of roughly 20 channels, including Fashion TV, ShopNBC, MavTV, The Pentagon Channel, Q Television Network and Adrenaline Nation. Initially, VDC won’t support local broadcast channels, though it claims to have the technical capability to do so.
VDC Chairman Robert Heymann said his carriage contracts with programmers are very similar to those that cable and DBS providers pay – on a per subscriber/per month basis.
One obvious issue VDC will have to grapple with is QoS (quality of service) – something it can’t really offer because its service travels the public Internet. The company, which uses VC-1 coding, hopes to deal with that potential shortcoming via optimized routing and peering deals with major IP backbone providers and by offering video over variable bit rates that rise and fall based on the customer’s current connection speed, said company Chief Technology Officer Scott Wolf. Supported speeds range from 70 kbps on the low end for mobile phones, to 1.5 Mbps on the high end. Sling Media uses a similar approach with its “place-shifting” Slingbox product. But, unlike Sling Media, which places plenty of reliance on the generally lithe upstream path, VDC leverages typically fatter downstream pipes to broadcast its linear lineup.
VDC’s system can also support 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios natively. A 3 Mbps high-definition service is also on the roadmap, Wolf said. The company is also exploring video-on-demand and a premium movie tier.
Although VDC is open to potential partnerships with cable operators, most of its attention at this year’s show will be directed toward programmers, Heymann said.
VDC also views itself as a complementary –- rather than competitive -- video service to cable and DBS. The company believes its price point and “impulse buy” potential will help it sign up a projected 100,000 subscribers by year-end. Its target demographic? Males ages 18-34.
Broadband briefs for 4/10/06
By CED staff
4/10/2006 7:54:00 AM
* Motorola seals ‘major’ NCTC set-top deal
Motorola Inc. has cut a volume digital set-top deal with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), a consortium representing small- and mid-sized operators serving more than 14 million subs combined.
The multi-year deal includes a range of Motorola models, including the HD-DVR DCT6412 and all-digital DCT3412 models. The deal also covers the DCT2500E, a basic digital box that also houses an Ethernet port for networking media over the home network, and the newly-released DCT3080, a standard-def, all-digital set-top with an on-board DVR.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
* Juniper plays security card
Juniper Networks Inc. has introduced a PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM)-based system that monitors for and mitigates elements that threaten the security of cable broadband networks.
Designed to protect VoIP and SIP-based services against network security attacks, Juniper’s Cable Dynamic Threat Mitigation platform integrates the vendor’s routing platforms, Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP) devices and SDX Service Deployment System. It also hooks into PCMM-compliant cable modem termination systems (CMTSs).
The platform, which monitors for attacks (a distributed denial of service or spoofing attack, for example) on a per-user, per-application or on-demand basis, enables MSOs to identify and isolate security threats so that infected customers and operations staff can be notified, the company said. Depending on the nature of the threat, operators can choose to rate limit or filter traffic, drop the call, or redirect the user to a Web portal and automatically re-establish service once the threat is eliminated.
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