News
FREE Email Newsletter
Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Excite OKs cable deadline; shuts overseas offices
June 5, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsExciteAtHome extended an exclusivity deadline with Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications; has shut down its media operations in Germany, France and Spain; and has appointed a new COO. The company said yesterday it's in talks with Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc. to "explore a restructuring of its commercial relationships with these companies.
Software tests pre-prototype cable modems
June 5, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsHold off on that cable modem prototype. A new product from Opnet Technologies Inc. and CableLabs' Bandwidth Modeling and Management Vendor Forum is designed to let manufacturers test different product configurations and architectures before the prototype is built. The DOCSIS 1.1 model software also allows cable operators to create virtual representations of proposed cable modem networks when ev...
Liberate opens PopTV lab
June 4, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsWant to see how all those new, interactive applications will work on set-top boxes? Liberate Technologies just opened its PopTV Lab, designed to let the company's PopTV content and application partners develop, refine and test new ITV products. PopTV partners previously used Liberate's TV Emulator, a product that runs on a PC but gives them a look at what their content or application would look...
Lucent affirms Q3 guidance
June 4, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsLucent Technologies's third quarter will show modest sequential growth over its $5.915 billion, second-quarter numbers, Chair and CEO Henry Schacht said today at the Supercomm Show in Atlanta. Schacht reaffirmed the company's financial guidance in a meeting with financial analysts. "Our turnaround plan envisions quarter-to-quarter progress, and we continue on that path," he says.
WINfirst selects Harmonic digital headends
June 4, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsHarmonic Inc. will supply WINfirst with "open" system solutions for digital headends in Sacramento and Dallas, Harmonic reports. WINfirst is building a new fiber-to-the-home network in both cities. The deployment will use Harmonic's digital TV headend systems, including its DiviCom line of encoders, MN20 multiplexers, SimulCrypt conditional access interfaces, the Narrowcast Services Gateway for...
Vyyo ups upstream offerings
June 3, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsVyyo aims to lend more symmetry to asymmetric systems. The company just made upstream 16 QAM and upstream QPSK available in its broadband fixed wireless modulation schemes. Vyyo says its three current downstream modulation schemes — 64 QAM, 16 QAM and QPSK — are designed to let carriers optimize networks for different customer applications.
PVR survey to study viewer habits, impact
June 3, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsSo who's using Personal Video Recorders, how, when and exactly what are they doing to those commercials? A curious NextResearch Inc. says it's developing a study to find the answers. Questionnaires go out this week and results should be available in about a month. "The main issue is time shifting, particularly for content providers," Chief Strategic Officer Leenie Ruben tells CEDaily.
Global lands $37 M ACCA contract
June 3, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsGlobal Crossing Ltd.'s Carrier Services Division signed a three-year, $37 million contract with Associated Communications Companies of America to provide ACCA members with voice and data, including carrier termination, toll-free service, dedicated voice, private line and IP transit. The agreement gives ACCA's 10 member companies significant purchasing power, while Global can reach multiple whol...
Study: Optical DWDM market to fall 11% in '01
June 3, 2001 8:00 pm | by Anne Kerven | CommentsMaybe you sensed it, but now it's official: The global market for optical components used in terrestrial DWDM and optical networking will fall 11 percent this year thanks to excess inventory and less network building. On the upside, growth will return in 2002, but at a more conservative rate, says a study from RHK Inc.
Cisco talks up 'Net phone technology
May 31, 2001 8:00 pm | by Staff | CommentsCisco Systems recently jazzed up its Internet-based phone technology with new Web surfing and speech recognition features, the latest effort by the networking giant to make old phone systems obsolete. Cisco competes against 3Com, Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies, and others in the emerging market for 'Net-based phone systems, which are a cheaper alternative and offer more features to busine...
Conexant, Motorola to develop silicon system for broadband devices
May 31, 2001 8:00 pm | by Staff | CommentsConexant Systems Inc. and Motorola Inc. have signed an agreement to develop system silicon technology for broadband communications devices. Conexant will supply standard cable modem chipsets to Motorola's broadband communications sector, and will support Motorola's semiconductor products sector, as a second source for these devices.
CableLabs forms bandwidth forum, cable B2B program
May 31, 2001 8:00 pm | by Staff | CommentsCableLabs recently launched a couple of programs aimed at bandwidth management and cable business to business. The Bandwidth Modeling and Management Vendor Forum will establish a venue where CableLabs members can discuss upcoming bandwidth modeling and management requirements with vendors. This forum will also provide a place where vendors can meet with members to discuss bandwidth management p...
BroadJump releases consumer preference results
May 31, 2001 8:00 pm | by Staff | CommentsBroadJump Inc. announced key findings from a recent study measuring subscriber preferences and purchasing behavior for premium broadband services. According to the study, virus protection and firewalls emerged as the most desired services, followed by Internet telephony, instant messaging and streaming audio.
Broadband networked households offer new challenges to service providers
May 31, 2001 8:00 pm | by Staff | CommentsOf the 30 million U.S. households predicted to have broadband service by 2004, 17 million will have a home network, a huge potential market that presents new opportunities, and unique challenges, to service providers. Initial data from Parks Associates' latest report, "The Broadband Networked Home: Profiles of an Emerging Market," indicates that this consumer segment already places strong empha...
Agreement opens doors for next- generation PVR technology
May 31, 2001 8:00 pm | by Staff | CommentsPhilips Semiconductors' Nexperia Home Entertainment Engines will soon support NDS' advanced personal video recorder (PVR) technology for set-top boxes. The combination of NDS' conditional access software and interactive systems with the Nexperia family will create next-generation solutions for the digital consumer market.
