Products

Editor's Note: Many of the products covered in this issue were released at NCTA's Cable Show, which was held recently in Las Vegas. More new products rolled out at that show will be covered in the next issue of "Broadband Gear Report."

New C-COR Optical Upgrade Converts RF Amps to Nodes

C-COR C-COR unveiled an optical upgrade that transforms installed C-COR trunk and bridger amplifiers into optical nodes. Upgrading existing trunk and bridger amplifiers to optical node functionality provides a versatile way to reduce service group size for increased narrowcast capacity, according to C-COR.

The Opti Max 2700 optical upgrade is already being deployed in the U.S. cable market, "effectively reducing the cost and complexity of network upgrades and leveraging existing network architecture to provide additional network capacity." It is compatible with C-COR's latest 1 GHz Flex Max 901e amplifier and its predecessors, the FlexNet 700 and 800 series and Flex Max 900 and 901 models. The OM2700 enables 1 GHz bandwidth expansion in order to increase forward capacity and future flexibility of the network and incorporates coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) transmitters, providing more return channels through existing fiber.

BigBand Hails New Switched Video Analysis App

BigBand Networks unveiled a viewership/performance analysis application -- Switched Video Analysis (SVA) designed to gather metrics that allow ops to make informed decisions about programming expansion and network utilization. SVA is also designed to help them determine when and where to roll out new programming and advertising to improve viewer satisfaction and engagement. Though the SVA can be used to support an array of statistical analysis, initial applications are focused on analyzing BigBand's switched broadcast deployments. One major cable operator is using SVA to optimize the bandwidth dedicated to switched video to increase the number of viewers and channels that can be supported simultaneously in each of its service groups.

According to BigBand, SVA benefits include:

Prior to installation, ops must assess which programs in its broadcast lineup are the best candidates to "switch." SVA allows an op to collect viewership statistics for available programming and identify niche programming, also called "long tail content."
Once the deployment begins, an op can use SVA to monitor both switched and broadcast programming to quickly detect and resolve potential configuration issues before they impact subs.
Once the installation is completed, SVA monitoring can be extended to a broad range of performance/reliability metrics to optimize network utilization, and for service assurance purposes. SVA is designed to continue to identify trends, such as unanticipated viewership changes that can impact content delivery.

Mixed Signals Tips Its OCAP at the Cable Show

Mixed Signals debuted Sentry digital content monitor's OCAP carousel and video network IP monitoring capabilities at the NCTA's Cable Show in Las Vegas. The company's latest module equips ops with new features including the ability to provide an application-centric view and decode the entire OCAP carousel, the ability to alert and be notified when files are added, removed, or changed, and enhanced monitoring capabilities for the video IP network.

With the OCAP carousel module for Sentry, operators can decode and display OCAP carousel hierarchy, provide an application-centric view of the OCAP carousel, alert and be notified when files are added, removed, or changed, as well as track and alert on bit rates and cycle times of all objects in the carousel. With enhanced monitoring capabilities for the video IP network, ops can measure, report, and graph on IP packet arrival rates and alert on and graph MDI-DF (delay factor).

Tandberg Debuts SDV

Tandberg Television, part of the Ericsson Group, unveiled its next generation solution for switched digital video. The OpenStream Switched Digital Video (SDV) solution reportedly "leapfrogs existing SDV technology providing a massively scalable fully redundant system with seamless failover to ensure the delivery of critical video channels." The company says the OpenStream SDV solution allows cable ops to easily provide, control and manage switched multi-rate (2-20Mbs) digital TV video services through an open platform, allowing them to significantly reduce integration issues and deployment costs.

According to Tandberg, key benefits of its SDV solution include:

Provides an open architecture multi-vendor solution so the cable operator has the flexibility and choice of vendors, components and technology (which is said to reduce costs when compared to competing SDV solutions.
Serves the deployed base of legacy MPEG-2 set-tops while providing a solution to migrate to advanced video codecs such as MPEG-4 AVC.
Only SDV solution that supports multi-rate (2-20 Mbps) and multi-format (SD/HD; MPEG-2/MPEG-4) video content to enable greater flexibility in video delivery.
Provides n+1 redundancy for seamless failover, overload protection and load balancing for carrier-class reliability.
Provides centralized network resource management across multiple services -- VOD, SDV and HSD -- and allows the operator to share network resources.
Complies with all approved cable industry specs allowing for integration into existing networks.
Offers advanced reporting features for network and business planning to enable the operator to manage the switched network.

Cedar Point Shows Off SAFARI Enhancements at Cable Show

CedarPoint Cedar Point Communications unveiled enhancements to its SAFARI C³ multimedia switching system at the recent NCTA Cable Show. The company:

Demonstrated new technologies for the delivery of hosted business services as a standalone service, using the same platform ops now are using for residential services.
Showed how the SAFARI C³ platform will allow ops to enable the last mile through WiMAX and support future wireless and multimedia offerings.
Revealed plans to significantly expand the capacity and scale of SAFARI C³ in the near term, without stranding existing customer investment, and to evolve to a multi-shelf architecture.

Also, Cedar Point showed support for other advanced apps, such as video telephony, conferencing, ringback tones, unified messaging and "find me/follow me" services. The exhibit also included a demonstration of enhanced operational tools for SAFARI.

SeaChange Debuts Flash Memory Server for On-Demand

SeaChange International unveiled its flash memory solution for on-demand TV. The MediaServer Flash Streamer is a 100% flash memory-based solution that completely decouples on-demand streaming from disk-based content storage, allowing ops to push their streaming resources to the network edge and deploy centralized content libraries. Available in the third quarter of 2007, a single SeaChange MediaServer Flash Streamer (two rack units high) provides 300 hours of storage and 1,000 streams.

Features include:

Diskless edge streaming at the network edge for the most popular content in the "long tail," thereby enabling centralized storage and storage management at headends.
Time-shifted TV reliability -- In contrast to DRAM solutions, the Flash Streamer retains real-time ingested content in spite of server failures or maintenance downtime, a critical requirement for time-shifting.
Seamless stream expansion allowing ops to boost streaming capacity without adding disk storage. SeaChange's new Axiom Core 4.0 automatically distributes "hot" content to Flash Streamers to provide additional streaming capacity.

Zodiac Ramps Up Legacy Boxes With PowerRamp

Zodiac Interactive announced its Java Middleware solution, PowerRamp -- a small footprint Java middleware solution for legacy set-tops that cannot support a full OCAP environment. It allows Java client applications to run on relatively low-powered boxes that have limited memory and processing power, and is designed to provide forward compatibility and portability to future OCAP-enabled set-tops.

PowerRamp is fully complaint with JSR 242 and it has a low-memory footprint of under 2 MB. It reportedly can enhance set-top performance by more than 3X over generally available set-top box implementations of Java. PowerRamp is comprised of:

Power Nucleus: Zodiac's embedded software stack that integrates into middleware and improves the performance of set-top apps. PowerNucleus manages memory and directs requests to hardware-optimized modules for graphics, sound and file management.
OCAP extensions to the JSR 242 specification
An optimized JVM based on the Sun Microsystems CLDC-HI 1.1 release

New Moto App Looks to Simplify Cable Spectrum Management

Motorola introduced RF Sentry, a PC-based app that provides an intuitive graphical interface designed to optimize cable network configurations and maintenance ops within the DOCSIS network and subscriber environments.

The RF Sentry software operates with Motorola's Advanced Spectrum Management technology embedded in the BSR family of CMTSs. By displaying data graphically, RF Sentry allows ops to make rapid performance adjustments, continually optimize bandwidth and streamline maintenance activities. Cable ops can leverage logical channels to improve throughput on DOCSIS 2.0 and upcoming 3.0 cable modems as well as legacy DOCSIS 1X modems. This mixed-mode operation is critical for operators with a diverse set of cable modems displayed through their networks.

The RF Sentry application can run from any physical location in the network as long as IP connectivity to a BSR platform is available.

Vyyo Debuts XMTS-TE to Expand Availability of T1s

Vyyo rolled out a new version of its XMTS broadband hub, the XMTS-TE. It features fully integrated support for IP-based transport and eliminates the need for ops to deploy TDM/SONET backbones for business services. The company continues to offer and deploy its original SONET-based XMTS systems as well.

Vyyo says its T1 solution "scales in a manner that mirrors the simplicity and cost effectiveness of cable's proven HSD deployment model: The XMTS-TE is a headend-based T1 CMTS that communicates with T1 modems at the business customer's premise, allowing operators to tap into the long-term, high-ARPU potential of business services." Used in conjunction with the Vyyo V510 TDM/Ethernet gateway, the XMTS-TE encapsulates the T1 circuits into Ethernet frames, allowing for transport over metro or regional Ethernet networks. The V510 then translates the Ethernet-encapsulated T1 streams back into native TDM format for connection to legacy networks.

InnoMedia Backs Up EMTA With UPS

InnoMedia announced a new uninterrupted power supply (UPS) available with any InnoMedia residential or business-class EMTA. The new eUPS 1230 is designed to work in conjunction with InnoMedia's current line of EMTAs, to maintain service in case of power failure, for up to 3.5 hours and 5 hours for a 12-port EMTA (InnoMedia MTA 6528-12) and a four-port EMTA (InnoMedia MTA 3528-4e), respectively.

The eUPS1230 is a 12V DC UPS, providing 9 amp-hours of high battery capacity and 30 watts of maximum power. It features a field replaceable fuse designed to protect the unit from short-circuits, and offers complete PacketCable telemetry signals required for remote battery status monitoring. For ease of installation, a stackable power cord is bundled with the unit.

Alarm.com Launches New Communication Modules

Alarm.com recently launched its new line of broadband communicators. Since 2003, Alarm.com has delivered technology to consumers that makes their traditional security systems "phone line independent". Alarm.com's wireless communication modules enable a traditional security system to transmit alarms and other important security events to an off-site monitoring center via one of several, nationwide wireless data networks.

With Alarm.com's new line of broadband communication modules, consumers can now use the high-speed cable Internet connections in their homes and businesses as another way for their security systems to communicate security and safety data to an alarm monitoring center.

White Paper Watch: Disaster Recovery

In the paper, "Disaster Recovery: Reduce the Impact of Video Outages on Subscribers," Scientific-Atlanta's Archie Hensley discusses the many factors that can impact your ability to deliver service. Hensley gives details on protecting the digital headend and how to prepare for both the unexpected and the unknown. To download the paper at click here.

BigBand Networks integrated its switched broadcast solution with TV Guide's i-Guide. The integration is said to reduce the complexity of deployments and related operating expenses. According to BigBand, this enables ops to provide subs a common user experience for advanced video services including switched digital video, VOD, DVR and interactive services, independent of the underlying hardware infrastructure.
Cisco announced an enhancement to its Content Delivery System (CDS), adding Internet streaming media capabilities that allow ops to offer an ever-expanding scope of online content. The Cisco CDS Internet Streaming solution incorporates apps for delivering video to digital TVs and set-tops as well as delivering video, voice, music and data to a wide range of IP devices such as PCs, Wi-Fi-connected mobile phones and PDAs.
ICTV and RGB Networks demonstrated a joint solution for triggering ActiveVideo programming and advanced, dynamic advertising at the NCTA Cable Show. The companies showed how logo overlays inserted in linear broadcast streams via the RGB Networks Broadcast Network Processor (BNP) can be used to enable immediate viewer entry into the ActiveVideo environment. Using the joint solution, programmers will be able to insert graphic elements into linear channels that will prompt viewers to switch directly to an ActiveVideo Channel or advertising showcase, without returning to the channel guide or VOD interface.
Motorola said it will debut its OCAP Simulator and Software Development Kit (SDK) for cable ops and independent application developers in late 2007. Designed to help enhance the interactivity capabilities of traditional TV, the kit helps enable quicker application development for OCAP compliance, and increased debugging and troubleshooting capabilities.
OpVista secured $15 million in additional funding to further support the company's global sales and marketing efforts of the OpVista2000 and the recently released optical networking approach for Carrier Ethernet Transport (CET) services. This latest internal round of investment was led by ComVentures; with existing investors also participating. This brings the total company funding to date to $90 million.
Trilithic welcomed John Weeks Enterprises, as its newest representative, covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. John Week's team consists of six outside salespeople and two inside salespeople including Tom Lilly, Dave Stuart, Dennis DiNicola, Destiny Havens and Mary Chandler.
Vyyo, Motorola and StarHub announced successful testing of DOCSIS 3.0 services with speeds exceeding 145 Mbps. Testing took place over the StarHub HFC network, using Motorola network products and Vyyo UltraBand Spectrum Overlay solutions.