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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
High-speed access tech may give telcos a hand
December 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Fred Dawson | CommentsWill widespread availability of internet access over analog phone lines at twice today's speeds dent the market appeal of high-speed access over cable? It's a question that has been raised by some strategists in the broadband domain in the wake of news that manufacturers of analog modems and chipsets are bringing 56 kilobit-per-second units to market, starting as early as this month.
Who can see the emperor's new clothes?
December 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsBy now, most people are aware of the blood-letting that took place last month: 2,600 workers — nearly seven percent of the company's workforce — were given pink slips as the company slashed its costs. The cuts hit the local systems hard, but the corporate headquarters wasn't spared, either.
Keeping Continental on the fast track
December 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsIt's a dark and chilly morning outside, but Dave Fellows is already awake and out of bed, lacing up his running shoes, as he prepares to hit the streets of Beverly, Mass. It's been a long time since Fellows ran competitively, but taking on a sedentary lifestyle is unthinkable. For the quiet Fellows is driven to win, whether it's in sports or his professional life, and working out keeps him in g...
Candian cable ops band together
December 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by James Careless | CommentsDespite the absence of a cable modem standard, and the fact that many of their systems aren't two-way ready, Canada's major cable companies launched a nationally-branded Internet Service Provider (ISP) product called "WAVE" and announced it in November. In many ways, WAVE appears to be utterly groundbreaking.
Low-power TV and digital channels
December 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Jeffrey Krauss, Digital Television Powerhouse and President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy | CommentsWith that controversy out of the way, we can move to the next one: Should low-power TV (LPTV) stations get digital channels? In my opinion, the only controversy is whether the answer is "no" or "of course not." But the LPTV broadcasters are mounting a lobbying campaign in Washington, trying to get a different answer out of the FCC.
Cities find 'The plan's the thing'
December 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Tom Robinson | CommentsWhen you think about it, reflection, perspective and proper planning are key factors in many aspects of our lives. This is true in many facets of telecommunications, whether it's planning for product roll-outs, setting the framework for the introduction of new services, overhauling existing systems to enhance connectivity and implement new applications or, from a local government's perspective,...
Wrapping up management solutions with OSS
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Michael Lafferty | CommentsAmidst all the hype and hoopla about new broadband services swirling around the industry these past few years, there's been a small, but vital, revolution taking place in the back rooms and back offices of the industry. It hasn't received as many headlines as cable modems, interactive TV or telephony.
Dead in Its Tracks?
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Alan Stewart | CommentsOnce viewed as the telephone industry's secret weapon in its war with cable TV providers, asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) seems to have been sidelined by the baby Bells as they scramble to maintain their local loop monopoly. In a blow to U.S. ADSL vendors who saw their stock value tumble, Ameritech, BellSouth, Pacific Bell and SBC Communications retained France's Alcatel Telecom as ...
Testing 256 QAM transmission of data over HFC
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Marc Ryba, Senior Project Engineer; and Paul Matuszak, Senior Project Engineer, GI Communications Division, Eastern Operations, General Instrument Corp. | CommentsAddressing industry demands for more efficient bandwidth utilization and building on its experience with 64 QAM transmission over cable, General Instrument has developed a 256 QAM transmission system that provides far more efficient use of cable system bandwidth and expands channel capacity. This expanded channel capacity results in a 44 percent increase in information rate and a 50 percent inc...
What comes around ...
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Thomas J. Staniec, VP — Network Engineering, The Excalibur Group, A Time Warner Company | Comments"Return Systems 101" (see CED, August 1995, p.66) opened with the theme, "Everything Old is New Again." This article could be paraphrased as "what goes around, comes around." As more networks are being activated with operational two-way signal flow, more questions and ideas surface. Some questions are new and need answers.
RBOCs: slapping their best customers
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsThis is exactly the kind of thinking that has some of the RBOCs, unable to keep up with increased demand for more lines, cellular and other services, in trouble with local utility commissions. Specifically, Pacific Telesis, US West and Bell Atlantic are pointing to a new Bellcore study that says the increasing popularity of the Internet is clogging the nation's telephone lines, making it much m...
The Internet and the telephone network
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Jeffrey Krauss, Surfing the Telephone Net and President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy | CommentsNow the telephone industry has raised a new complaint—Internet subscribers are screwing up telephone networks because the networks weren't designed for Internet connections. Phone companies just can't get it through their monopoly mindset that when customer demand patterns change, the service has to change.
Taking backup power underground
November 30, 1996 7:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsOnce considered little more than a technical curiosity by some engineers, it now appears that backup electrical power from high-speed flywheel technology could be a viable option for telecommunications network providers within the next 12 to 18 months. After more than a year of development, Cambridge, Mass.
Is data simply today's CB craze?
October 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsFor example, at last month's Convergence: Digital Television and Internet conference in San Jose, Stephen Weiswasser, president and CEO of the Americast consortium, was decidedly bearish. "The number of people on-line and the growth rate of on-line is decreasing significantly," he was quoted as saying.
How to build a stainless steel house
October 31, 1996 7:00 pm | by Wendell Bailey | CommentsThe best known of these early efforts was the QUBE system by Warner Cable. This service was used in several communities, and was the subject of literally thousands of articles about future two-way offerings. One of the issues that began to surface in late 1981 was directly related to the QUBE service.
