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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Report: NSA demands Verizon hand over all U.S. call records
June 6, 2013 2:04 pm | by Ben Munson, Wireless Week | CommentsThe Guardian has received and published the order which outlines that Verizon is to deliver to the NSA the numbers of both parties, location data, identifiers like IMSI and IMEI numbers, and time and duration of calls. The order has been in place since April and has demanded Verizon give over the requisite information for both international calls originating in the U.S. and calls made within the U.S.
Entropic buys mixed signal specialist
June 6, 2013 1:50 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsEntropic has acquired Mobius Semiconductor, which specializes in low power, high performance analog mixed-signal circuitry. Entropic said it will spend approximately $13 million in cash plus employee equity-based incentives to buy Mobius. Separately, Access Co. said it is integrating its DLNA and HTML5 technologies with the latest set-top box chipset solution from Entropic.
Xfinity Home to add remote control light bulbs
June 6, 2013 1:37 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsComcast Xfinity Home subscribers will soon be able to install light bulbs from Sylvania that can be controlled via remote. The Sylvania Ultra iQ LED BR30 flood light bulb has integrated dimming controls that use the Zigbee Home Automation standard to create a system that can be controlled wirelessly for quick and easy adjustments using a smartphone or the Xfinity Home app.
ActiveVideo beefs up cloud platform; adds Charter to customer list
June 6, 2013 12:06 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsActiveVideo has shifted its cloud platform into overdrive with today’s announcement that it can deliver TV as an application over IP along with the news that it’s behind Charter Communications’ cloud-based user interface. ActiveVideo also said it has partnered with Sumitomo Corporation to target cloud-based deployments in Japan and in the Asia-Pacific market
Report: Service provider router market declines in Q1
June 6, 2013 11:55 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsThe service provider router market declined in the first quarter of this year, according to a recent report by Dell’Oro Group. The latest results were part of a continuing trend with quarterly market revenue growth stagnant since mid-2011, which was the last time the market experienced double-digit growth.
NA up, other regions down in broadband spending
June 6, 2013 11:48 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsThe broadband aggregation equipment market has dipped in most regions, but service providers were spending in North America to combat cable operators’ DOCSIS 3.0 deployments. Spending on DSL, PON and FTTH equipment decreased 7 percent from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year for a total of $1.5 billion worldwide, according to a recent report by Infonetics Research.
Conax offering SDK for PlayReady DRM client
June 5, 2013 2:25 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsDevelopers can use the SDK to create a client capable of secure delivery of video content from the streaming server to the native player of the client device. The Conax security-hardened implementation for MS PlayReady fully conforms to Microsoft’s rules for Compliance and Robustness and is developed according to Conax’ security requirements including security requirements from major Hollywood studios and content providers.
Grand unification for home networking standards
June 5, 2013 2:19 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsManufacturers of gear that operate on a grab-bag of networking technologies – HomePlug, MoCA, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet – are setting up a certification system for a new category of home networking equipment that will make all four networking approaches interoperable. The result should be a boon for service providers setting up whole-home services.
Casa Systems tallies another CMTS win
June 5, 2013 2:09 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsFinland’s largest cable operator, DNA Ltd, has placed an order for Casa Systems’ C10G chassis. The C10G is the predecessor to the vendor’s purpose-built CCAP system, the C100G, but the use of C10G allows DNA to offer scalable broadband services to its more than 600,000 subscribers, while giving the operator a clear upgrade path to CCAP.
Comcast combines CMC, IP Services, into Wholesale unit
June 5, 2013 2:05 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsComcast announced the reorganization of several operations dedicated to managing services on behalf of customers, essentially by folding the previously separate IP services operation with the Comcast Media Center under an umbrella unit called Comcast Wholesale. Comcast Wholesale now incorporates CMC units including Content Solutions, HITS and AdDelivery, with the IP Services unit, which provides data and voice services.
The Cable Show hosts job fair for military personnel
June 5, 2013 12:35 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsThrough a partnership with Hiring our Heroes, the cable industry will host a job fair at next week’s Cable Show in Washington D.C. for military veterans, reservists and military spouses. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, in partnership with NCTA, the Cable & Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA) and other local and industry partners, is conducting the hiring event.
Sigma Systems gives voice to Cable Bahamas’ residential subscribers
June 5, 2013 12:27 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsCable Bahamas has tapped Sigma Systems to help provision its residential voice services throughout Nassau, Grand Bahamas, Abaco and Eleuthera. Cable Bahamas is using Sigma Systems’ service fulfillment solutions to automate the provisioning of its SIP-based residential VoIP service
Visible World, FourthWall Media draw a bead on targeted ads
June 5, 2013 12:23 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsTargeted TV ad developer Visible World and interactive TV vendor FourthWall Media announced this morning that they have joined forces to create an addressable advertising platform for one-to-one set-top box targeting. FourthWall is extending the capabilities of its EBIF platform to support Visible World's addressable advertising offerings.
Cox rolls out SMB payment service
June 4, 2013 1:29 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAfter a succesfull pilot, Cox Business is launching a payment service for small and medium-sized businesses across its footprint. Cox Business, which partnered with Acculynk to provision the PayLeap service, said it was the first MSO to offer a managed payment service
TWC: IntelligentHome rollouts nearly complete
June 4, 2013 1:18 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsTime Warner Cable’s home automation and security system, IntelligentHome, will make its way into the cable operator’s Ohio and Wisconsin service areas this month and then New York City in the fall. Once those launches are complete, Time Warner Cable said IntelligentHome would be deployed across all of the major markets in its footprint.
