The results are in for the 2006 Diamond Technology Reviews. (For details, visit www.broadbandgear.net/diamond-awards.cfm.) See what top engineering execs think are the must-see products at SCTE's Cable-Tec Expo by checking out the full coverage of the Diamonds, which will be available in "BGR's @ the Show Product News" print issue at the confab in Denver next month.

Editor's note: BGR is expanding! Watch for a new look and new features starting with the June 8 issue.

Ciena FlexSelect Family Gets Bigger With Smaller Platform

Ciena unveiled the CN 4200 MC, a compact version of its CN 4200 FlexSelect advanced services platform that extends its FlexSelect architecture to the network edge. Designed for deployment at locations with space restrictions, the CN 4200 MC is said to significantly reduce the cost to deliver a variety of service backhaul and metro transport applications, including business services, managed wavelength services, video distribution and wireless infrastructure.

Operational in point-to-point, linear add/drop or ring topologies, the CN 4200 MC supports Ciena's family of CN 4200 line cards and DWDM/CWDM channel plans and can sit on the same network as the standard CN 4200 with seamless management across both platforms. In addition, the compact WDM platform combines full support for ITU G.709, also known as optical transport network (OTN), with an intelligent switch architecture that enables multiple optical services to be groomed onto any wavelength, improving bandwidth utilization by as much as 78%, according to Ciena.

Mixed Signals Inc. Clear About Managing Complex Streams

Mixed Signals rolled out the latest profile release for its Sentry digital content monitor. Most notably, it offers the addition of detection of video freeze and video black and individual speaker audio silence. The release includes enhancements designed to manage more complex streams, while ensuring practical modifications to the technology and expanding the commitment to simple and logical user interfaces, according to the company. The added functionality enables ops to monitor up to 30 multicast groups simultaneously in real-time, without cycling.

In related news, Mixed Signals signed a global reseller agreement with TANDBERG Television. TANDBERG will resell the Sentry digital content monitor worldwide.

EAS for Simulcast All In One Box

Monroe Electronics' new R189 One-Net Encoder/Decoder

Monroe Electronics introduced its new EAS encoder/decoder and lower-cost decoder only. The Monroe R189 One-Net is an IP-based system with a standard 10/100 Base-T Ethernet connection can be operated and monitored from any location without any special software. Via this connection, the One-Net can communicate with your network to support DVS-644 (SCTE 18), the new digital EAS protocol, as well as DVS-168 for DNCS.

With a host of features such as internal AM/FM/NOAA radios, internal character generator, this EAS solution will interface with existing analog systems. The email function can be customized to give notification of EAS events or most system failures, including the loss of radio input signals. An almost unlimited number of events can be stored, including the audio portion, which is saved as a .wav file. These logs can be downloaded from the local connection or remotely via the Internet.

BigBand and Netgear Bond

BigBand Networks and Netgear are collaborating on end-to-end channel bonding integration with the intention to enable broadband access at speeds over 100 megabits per second.

Based on the developing CableLabs DOCSIS 3.0 standard, channel bonding combines multiple downstream cable channels to increase the overall throughput that can be received by cable modems. This technology has the potential to more than quadruple currently available speeds. The two companies are working to integrate the Netgear Channel Bonding Cable Modem (model CM232) with a modular CMTS solution that combines the BigBand Cuda CMTS and BigBand BME (Broadband Multimedia-Service Edge).

Cedar Point First to Get Arbinet Nod

Cedar Point Communications says its SAFARI C³ Multimedia Switching System will be the first switching platform to be certified by Arbinet-thexchange for Arbinet's PeeringSolutions managed VoIP peering service.

PeeringSolutions gives global VoIP providers the ability to manage access to their VoIP accessible phone numbers and the option to exchange VoIP traffic with their peering partners without having to establish multiple direct relationships. Certification of SAFARI C³ assures that the Cedar Point switch will integrate seamlessly with PeeringSolutions' automated interface.

New IMS Report Spotlights "The Holy Grail of Convergence"

Need a clear overview of what IMS is and isn't? Pike & Fischer says its new report, "IMS: An Analysis of the Technology and the Market" offers just that.

Quality Cable & Electronics Rolls Out Hybrid Amp Module

Quality Cable & Electronics introduced its new hybrid amplifier module, the BGY67AQCE. It is a reverse hybrid with a frequency range of 5 to 200 MHz and a voltage supply of +24 V(DC). The company says the device also provides low distortion, high reliability, low noise figure and an excellent linear gain.

Feature: OSS in a Complicated HFC World: Part 2

To make the triple-play and the quad-play truly work — and work profitably — OSS is key. When it comes to gathering all that network and customer data and putting it in a form that is accessible and usable, the "eyes-on-glass" solution won't work effectively long-term. In other words, MSOs can't simply hire more people to sit in front of computers and call that a solution.

An OSS Case Study

In a presentation delivered at TeleManagement World in Dallas last November, Auspice shared a case study featuring a major North American MSO that outlined what the company says "are the key steps necessary to achieving superior service excellence, including the role of data gathering/access in the automated processing of network business logic storing data and presenting information in a meaningful way for real-time operations management."

The initial focus was on the MSO's telephony service area to find a way to automate the network surveillance and trouble ticketing work. This was an area where it was felt the impact to service delivery would be greatest, and a fast, high ROI could be achieved.

Stringent criteria for the solution was set, including:

Payback in 18-24 months
Reducing future budgeted headcount in order to support capital investment
Speed of implementation must be rapid and reliable
Ability of solution to be maintained easily with existing resources

The criteria also dictated that the rules-based scripting tool must be able to emulate any system or protocol while keeping the existing functionality whole, it had to deliver new capabilities incrementally, and it must be easily adaptable to almost any business process.

Less Eyeballs

According to Auspice, the solution took eight weeks to implement from start to finish, and helped achieve more than 95% accuracy of automated tickets, while allowing business rule changes to be handled by existing resources and keeping headcount at a acceptable levels. In addition, the MSO was also able to transition from an alarm-based operational model to an "almost no eyes-on-the-glass" ticket-based model.

Beyond Call Avoidance

Web self-care applications are another important tool in MSO's toolboxes as they tackle OSS issues. Ideally, these apps wherein subs can help themselves via the Internet would be extended to provide service control and quicker provisioning, but a lot of the focus of Web self-care has focused purely on call avoidance. However, some vendors are looking to help ops move beyond this pure call avoidance mentality.

For example, SupportSoft recently announced the newest version of its SmartAccess software for the automated installation of triple-play services. The new version builds on the software's current Web-based installation features, and adds the ability for broadband customers to more easily install next-generation services such as VoIP or value-added services such as wireless networking.

SmartAccess lets subscribers determine if their computer system qualifies for a high-speed connection and, if so, speeds installation by automating the activation process. New features in SmartAccess provide capabilities for wireless networking configuration, multi-play service installation, zero-touch installation, dynamic data services and support for industry specifications.

"SmartAccess is designed to help digital service providers scale to meet the demand of broadband growth by automating service installation, and help service providers grow in the future by providing a platform for future service delivery," Richard Caballero, director of product marketing and management at SupportSoft, says. "Moreover, SmartAccess enables digital service providers to move from a static provisioning environment to a dynamic provisioning environment, where remotely managed gateways, smart devices and multi-play services become the norm."

Omnitron Beefs Up Its Fiber Access Platform

Omnitron Systems Technology released a new suite of iConverter hardware modules and software enhancements. iConverter is the company's flagship modular Ethernet access device platform, featuring managed end-to-end media conversion and modular optical Ethernet demarcation.

Ripley Expands in China

Ripley recently opened its Sales Representative Office in Shanghai, China. It's located in the Paris Fashion Building; Suite 1506; Xiang Yang Road South; Shanghai, China. Phone and Fax: (86) (21) 54651867 / 54651465.

SCTE Forms Advanced Plant Architecture Study Group

SCTE's Engineering Committee announced the formation of the Advanced Plant Architecture Study Group to determine standardization needs for the increased incorporation of fiber in cable networks.

"The group will study various approaches toward developing an evolutionary architecture that meets the needs of our current and future business, recognizing both legacy systems and new technologies," Charlie Kennamer, VP of engineering, standards, and industry affairs at Comcast and chairman of the SCTE Engineering Committee.

The output of the group will be recommendations for specific standards that will then be developed by SCTE's standards subcommittees. The study group will be led by Paul Brooks, senior network architect of Time Warner Cable, and is open to representatives of organizations that are members of the SCTE Standards Program. An initial meeting is planned in conjunction with Cable-Tec Expo 2006 in June in Denver.