Networking

ThinkAnalytics doubles its revenue

February 12, 2013 2:48 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Bolstered by a nice run of new customer signings, ThinkAnalytics reported financials that saw a doubling of its revenue and profits over the previous year. Recent new customer signings include Cox, Swisscom, Unitymedia in Germany, Zon in Portugal and Nordic operator Canal Digital.

SCTE offers 9 new or updated training courses

February 11, 2013 2:51 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers announced that it will offer a record 50 virtual classes this year, including nine new or revised courses, across a wide range of technical areas. This year’s virtual lineup is a 35 percent increase over the 37 classes it offered last year.

Milius and milestones

February 8, 2013 5:02 pm | by Brian Santo | Blogs | Comments

Ray Milius and his team are responsible for engineering matters at Starz. Starz is not among the largest programmers, but it frequently is among the first programmers to adopt new technologies. Recently, Ray and his team got Starz into TV Everywhere with its Encore and MoviePlex On Demand And Play services.

Making the second screen work

February 7, 2013 12:52 pm | by Brian Santo | Articles | Comments

Years after Netflix, smartphones and tablets all hit the scene, even those service providers capable of multi-screen delivery continue to struggle with the multi-screen phenomenon. That’s because even as service providers respond to viewers’ increasing appetite for video on screens other than the TV, consumers’ multi-screen behavior continues to evolve.

A kaleidoscope of moving parts

February 7, 2013 11:34 am | by Craig Kuhl, Contributing Editor | Articles | Comments

The once heavily tech-driven business model of small Tier 2 and Tier 3 cable and broadband service providers is morphing into a kaleidoscope of moving, interchangeable parts. Smaller operators whose subscriber counts number in the four- and five-figure range are fiddling with and tweaking their business models like never before.

Managing the multi-screen video transformation

February 7, 2013 10:56 am | by Paul Casinelli, product manager at IneoQuest Technologies | Articles | Comments

The multi-screen transformation has taken the video world by storm. Customers now expect the same video services they receive on their set-top box on their video-capable devices. Adoption of multi-screen services is occurring across the spectrum, running the gamut of service providers, content providers and enterprises.

Harnessing the power of interoperability

February 6, 2013 11:59 am | by Robin Mersh, CEO of Broadband Forum | Articles | Comments

Technology development is accelerating, and consumer and enterprise demand for bandwidth-hungry content and applications continues to expand. The need for global standardization has become an industry prerequisite, driven by the needs of service providers to deliver robust new services quickly and cost-effectively.

Malone’s Liberty Global eyes Virgin Media

February 5, 2013 3:02 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

John Malone’s Liberty Global is in the process of cooking up a deal to buy Virgin Media. Virgin Media’s price tag could be in the range of $24 billion, while its market capitalization stands at $10.4 billion. Including debt, its enterprise value is around $19.4 billion.

Memory Lane - Broadband’s latest wrinkle

February 4, 2013 12:54 pm | by Stewart Schley, media and technology writer | Articles | Comments

There is a movement toward usage-based pricing that borrows from an electrical utility model of the early 1900s. Today’s megabits are yesterday’s kilowatts, and like power companies before them, service providers appreciate the symbiotic relationship that device makers can deliver.

Open Mic - Showcasing the value of personalization

February 4, 2013 12:07 pm | by Peter Docherty, founder and CTO of ThinkAnalytics | Articles | Comments

There are so many TV choices available that it’s virtually impossible for consumers to discover what’s really there. The challenge is proactively presenting subscribers with personalized content recommendations, instead of forcing them to work hard to find something they like to watch.

New Products - February 2013

February 4, 2013 11:00 am | by CED Magazine | Product Releases | Comments

Greenlee introduced its new 910FS Optical Fusion Splicer and 910CL Optical Fiber Cleaver; Actiontec launched ScreenBeam, a wireless display kit that lets users mirror their PC, tablet and smartphone displays on an HDTV; and Celeno and Atmel are developing integrated solutions for high-performance Wi-Fi Direct remote controls.

Time Warner Cable gears up for launch of cloud-based UI on IP boxes

January 31, 2013 2:33 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

On a fourth-quarter and year-end earnings conference call, Time Warner Cable President and COO Rob Marcus outlined some of the cable operator’s key initiatives for this year, which included the rollout of a cloud-based user interface on IP set-top boxes and gateways.

Broadcom snags BroadLogic

January 30, 2013 2:30 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Broadcom has purchased BroadLogic, Broadcom confirmed. The acquisition was made months ago, during the summer of 2012, but was not announced. The only previous public mention of the action was a status update attesting to the fact on the website of one of BroadLogic’s investors.

ThinkAnalytics 1st recommendation vendor to sign up for Comcast RDK

January 29, 2013 3:09 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

United Kingdom-based ThinkAnalytics continues to make inroads into the United States. To wit: ThinkAnalytics’ recommendation engine is the first and only one to date to license the Comcast Reference Design Kit (RDK) software stack. Vendors have been lining up in droves to take part in Comcast’s RDK efforts.

Netgear nabs Sierra Wireless' AirCard business for $138M

January 29, 2013 2:56 pm | by Andrew Berg, Wireless Week | News | Comments

Ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings call, Netgear announced an agreement to acquire the operations of Sierra Wireless' AirCard business. The purchase price is approximately $138 million in cash. The final purchase price is subject to adjustments after closing.