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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Cable Show: Tech forums get smart about devices, consumers, Wi-FI
June 12, 2013 9:17 am | by Craig Kuhl | CommentsMore devices, more choices and more broadband translate to more intelligence in our home networks, and intelligent gateways will lead the way. That was the key takeaway from the first of Tuesday’s Spring Technical Forums: “Human Touch: The Intersection of Intelligent Devices and Intelligent Consumers.”
Cable Show: Gigabit DOCSIS? Yeah, we can do that
June 11, 2013 5:18 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsIn a 3.0 demo, CableLabs was bonding 128 channels to crank out in excess of 4 Gbps in a total of 768 MHz. In the 3.1 demo, which included OFDM modulation and LDPC error correction, CableLabs was pushing data at a clip in excess of 6 Gbps, but in only 650 MHz, the better to show the spectral efficiency inherent in the move to OFDM.
Comcast’s Roberts unveils X2 operating system
June 11, 2013 2:07 pm | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAt last year’s Cable Show, Comcast Cable president Neil Smit officially introduced the company’s next generation platform, the X1. As far as innovation goes, the X1 is so last year as Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts revealed the X2 operating system on Tuesday at the Cable Show.
Broadcom debuts headless gateway
June 11, 2013 9:52 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsBroadcom is introducing a headless video gateway IC that can be used to power boxes that can deliver both IP and QAM video. While larger MSOs are collaborating on mapping out a path toward a converged network that serves a variety of customer premise equipment (CPE) that can range from simple, inexpensive one-way DTAs to complex and expensive gateways...
Cable Show: TiVo powers up mobile app for cable operators
June 11, 2013 9:47 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsTiVo is offering cable operators its mobile app that enables second screen viewing in homes with and without TiVo devices. Atlantic Broadband, which recently signed up with TiVo, will be the first cable operator in the United States to deploy TiVo’s mobile app. When Atlantic Broadband launches its TiVo offering in the fall, it will include the TiVo mobile applications in addition to TiVo set-top boxes and DVRs.
Cable Show: Mediacom bows home automation service
June 11, 2013 9:41 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsMediacom Communications has joined the ranks of cable operators that are offering a home automation service to their subscribers. Mediacom, the eighth-largest cable operator in the nation, has joined Comporium Communications’ security, monitoring and automation (SMA) dealer program to deliver the home automation service across its footprint.
A win/win for Arris with Comcast
June 11, 2013 9:36 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsArris nabbed two customer wins with Comcast for its XGI gateway and the vendor’s E6000 Converged Edge Router (CER). The XGI was based on the Comcast Reference Design Kit (RDK), which Comcast developed to speed up the rate of innovation on set-top boxes and gateways.
From the Cable Show: TV Everywhere not a product but a process
June 10, 2013 6:34 pm | by Craig Kuhl, Contributing Editor | CommentsBuilding a viable business model for TV Everywhere is a tedious and complicated process, with authentication and measurement issues the leading prerequisites for achieving the ultimate goal of content ubiquity. That was the conventional wisdom shared by panelists during Monday’s Authenticate Me, Baby: Consumer Behavior in the TV Everywhere Era session.
From the Cable Show: "Disruptors" not so disruptive
June 10, 2013 6:25 pm | by Brian Santo | CommentsExecutives from Vox Media, Jawbone, Twitter, and Roku were all quite enthusiastic about being complements to the cable industry, but they all wished that cable would innovate a little faster. Tom Rutledge meanwhile essentially admonished programmers to give it up already.
Comcast to turn up millions of Wi-Fi hotspots in neighborhoods
June 10, 2013 11:08 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsUsing subscribers’ home gateways, Comcast plans on booting up millions of Wi-Fi access points for its customers through its neighborhood hotspot initiative. After trials last year in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metro area, there are currently more than 100,000 hotspots enabled in customers’ neighborhoods.
Cable Show: Cox, Cisco team up on two CCAP trials
June 10, 2013 11:01 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsCox Communications and Cisco have taken the cable industry’s converged cable access platform (CCAP) for a test-drive in two trials. In addition to Cox, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have also kicked the tires on CCAP, which will eventually combine edge QAMs and cable modem termination systems into one ultra-dense platform.
Cable Show: Cable WiFi Alliance tops 150,000 hotspots
June 10, 2013 10:55 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsRoughly one year after five of the top-six cable operators in the nation announced that they had formed a pact to share each other’s Wi-Fi hotspots, the Cable WiFi Alliance has topped 150,000 access points across the nation. All told, the 150,000 hotspots represent the largest Wi-Fi network in the nation.
TWC has more than 12k hotspots in Southern Cal
June 10, 2013 10:50 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsTwo years after announcing it was spending $15 million to build a Wi-Fi network in the Los Angeles area, Time Warner Cable announced it was up to 12,000 hotspots. Today the Wi-Fi network spans more than 300 miles of Southern California and features more than 12,000 hotspots.
Cable Show: Comcast launches Xfinity Home Control
June 10, 2013 10:33 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsComcast announced today that it has launched Xfinity Home Control, which allows subscribers to remotely adjust thermostats or lighting without the professional security monitoring that is offered with other Xfinity Home services, which are now called Xfinity Home Secure. Among other features, Xfinity Home Control provides customers with the ability to get real-time text and email alerts when doors and windows open or close.
Cable Show: LG debuts line of ‘smart’ set-top boxes
June 10, 2013 10:28 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsLG Electronics has introduced a line of what it’s calling smart set-top boxes (STBs), a set of IP boxes that can be used to deliver live, linear TV programming as well as over-the-top (OTT) services. LG’s Google TV-based IPTV STB supports services including live TV, VOD, a Chrome web browser and access to the Google Play store.
