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> Broadband Gear Report's VoIP Alert for July 18, 2006

Up Front

Wireless Services: Are MSOs Ready to Turn Talk Into Action?

During the last couple years, the quad-play — adding wireless services to the voice, video and data pack — has been a favorite topic of both serious discussion and outright gossip in the cable arena. But recent news from top ops implies that they're ready to push the chatter into action… at least relatively soon.

Cox Maps Wireless

In an announcement this month in which Cox boasted that it would offer IP telephony in all of its markets by the end of year, the op was quick to stress its wireless plans as well. Through its joint venture with Sprint Nextel and other cable companies, Cox said it would pilot wireless telephone service in two markets this year, and launch the service in additional markets in 2007.

Cablevision Gets Aggressive

Cablevision, which isn't a part of the Sprint Nextel venture, has been making recent noise on the wireless front as well. The MSO has serious plans to ensure its VoIP network can play nice with U.S. wireless nets so subs to transfer calls between the two, according to Patricia Gottesman, Cablevision's EVP of product management and marketing.

Reuters reports that Gottesman said the following at a financial conference in New York last month: "Our network can allow us to have fixed line convergence with any wireless carrier that our customers prefer. We think there are enormous opportunities... to converge with wireless services from all major providers."

Gottesman didn't give a time frame, but was quoted as saying Cablevision's plans are "aggressive."

Gear Watch

New VoIP Products, and Who's Buying Them

• AudioCodes entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Netrake, a provider of session border controllers (SBCs) and security gateway solutions. SBCs enable connectivity, policies and security for real-time sessions such as VoIP and video when traversing IP-to-IP networks. Security gateways enable secure real-time sessions across WiFi, broadband and wireless networks in fixed mobile convergence deployments.
  
  In other AudioCodes news, the company announced the successful completion of its previously announced acquisition of Nuera Communications, a provider of VoIP infrastructure solutions.
• Auspice and Empirix entered into a partnership to pursue joint marketing, interoperability testing and development opportunities. The new collaboration was designed to integrate Empirix's Hammer XMS carrier-class VoIP monitoring and analysis solution with Auspice's OpsLogic service assurance solution.

• TV Cabo, Portugal's largest pay TV operator, chose the Cisco uBR10012 CMTS as part of its IP NGN platform. TV Cabo is deploying the Cisco CMTS to upgrade its national network to offer ultra-high-speed broadband, VoIP and HD. The Cisco Wideband solution, based on a pre-standard version of the EuroCableLabs' DOCSIS 3.0 standard, allows TV Cabo to optimize its network and offer increased throughput for customers, with data rates in the hundreds of megabits and potentially gigabits per second. This is achieved through channel bonding performed on the Cisco uBR10012 CMTS and cable modems from Scientific Atlanta and Linksys.
• Enure Networks announced what it is calling "the world's first product capable of completely automating the setup, configuration, repair and total management of home networks and broadband services." The software is said to completely manages the home network, including VoIP services, inconspicuous to the user, eliminating the need for subs to understand technology setup, configuration, management and repair processes. The product maintains the network in an "optimal state" and fixes network problems transparently to the user — even if the user alters network configurations rendering access inoperable — to ensure an always available network.
• Fujitsu announced the availability of a new WiMAX solution for North American ops. Under an agreement with Airspan Networks, Fujitsu will resell its entire portfolio of WiMAX AS.MAX broadband access products in North America. Fujitsu will offer large- and small-scale base station solutions as well as indoor, outdoor and Wi-Fi enabled CPE. The Fujitsu-offered AS.MAX solution incorporates network features that make it possible to deliver carrier-class quality VoIP services, including integrated SIP gateway messaging to enable call control and capacity reservation for voice traffic. Voice capacity is not reserved until requested, and can be dynamically adjusted while maintaining QoS, thus enabling the optimal use of radio link capacity.
• Mindspeed Technologies rolled out a wireless software suite for its Comcerto VoIP processor family. In addition to IMS and fixed-mobile convergence, the wireless Comcerto software suite provides full support for VoIP over wireless access networks, high-speed wireless data access and multi-purpose 3G and WiFi/WiMax services. Earlier this year, Mindspeed added a VoIP-over-cable software suite specifically designed for cable networks in combination with its Comcerto processor family.
• Suddenlink Communications (formerly Cebridge) and Liberty Global recently signed agreements with Nortel. Suddenlink will use a Nortel VoIP solution to provide various telephone and multimedia services to subs. Liberty Global signed a global purchase agreement that gives the op access to a uniform purchasing process and pricing terms for Nortel's cable VoIP and optical solutions.
• Tollgrade was selected as an HFC-based VoIP testing solutions vendor by the National Cable Television Cooperative. The vendor's CheetahXD OSS and DOCSIS-based CMD product family have been approved for use by the cooperative.
• Whaleback Systems and Narad Networks announced a joint marketing agreement and the availability of a managed VoIP service directed toward small and medium businesses (SMBs). Combining Narad's switched Ethernet over coax solution with Whaleback's CrystalBlue Voice Service, MSOs can allow SMBs to take advantage of broadband VoIP while avoiding the capital investment of a softswitch and increasing capacity when supplying multiline voice to a number of businesses within an HFC node. Testing demonstrates that the Narad fiber-fed Ethernet technology is able to provide many times the number of lines supported by DOCSIS, and the out-of-band technology avoids further clogging of residential bandwidth, according to the companies.

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