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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Conax offering SDK for PlayReady DRM client
June 5, 2013 2:25 pm | by Brian Santo | News | 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 | News | 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 | News | 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 | News | 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 | News | 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.
Rovi releases SDK for adding HEVC codecs
June 4, 2013 1:50 pm | by Brian Santo | Product Releases | CommentsThe SDK includes the company’s patent-pending Smart Adaptive Bitrate Encoding Technology (SABET), which enables the generation of as many as ten simultaneous output streams from a single source, reducing CPU cycles by utilizing common encoding processes across all levels, Rovi explained. This facility should help lower the costs and reduce the time required for the mass transcoding of large video content libraries to HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding).
TWC: IntelligentHome rollouts nearly complete
June 4, 2013 1:18 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | 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.
VeEx to purchase Sunrise Telecom
June 3, 2013 2:45 pm | by Brian Santo | News | CommentsVeEX is buying Sunrise Telecom, a deal that will combine the former’s telecom and cable test equipment business with the latter’s expertise in test, monitoring and workflow management solutions for cable, telecom, wireless operators, and equipment manufacturers. VeEX said it will acquire substantially all of the operating assets of Sunrise Telecom.
Idaho mapping extent of broadband deserts
June 3, 2013 1:38 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsLook at a map showing broadband Internet access in Idaho and you'll see broad swaths of online nothingness. About 85 percent of Idahoans have good access to some form of high-speed Internet, but that population is concentrated in the urban areas that make up a fraction of the state's land mass. Scattered across the vast spaces that remain, rural Idahoans are often hard-pressed to communicate and do business.
Virgin Media testing MPEG-DASH
June 3, 2013 1:30 pm | by Brian Santo | News | CommentsVirgin Media is trying out Harmonic's ProMedia Suite as a delivery mechanism for MPEG-DASH. Harmonic's ProMedia Live transcodes MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC H.264 content to multiple adaptive bit-rate streams optimized for the Virgin Media MPEG-DASH service. Virgin Media and Harmonic are demonstrating the MPEG-DASH workflow at the ANGA show this week in Germany.
Mobile video consumption growing at 60 percent / year
June 3, 2013 1:23 pm | by Brian Santo | News | CommentsVideo consumption on mobile devices continues to increase at an extraordinary rate – 60 percent annually, and it is expected to continue to grow at that clip for at least another 5 years, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report. Video consumption is on average 2.6GB per subscription per month in some networks.
Concurrent software manages VOD / CDN storage
June 3, 2013 1:17 pm | by Brian Santo | Product Releases | CommentsConcurrent has developed a video archiving system that matches the popularity of any given video asset to the most cost-efficient storage option available as that asset waxes and wanes in popularity. The company said an unidentified major customer is testing the product, a software element of Concurrent’s MediaHawk video processing platform.
Cable One ditches overage fees, adds two new data tiers
June 3, 2013 12:38 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsStarting June 10, Cable One will cut out data plans that include overage fees, and will start offering two faster data tiers. Instead of the overage fees, next week Cable One will allow subscribers of its 50 Mbps plan 300 GB per month after previously giving them a threshold 100 GB before implementing the fees.
Numericable picks Casa Systems’ CMTS
June 3, 2013 12:32 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsNumericable, which is France’s largest cable operator, has selected Casa Systems C10G cable modem termination system (CMTS) to support the deployment of its 100 Mbps data tier and VoIP service. Usin the C10G puts Numericable on the evolutionary pathway to the cable industry’s CCAP architecture that combines an edge QAM and CMTS onto one dense platform.
Time Warner Cable offers one-hour service windows in NYC
May 31, 2013 12:39 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Commentsime Warner Cable is polishing up its customer service by offering its subscribers in some areas of New York City one-hour appointment windows for installation of its triple play services. The nation’s second-largest cable operator is also offering expanded nighttime appointment time slots daily from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Lower and Midtown Manhattan
