THE BROADBAND FORUM ENDS THE YEAR STRONG AND LOOKS FORWARD TO A MILESTONE YEAR AHEAD

Approving 31 technical reports, expanding Certification options to include G-PON and TR-069 conformance, and advancing network architecture work towards FMC are among the annual highlights as the Forum honors two members with Distinguished Fellow awards at the Osaka meeting 18 December 2012, Fremont California: Gathering in Osaka for the final quarterly meeting of 2012, the Broadband Forum reflects on a dynamic year, celebrating the remarkable body of work that the Forum has again achieved. Annual highlights include the creation of 31 technical reports, the launch of the BBF.069 CPE Certification program and recognition of the first BBF.069 certified products, the new G-PON Certification successes and the advancement of the Broadband Forum’s end-to-end multiservice architecture specifications. Key technology experts from the Broadband Forum’s member organizations attended the quarterly meeting, representing many of the world’s leading Telco and Cable service providers, equipment manufacturers, chip vendors and other key organizations. “Each year I am amazed at the volume and quality of work we are able to deliver from each of our working groups,” said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum. “Our members work extremely hard and their enthusiasm and commitment is exemplary – it is their contribution which is driving forward a whole host of initiatives that will make broadband even better and the adoption of new technologies even faster.” BBF.069 CPE Certification takes off 2012 will be remembered in the industry for the key advances in TR-069 CPE WAN Management Protocol, the Broadband Forum’s globally adopted protocol and key enabler for the digital home. An Ovum Connected Home report, published in June, identified over 147M TR-069 managed devices by the end of 2011, which is set to soar following the launch of Broadband Forum’s BBF.069 CPE Certification Program and the announcement of the first devices to achieve Certification. The first companies with products to achieve certification are Broadcom, Cisco, D-Link, Huawei and Lantiq - all received certificates at a celebratory reception in Osaka, which was held in their honor, for this great achievement. Furthermore, the ITU-T’s recent approval of G.9980 and official recommendation of TR-069 cements TR-069 as THE remote management protocol in the global broadband industry’s toolbox. Malcolm Johnson, Director Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU said: “ITU welcomes the Broadband Forum's initiative to contribute its TR-069 management protocol for inclusion within an international ITU-T Recommendation. I believe this will strongly promote the availability of the standard and help operators to manage the wide range of devices on their networks and help to shape today’s broadband landscape.” Ending the year with great fanfare, the Broadband Forum was honored to be the first industry body to win the new Outstanding Contribution to Broadband Success award at the Broadband World Forum InfoVision Awards. This award was won in recognition of the global impact of the TR-069 CPE WAN Management Protocol. New mobile backhaul and multi-service requirements drive the development of a host of new network specifications Highlights of the year include the launch of the Forum’s latest release - BroadbandSuiteTM 6.0: 4G/LTE Ready Mobile Backhaul which addresses advanced mobile network requirements with specifications, test plans and best practice documentation. TR-223: “Requirements for MPLS over Aggregated Interfaces (MPLSoAI)” was approved and brings MPLS into the access aggregation space. The end-to-end architecture work progressed towards the goal of establishing a single converged network capable of ensuring quality multiservice delivery as well as ensuring compatibility and interworking for the next generation FMC network. The latest publications include: x TR-145: Multi-service Broadband Network Functional Modules and Architecture x TR-203: Interworking between Next Generation Fixed and 3GPP Wireless Networks x TR-242: IPv6 Transition Mechanisms for Broadband Networks x TR-254: Functionality Tests for Ethernet Based Access Nodes x TR-134: Broadband Policy Control Framework (BPCF)Chartered to drive medium to long term innovation in broadband, the Broadband Forum launched this year a new working group called SIMR – Service Innovation and Market Requirements. With a focus on the early identification and addressing of future business requirements, as well as potential enablers and disruptors, the Forum is committed to driving interoperability and expediting the next wave of innovation in the broadband industry. Work has already started on assessing the impact of Cloud, Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (SDN) on broadband deployments. Serving as the unified voice of the broadband industry, the Broadband Forum developed further technical input to the European Union’s code of conduct governing broadband energy efficiency targets. The Forum also initiated new work in the area of energy efficient MPLS mobile backhaul. The suite of DSL Quality Management (DQM) specifications are making quite an impact on measurement and provisioning practices worldwide. And building on that ONM theme, a key piece of work that is getting growing attention from operators and regulators is the Access Service Performance Metrics (WT-304), which will specify a test architecture and framework to enable standards-based broadband performance measurements. Forum honors its own Without amazing leadership and industry expertise, none of the Broadband Forum work would be possible. In Osaka, three awards were given to outstanding individuals. First congratulations go out to Yves Hertoghs from Cisco Systems, who was inducted into the Circle of Excellence for his ongoing contributions to the architecture work of the Broadband Forum. In the past 7 years, Yves has been a key contributor to TR-101 and TR-144, and as an editor he has played a pivotal role in getting TR-145 finalized. His continued support helps to drive discussions on future multi-service network architectures. Two long-serving members of the Broadband Forum, Andrew G. Malis of Verizon and AT&T’s Tom Anschutz, were recognized with Distinguished Fellow Awards, the Forum’s highest accolade. Andrew was recognized as one of the founding members and drivers, and later Chairman and President, of the IP/MPLS Forum (which is now part of the Broadband Forum) and for his contributions to the Frame Relay and ATM Forums. He serves today as a Vice President on the Broadband Forum Board. Tom is a distinguished network architect who has participated in the Forum from 2003 through 2012. Previously inducted into the Circle of Excellence for his work, he served as editor for TR-059 and TR-156, and has been a major contributor to TR-134, TR-101, WT-102, WT-081 and WT-178.“With gratitude to our members for their continued support, we celebrate this year of accomplishments, and look forward with anticipation of the challenges that 2013 will bring. From FTTdp to Network Enhanced Residential Gateways, Policy Convergence to Multi-service Architecture and Nodal Requirements - next year is already loaded with essential industry initiatives,” adds Tom Starr, Chairman of the Broadband Forum. With planning for the next wave of innovation in place, the Broadband Forum is continuing to provide early migration solutions and is committed to driving day-one interoperability of new technologies and services - proactively removing obstacles to new service provider offerings and deployments, while improving broadband customer experience. First tier telecomm accessories supply This white paper originally published here

The future of fiber is copper

For at least a couple of decades now, fiber has always been envisioned as the ultimate broadband access technology. It's only become economically viable as a last-mile option in the last five years or so, but nowadays FTTx is the fastest growing fixed-broadband access technology, according to Point Topic, as well as the most talked about - especially now that the data exaflood is on the way, generated by high-def 3D video and other bandwidth-hungry data apps and services. Meanwhile, just about every government-spawned national broadband plan either specifies FTTH as the preferred access technology, or is designed to encourage its deployment. Little wonder the future is fiber. Unless it isn't. And it might not be, according to a September Analysys Mason report that advises telcos to be cautious of fiber and focus on copper-based broadband. "FTTH is often said to be 'future-proof', but the future appears to have veered off in a different direction," says report author and Analysys Mason principal analyst Rupert Wood. Specifically, he says, while FTTH delivers super-fast data speeds, it lacks the kind of sexy service innovation seen in the wireless broadband space. "The vague promise of future services may appeal to some early FTTH adopters, but will become increasingly ineffective as a selling point unless the rate of innovation in devices and services that are uniquely suitable for FTTH gets some new impetus from vendors and service providers," Wood insists. "The future cannot be simply plotted against increasing fixed-line bandwidth." Meanwhile, government-funded broadband initiatives focused on fiber face budget issues in these economically uncertain times. Witness the debate in Australia where the NBN plan went from a wireless-based plan to a fiber-based plan as a result of the Labor Party winning the 2007 elections - and threatened to switch back this year if the Liberal/National Coalition won this year's elections due to concerns over the project's A$43 billion price tag. The Analysys Mason report doesn't recommend that telcos abandon FTTH, but does advise them to focus more on copper-based broadband technologies like VDSL. "Conditions vary between markets, but in general the business case [for FTTH] to move much beyond trials just isn't there and we are already beginning to see some scale-back," explains Wood.John C. Tanner | October 14, 2010 Specialize in xDSL filter/Splitter, Cables & IT relative accessories Original Article right here

China's Internet users breach half billion mark

Beijing tightens controls over popular microblogs Jan 11 (Reuters) - The number of Internet users in China have crossed the half billion mark, reaching 505 million users at the end of November last year, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reported. The Internet penetration rate stood at 37.7 percent, up 3.4 percent over the end of 2010, CNNIC said in a report released late last month. This compares with Internet penetration rates of more than 70 percent for China's more technologically advanced East Asian neighbours, Japan and South Korea. At the end of November, the number of microblog users exceeded 300 million, jumping from 195 million at the end of June, a CNNIC report released on Wednesday said, according to the official Xinhua News agency. In December, the Beijing city government said it would tighten control over popular microblogs that have vexed authorities with their rapid dissemination of news, giving users three months to register with their real names or face legal consequences. Sina Corp, the dominant force in China's microblogging, or Weibo, scene, is said to be contemplating the ways it can implement this rule in order to verify users' identities.SHANGHAI | Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:22am EST Specialize in xDSL filter/Splitter, Cables & IT relative accessories Original Article right here

Vendor M&As: revenues seem healthy

Last week, Google announced it would buy Motorola Mobility. Will there be more big deals between troubled telecom vendors and deep-pocketed players in adjacent sectors? Probably. The ever-growing strength of Chinese vendors and weak macroeconomy have raised all sorts of M&A speculation. Telecom vendors’ 2Q11 results, though, suggest that, at the very least, the sky is not falling. Mobile device revenue growth was very strong – up well over 40% from the year-ago quarter. Network infrastructure revenues also grew, up 7% for the quarter and up 10% for the first half. That’s consistent with Ovum’s projection for 2011 capex. But M&A is in the tech sector’s DNA and will continue to change the industry. Like evolution, it is unpredictable, messy, and lumpy, but it often produces sensible results in the long term. The road to 2020 will be a hard one for many telecom vendors. In late 2009, Ovum published a series of reports mapping out a vision of telecom’s likely evolution through 2020. One of those reports focused on the supply side: “Telecoms in 2020: Network Infrastructure”. Currently, for non-Chinese vendors, we are in the first stage on the road to 2020: full-service vendors are focused on cost efficiency and continue to downsize, outsource, and integrate operations. The pressure is high on middle-tier vendors such as Tellabs and Juniper, but there is plenty of room for specialized vendors (e.g. Tekelec, ADVA, Arris, Acme Packet), even if a weak venture capital market temporarily limits the flow of new players. The competitive landscape faced by vendors is being shaped by many forces, including: the financial crisis and need for cutbacks; the further rise of the Chinese vendors; the increased reliance on chips and components for competitive, timely offerings; the urge to enter new markets and acquire intellectual property through M&A and VC investments; and the introduction of new technology and standards simultaneous with improvements in the last generation (e.g. LTE vs. HSPA+, FTTH PON vs. VDSL). In short, it’s not an easy time to be a vendor. Growth and profits are difficult to achieve.Matt Walker/Ovum | August 23, 2011 Specialize in xDSL filter/Splitter, Cables & IT relative accessories Original Article right here

New VDSL Subscribers to Quadruple by 2014

New subscribers to very-high-bitrate digital subscriber line (VDSL) service are set to nearly quadruple by 2014 as more competitors begin to ramp up their support for the technology, according to new IHS iSuppli research. The number of new annual VDSL subscriber additions will grow to 60.1 million in 2014, up from just 15.6 million in 2009. A total of 23.3 million new VDSL subscribers were added in 2010. “The telco broadband market is undergoing a seismic shift,” said Lee Ratliff, senior analyst for broadband and digital home at IHS. “Newer technologies such as VDSL and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) have begun to emerge, while interest is waning within the industry for traditional broadband technologies like cable and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL).” Meanwhile, consumers also are willing to adopt the latest technology in order to get faster access to content. “As the broadband market switches from a focus on data to stressing wideband multi-service and multimedia, fatter pipes to receive content are becoming more desired,” Ratliff said. “Broadband rates of 1 to 5 megabits per second (Mbps) were adequate when people were only surfing the Internet, but peer-to-peer file sharing, online gaming, streaming audio, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and Internet protocol television (IPTV) now all could be operating within one home. Such heavy activity points likely to a future in which 50 to 100Mbps will be standard—which fits exactly with VDSL’s capabilities.” Ikanos Faces Increased Competition Long dominated by Ikanos Communications Inc., the VDSL semiconductor market recently has become much more competitive. While Ikanos still leads with 55 percent market share, that figure is down from 75 percent only a year ago with the trend unlikely to stop anytime soon. Lacking in intellectual property (IP) to create a single-chip gateway solution, Ikanos instead has centered its focus on advanced VDSL technology such as vectoring and bonding. Such a strategy will continue to supply the company with the most advanced technology, but without having an integration roadmap, the door also has opened for competitors Broadcom Corp. and Lantiq to grab their fair market share. Moreover, a new competitor with a history in the ADSL market, Ralink Technology Corp.—which recently acquired ADSL maker TrendChip Technologies Corp.—will soon bring a VDSL chip to the market in the first quarter of 2011. Ralink promises to bring a new level of cost competitiveness to the VDSL market, further squeezing Ikanos.Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 Let us know if we could assist you! Here’s original Article

An overview of VDSL2 vectoring

Vectored DSL as defined in ITU-T Recommendation G.993.5 supports line speeds of greater than 100 Mbps on loops up to 500 meters in length, enabling the most advanced application services to be carried over copper. With appropriate placement of DSLAMs, use of management tools and techniques such as bonding of vectored lines and use of DQM techniques, vectored DSL becomes an important tool for network operator to provide broadband services such as IPTV to all their customers. The emergence of vectored DSL provides the DSL based service provider with the tools that facilitate supporting the bandwidths required for higher valued premium services over their existing copper based networks and helps ensure that deployment of DSL increases as broadband services continue to evolve.Broadband Forum | July 24, 2012 Specialize in xDSL filter/Splitter, Cables & IT relative accessories Original Article right here

Clearninghouse Certificate

ACCC gives green light to Telstra separation

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given the National Broadband Network (NBN) its tick of approval with the acceptance of Telstra’s Structural Separation Undertaking (SSU) and draft migration plan.

Australia’s number on telco submitted the SSU and draft migration plan to the ACCC in August, which commits Telstra to structurally separate by 1 July 2018. It also maps out the measures Telstra will put in place to provide transparency and equivalence in the supply of services to wholesale customers during the transition to the NBN.

ACCC chairperson, Rod Sims, said the acceptance of the SSU marked a significant milestone in the structural reform of the telecommunications sector.

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"This SSU has been the subject of extensive consultation and public discussion. The ACCC acknowledges contributions from industry, as well as the preparedness of Telstra and NBN Co to modify the undertaking in response to legitimate concerns,” he said in a statement.

The telco submitted its final SSU to the watchdog recently, to address concerns raised by the watchdog. Changes included clarification on the operation of the overarching pricing equivalence commitment, and also how wholesale customers access reference prices for regulated services. "In particular, Telstra has made substantial improvements to its interim equivalence and transparency commitments, which are intended to ensure that wholesale customers gain access to key input services on an equivalent basis to Telstra's retail business units during the transition to the National Broadband Network."

In the SSU approval document released by the ACCC, the regulator said the SSU specified a range of measures to apply to Telstra’s supply of fixed line access services to its wholesale customers.

“Of particular significance is the commitment that Telstra has given to providing equivalent outcomes for wholesale customers as are achievable by Telstra’s retail businesses.

“The inclusion of this commitment provides additional assurance that the equivalence and transparency measures will remain appropriate and effective for the duration of the migration period.

“The SSU also specifies measures that will enable the ACCC to monitor Telstra’s compliance with its various commitments.”

Telstra has also sought to renegotiate existing wholesale ADSL contracts following the watchdog’s recent interim access determination if requested by a wholesale customer. The interim wholesale price will be in place for 12 months, as a final access determination is established.

According to Sims, NBN Co and Telstra have also addressed some issues regarding commercial arrangements, with restrictions on Telstra promoting wireless services as a substitute for fibre services replaced with a requirement that it meet existing Australian consumer law requirements.

“Any subsequent amendments to the commercial arrangements that would restrict either party from competing will now be subject to ACCC oversight – this is effected by a joint undertaking that NBN Co and Telstra have given to the ACCC.”

Telstra chief executive, David Thodey, said the telco could now work with the government to finalise the processes to implement the definitive agreements.

“There are a small number of matters left to finalise with the Government, including NBN Co shareholder approval and Telstra receiving Ministerial waivers from the legislative requirement to divest our HFC network and our share in FOXTEL,” Thodey said in a statement.

“The SSU comes into force once these waivers are received,” Mr Thodey said.

Both the SSU and migration plan will become effective once the Minister has exempted Telstra from the requirement to give undertakings on its subscription television broadcasting licence and its hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network.

There will be a two month period for the telco to implement interim equivalence and transparency measures before they become enforceable.Chloe Herrick (Computerworld)28 February, 2012 12:36Comments

Follow Chloe Herrick on Twitter: @chloe_CW

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Apple expected to unveil iPad 3 on March 7

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) issued invitations to the media for an event in San Francisco next week where it is expected to release its next version of its popular iPad tablet.

The event will take place March 7 at 1 p.m. ET at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, where Apple has held previous product launches. The invitation only says: "We have something you really have to see. And touch." However, it has been speculated for some time that the company will introduce its latest iPad in March and that it will include an LTE modem, the first LTE product for Apple. An LTE tablet could be a presage to an LTE iPhone later this year.

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will launch an LTE version of the iPad, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal from earlier this month. AT&T and Verizon have been the only two U.S. carriers so far to offer the iPad, though Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) started selling the iPhone last fall.

Apple has historically held off on supporting new wireless network technologies until the networks provide ample coverage, and thus a positive user experience. Currently, Verizon's LTE network covers more than 200 million POPs and AT&T's LTE network covers more than 74 million POPs. Additionally, the iPad's larger battery and customers' penchant for using the iPad on Wi-Fi networks could have made the addition of LTE more palatable to Apple--critics have noted that LTE connections quickly burn through users' smartphone batteries. According to multiple reports the device will also have a 2048×1536 Retina Display and a faster processor.February 28, 2012 — 12:24pm ET | By Phil Goldstein

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Gigabit Internet for $70

SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA—Two things set a one-block stretch of Florence Avenue apart from other American streets. One is the quirky metal sculptures planted in front of most homes; the other is the Internet traffic coursing through recently-strung fiber-optic cables on the block’s utility poles. They offer each house up to one gigabit per second in bandwidth, making this one of the fastest streets in America.

While some other cities can also brag about gigabit access, in this Sonoma County town it costs only $69.95 a month.

The service comes courtesy of Sonic.net, the18-year-old Internet provider based in the neighboring city of Santa Rosa. And Sonic even throws in two phone lines with unlimited long-distance calling when you sign up.

Despite living on one of the best broadband streets in the country, almost none of the few dozen residents on Florence Avenue bother with the highest-end gigabit service, though. And why should they? Sonic's everyday 100 Mbps fiber offering costs just $39.95 a month, the same price Sonic used to charge for its 20 Mbps DSL connections (It includes unlimited phone, too.)

Compare Sonic’s 100 Mbps price to the two better-known area options for broadband—Comcast's Xfinity Extreme 105 Mbps service runs $199.95 a month, while AT&T's U-Verse tops out at 24 Mbps for $49.95.


It's actually much faster than this
Rob Pegoraro
Gigabit access is fast—fast enough at one Sebastopol subscriber's house to perplex Ookla's Speedtest.net. The service incorrectly reported the person’s connection at a mere 134 Mbps. Downloading the current release of Ubuntu Linux didn't help, either; on two different tries, the server simply couldn’t provide the 695-megabyte file as quickly as the connection allowed.

But there was no mistaking the speed of Sonic’s system when I pulled up a YouTube clip and saw the entire video buffer instantly, even on a “mere” 100 Mbps connection.

Even better, Sonic does not place any data caps on its service.

As ISPs often note, people keep using more data; what they usually neglect to mention is that the costs of providing it have dropped dramatically. "It's reasonable to say that consumer bandwidth consumption went up,” Sonic chief executive and co-founder Dane Jasper said when I stopped in for a visit at his Santa Rosa office late last year. “But at the same time, the cost of clearing those bits keeps going down."

Wondering "why can't somebody else do this?" You're asking the right question. But you may not like the answer.

The twilight of DSL

Privately-held Sonic is an unlikely survivor. As a small digital-subscriber-line (DSL) service, one might have expected it to go extinct like most of its brethren after the Federal Communications Commission largely deregulated the DSL business.

The FCC's 2005 decision to reclassify DSL as an "information service" (PDF) came after several bruising years for upstart ISPs that saw overleveraged firms like NorthPoint Communications and Rhythms NetConnections implode, abruptly disconnecting subscribers as they tumbled into bankruptcy. When the FCC ended incumbent carriers’ obligations to sell last-mile access to competing ISPs at regulated rates, things got even worse for independent DSL providers.


One of the Patrick Amiot sculptures on Florence Avenue in Sebastopol
Chris Willis
Those that survived were stuck with a growing competition problem: they couldn't provide DSL at speeds faster than the incumbents, and they were now more expensive, too.

"We were on this dead-end street… all essentially selling the same thing," said Jasper.

One way Sonic could stand out, however, was through customer service. Its consistently high reviews on DSLReports.com speak to its success there. But with cable services getting faster, Sonic had to get more out of DSL technology if it wanted to compete. In 2008, Sonic began rolling out the faster ADSL2+, finally offering speeds competitive with cable to customers who were close enough to a phone company’s central office (prices ranged from 6 Mbps for $45 to 18 Mbps for $80).

The company increased speeds while cutting costs, taking advantage of cheaper upstream connectivity. A year later, the cost of 18 Mbps service fell to $55. Sonic, having obtained a phone service license from the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in 2006, added voice calling as an option. It then made voice a standard feature in 2010, with unlimited nationwide calling in a $50, 20 Mbps bundle. (That plan is now down to $39.95.)

The tradeoff for relying on ADSL2+ is limited coverage. The service's reach is fairly extensive in San Francisco but, in towns like Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, it doesn't get far outside the downtown.

Customers beyond that perimeter (about half of Sonic's less-than-50,000 subscribers, Jasper included) can only access the older, slower form of DSL that cable providers like to mock in their ads: 3-6 Mbps for $39.95 (although that's cut to $19.95 for the first year.)

If Sonic were to not just survive but succeed, it needed a plan for the future that wouldn't be tied up in somebody else's copper telephone wire. It settled on fiber.

The jump to fiber

Deploying fiber-to-the-home service is a big step. Sonic kicked off this buildout on favorable ground: a reasonably dense neighborhood in Sebastopol, a compact town of 7,397 that may be best-known as the home of tech-book publisher O'Reilly and Associates. Sonic began contacting DSL subscribers there last year with an absurd-to-resist offer: five times their current speed for the same price.

But why did Sonic also offer gigabit access at only twice the price of its 100 Mbps service? Said Jasper: Why not? "The cost differential between a customer who's connected at all and one who's connected at one gigabit [per second] is nominal." Calling the $69.95 service "a headline product," he noted one key reason for Sonic to offer it: because others can't.

The math behind Sonic's marketing is not so absurd. Once the company moves a DSL customer to fiber, it can stop renting the copper loop from the local phone company office to their home, which costs about $12 a month. From there, the company begins the countdown to recover the "sub-$500" cost to deploy fiber to that home.

"On paper, the model is viable," wrote Diffraction Analysis CEO and co-founder Benoît Felten. He noted Sonic's advantages of being able to start in customer-rich neighborhoods served by cheap overhead lines instead of more expensive to deploy underground conduit. He also emphasized the importance of getting enough customers to upgrade. "If you get in the 40 percent plus [range] it starts to look golden, and if you're in the 60 percent range,” he said, “you've built a cash printing machine."

But expanding on a much larger scale might create financing issues. "On the scale that Sonic.net is currently considering, they can self-finance,” he added, “but if it works and they want to go beyond that, they will need a lot of capital that, as far as I'm aware, they don't currently have."

Jasper confirmed the suspicion; Sonic will have to take on debt if it continues to expand—as it hopes to do so. In a few more months, he said, it will start to advertise the service; by the end of this year, Sonic aims to pass about 2,500 homes in Sebastopol with fiber, plus some 20,000 more in San Francisco's Sunset District.

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Google fiber edging device could help it rapidly connect homes in Kansas City to 1-Gig

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has developed a fiber deployment method and device that could allow it to rapidly connect homes to its 1 Gigabit network in Kansas and Missouri without having to dig trenches in the yards of subscribers, according to a patent application obtained by FierceCable.

Rather than bury fiber optic cables in yards or gardens, which Google notes in the patent application "requires significant effort and time," Google has developed a narrow edging strip similar to decorative wall molding that would conceal fiber run from demarcation points in streets to subscriber homes.

"The edging device may have decorative color or pattern on the outside surface for aesthetic purposes," Google says in the patent application, adding that "different styles of coatings may be separately available to the customers." A diagram Google includes in the application shows an edging device that is concealed at the edge of a subscriber's driveway, running from the street to an optical network terminal (ONT) attached to the side of a home.

Google began construction of its fiber network in Kansas City earlier this month, noting in a Feb. 6 blog post that it would focus initially on building a "solid fiber backbone" consisting of thousands of miles of cable. The patent application shows how it may be able to prepare homes for its ultrafast broadband service before it extends the fiber backbone to all neighborhoods in Kansas City.

"Tubing suitable for installation of air blown fiber may be installed in an edging device without embedding fiber cables in the tubing," Google states in the patent application. "Later, when the FTTx (fiber-to-the-home, or fiber-to-the-premise network) is available in the area, the fiber cables may be air blown or otherwise inserted into and guided through the tubing or the duct inside the edging device."


A diagram of Google's fiber edging strip from its patent application.

Google will challenge incumbents Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and AT&T (NYSE: T) with its 1 Gbps network, which may also include a subscription TV offering. Cable overbuilders such as Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T occasionally receive criticism for scarring the lawns of subscribers in order to offer new high-speed Internet and pay TV services. In addition to helping it quickly connect homes to its fiber network, Google's approach could help it reduce damage caused by burying cables underground. It could also allow Google to easily remove fiber cables from customer homes after it completes the pilot project in Kansas City.

"Aspects of the invention provide a low-impact, convenient, time-efficient and cost-saving optical fiber deployment technology," Google states in the patent application, which is titled "cable edging systems and methods."

The edging strips would be 5 to 7 centimeters wide, and 1 to 5 millimeters thick, depending upon the number of cables they contain, Google says in the patent. The edging strips could be pressed into the ground, placed into a slot that would be cut into the ground, or run along cracks in a driveway.

"Various locations may be selected to install the fiber-optic cable from a demarcation point to the ONT. One of the locations to install the edging device may be along the boundary line of the driveway and the lawn. Existing cracked slots in the customer's property, for example, a slot along the driveway, may be utilized to deploy the edging device," Google writes in the patent application, which was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on Dec. 29.

Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres declined to comment on questions regarding the edging device and how it relates to the fiber rollout in Kansas City. February 27, 2012 — 8:56am ET | By Steve Donohue

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TDS Telecom bets on broadband, video drive up Q4 2011 revenue

Buoyed by strong gains in consumer triple play and managed business services, TDS Telecom's operating revenues increased 4 percent to $206.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

TDS Telecom's parent company Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE: TDS) reported $1.3 billion in operating revenues for Q4 2011, up from $1.2 billion in Q4 2010.

For the year 2011, TDS reported $5.1 billion in operating revenues, up from $4.9 billion in 2010, while net income was $200.5 million, or $1.83 in diluted earnings per share.

"TDS increased revenues and improved profitability in 2011, despite very competitive industry environments for both U.S. Cellular and TDS Telecom," said LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr., TDS president and CEO. "Both companies are making significant investments in their networks and operational infrastructure to enhance customer experiences and improve operational efficiency."

Here's a quick breakdown of the ILEC's key metrics:

Landline Losses: During the quarter, TDS as expected lost 8,100 access lines, ending the quarter and year with 754,400 total lines.
Business Services: In the business segment, the growth engine is centered around its managedIP offerings, which it delivers via both its ILEC and CLEC divisions. ManagedIP stations during the quarter grew to 43,100 from 27,400.
Broadband and video: Although broadband service continues to be a hot seller, TDS Telecom only added 600 new customers during the quarter.
Looking into 2012, the key areas of growth will be around expanding broadband speeds and availability, business managed services and IPTV.

Leveraging emerging technologies including Fiber to the Home (FTTH) in select markets and hybrid copper/fiber VDSL2 technology, the service provider plans to increase broadband speeds in its existing markets and extend IPTV service to an additional 19 markets. What's more, the service provider said it's on track to complete a number of broadband stimulus projects to extend services in areas that were traditionally hard to serve.

It will be no less aggressive on the business side with plans to expand the hosted managed services footprint and service portfolio.

From a revenue standpoint, the service provider forecast $810-$840 million for its ILEC and CLEC operations. February 24, 2012 — 9:53am ET | By Sean Buckley

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FTTH/B subscribership rose to 54 million by the middle of 2011

Fiber to the Home (FTTH) may not be the universal last mile access service yet, but according to Idate, fiber-based broadband subscribers increased 54 percent to nearly 67 million worldwide by the middle of 2011.

During the six month period, the amount of buildings and homes that service providers passed with fiber networks increased over 47 percent to almost 179 million.

By taking into consideration other fiber-based technologies, including the telco's hybrid copper/fiber-based VDSL2 and the cable industry's coax/fiber-based fiber to the last amplifier (FTTLA) architectures, and FTTX+LAN, service provider's last mile fiber deployments passed 112.7 million subscribers and 361.7 million homes/businesses at the end of June 2011.

From a country perspective, Japan leads the FTTH/B market, but Idate forecasts China, whose three main service providers--China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom--are aggressively rolling out FTTH/B, will soon surpass it. China Telecom, for one, is moving ahead with building out a FTTH network that can handle 18 million lines with 100 Mbps capabilities in major cities.

Holding onto the number three spot was South Korea, followed by the United States, Russia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Sweden and France.

Overall, Asia-Pacific made up 68.6 percent of all FTTH/B subscribers as of the end of 2011, a figure that will grow to 72.8 percent by 2015.February 14, 2012 — 11:37pm ET | By Sean Buckley

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Cincinnati Bell's Q4 wireline revenue gets boost from data center, fiber-based broadband

Cincinnati Bell's (NYSE: CBB) wireline story in the fourth quarter was once again buoyed by growth in its data center business and fiber-based Fioptics service.

The ILEC reported overall revenue of $365 million, versus $363 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, while operating income declined to $9 million from $65 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, due primarily to a $50 million goodwill impairment loss in the fourth quarter.

For the year, company revenue was $1.5 billion, exceeding guidance of $1.4 billion.

"In terms of both revenue and adjusted EBITDA, this has been the company's best year since 2003, and we are particularly pleased with the growth momentum of our data center business and the strong and stable performance of our legacy communications business," said Jack Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of Cincinnati Bell, in the company's earnings release.

Data Center Colocation continued to be the shining star in Cincinnati Bell's service portfolio, generating revenue of $49 million, a 21 percent increase over the last quarter of 2010. To keep up with demand, the service provider's data center unit CyrusOne added 27,000 square feet of data center space and sold 43,000 square feet, increasing the segment's utilization to 88 percent.

In 2011, Cincinnati Bell built out 124,000 square feet of additional data center space, increasing total capacity to 763,000 square feet, and sold 110,000 square feet. The service provider announced this week that it's now considering structural, capital and financial alternatives for the data center business.

Although Cincinnati Bell continues to see traditional voice revenue losses, the increasing demand for its Fioptics product suite helped drive up wireline revenues to $180 million, narrowing losses to one percent year over year. These results enabled the wireline division to achieve adjusted EBITDA margins of 49 percent in both the full year and the fourth quarter of 2011, comparable to the full year in 2010.

During the quarter, the wireline segment passed 19,000 additional homes and businesses with its Fioptics product suite, bringing the total number of premises passed with the service to 134,000. This year the service provider has set a goal of passing another 40,000 new units.

As expected, the growth of Fioptics helped offset its loss of 11,000 traditional DSL subscribers in the quarter. It added 2,000 new Fioptics entertainment subscribers in the quarter, or 12,000 during the year, driving the total base to 40,000 customers. At the end of 2011, Cincinnati Bell had 257,000 high-speed Internet subscribers.

On a yearly basis, wireline revenue declined only one percent to $732 million, while operating income and adjusted EBITDA both decreased by 2 percent to $229 million and $355 million, respectively.

Looking towards the rest of 2012, the telco has forecast $1.5 billion in overall revenue and about $530 million in adjusted EBITDA.February 10, 2012 — 10:57am ET | By Sean Buckley

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Alcatel-Lucent Selected by Telmex as a Key Supplier to Build Latin America's Largest and Fastest Broadband Access Network

MEXICO CITY and PARIS, Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) announced the launch of one of Latin America's largest broadband access networks with Telmex. Alcatel-Lucent has been selected as a key supplier for the deployment of a superfast broadband access network based on VDSL2 and GPON technologies in Mexico, to meet growing demand for connectivity, super high-speed Internet and high-bandwidth applications, such as video-on-demand, entertainment, social networks and other services.
Telmex has engaged in an aggressive effort to expand VDSL2 and fiber-optics network coverage to connect millions of homes to super high-speed Internet services. The operator is seeking to deliver increased benefits for end users including higher speeds, increases in available bandwidth and access to a wide variety of multimedia content.
Alcatel-Lucent is Telmex's strategic supplier for this effort, providing a wide range of technology solutions, including:
The latest generation of VDSL2 broadband access technology (Very High Bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line), deployed in street cabinets throughout cities and municipalities to deliver super high-speed access.
State-of-the-art GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Networking) technology to deliver more bandwidth to subscribers, improve the performance of current applications and prepare the network for the fast introduction of new services and applications.
Alcatel-Lucent's advanced IP/MPLS Carrier Ethernet solution, which will allow a more efficient traffic management and support the delivery of broadband services to a dramatically greater number of subscribers.
"This is a strategic project that reinforces our long-term and very successful relationship with Telmex," said Mr. Pierre Chaume, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent in Mexico. "With our advanced broadband access technologies, the new network will allow Telmex to reliably move huge amounts of traffic and multimedia content to remote areas, with better quality signals, ultra high speeds of up to 100 megabits per second per subscriber, and substantial savings in maintenance costs."Posted February 6, 2012

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100 Million Hybrid STBs to Ship in 2015

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Hybrid set top boxes are a fast-growing segment of the worldwide set top box market. These boxes include a TV tuner and an Internet connection. It’s similar to hybrid vehicles that combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor. Hybrid STBs are appearing in all service categories and new usage models and applications have provided momentum. As television services begin employing applications that are Internet-connected, we see hybrid set top boxes emerging as a key growth driver for the global set top box industry. New In-Stat research forecasts that 100 million hybrid STBs will ship in 2015.

“As the STB industry continues its forward march, the next logical iteration is for the set top box to enhance and expand traditional TV-related services by permitting access to content from the Internet, or from Internet-like web services that provide a ‘walled garden’ of authorized content,” says Gerry Kaufhold, Research Director. “By combining traditional TV services with ‘enhancements’ that come in via broadband, content owners and service providers think they can successfully compete with all the emerging over-the-top approaches.”

Some of the research findings include:

Over 23 million hybrid STBs will ship in North America in 2012
The Asia Pacific annual revenue will approach $1.5 billion in 2015
Satellite hybrid STBs will represent 58% of the hybrid STB market in 2013
Recent In-Stat research, Worldwide Hybrid Set Top Boxes (#IN1104957ME), provides definitions for low-end, mid-range, and high-end hybrid STBs, and presents trends for hybrid STBs in six geographic regions. Hybrid STBs are forecast by region for cable, IPTV, satellite, and digital terrestrial STBs. The worldwide summary includes trend lines by category and by region.

Five-year forecasts include:

Key trends for each category of box, in each of the six regions, are presented and discussed
Worldwide shipments of hybrid-capable STBs in four categories
Detailed forecasts for hybrid cable TV, satellite TV, telcoTV (IPTV), and digital terrestrial TV set top boxes, by region.
Forecasts by box type for six geographic regions: North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

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Google could speed up FTTH

SureWest's latest FTTH target has been in nearby Olathe, Kan., an area where it allocated additional capital in 2011 to add 5,000 new homes. In late 2007, it entered the Kansas City, Mo. market through its purchase of the former Everest Broadband.

Barry M. Sine, managing director of equity research at Drexel Hamilton, said relationship with Google could provide upside for SureWest. Barry M. Sine, managing director of equity research at Drexel Hamilton, said relationship with Google could provide some upside for SureWest.

"We see two potential positives for SureWest," he wrote. "It could either be acquired by Google, as Google did with Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI), or it could become a tenant on Google's network using it as an inexpensive way to significantly expand its footprint."

Regardless of what the outcome may be, Wall Street liked the news and sent up SureWest's shares 6.8 percent to $14.60 in early trading on Monday.

News of a potential marriage between the ILEC and the Internet giant come on the heels of problems Google has had in securing access to utility poles in Kansas City. Google has been unable to reach an agreement with city officials on where it can place its fiber cables and how much it will have to pay. Such a delay is a major setback for the Internet giant. Originally, Google hoped to start signing up customers in Q4 2011 and offer services in Q1 2012, but this latest delay has obviously set back those goals.

Sine wrote that "Google has made its public policy statement in announcing this network, but could suffer a black eye if it encounters further delays and problems..."


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Hackers jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2

The first untethered jailbreak for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S and iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1 is now available. The Chronic Dev Team, the hacking group behind much of the jailbreaking software for devices running iOS, announced the news on its blog Friday.

While previous jailbreaks have been released as quickly as the day after a software update, GreenPois0n, the solution from the Chronic Dev Team for iPhone 4Ss and iPad 2s running iOS 5.0.1, took over 10 months to develop because the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 both use a dual-core A5 processor. In contrast, the team released the jailbreak for older devices running iOS 5.0.1. in late December.


The software solution is currently available for PC and Mac users. A Linux version is currently in progress.

To hack the software, the Chronic Dev Team used CDevReporter, a program to accumulate the device crash reports from users of its other jailbreaking software. The reports, which totalled over 10 million within a week, helped the team better understand system vulnerabilities, enabling the team to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1.


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The future of digital free-to-air television

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is considering the future technological evolution of free-to-air television after the transition to digital television is complete.

Following decades of stability in television technology, Australia took a giant step in 2001 with the adoption of what was then state of the art digital television. The transition provides us with crisp, clear images, quality sound, multi-channels and features such as high definition, electronic program guides and parental lock.

The technology that underpins this system continues to evolve. Improvements in transmission technologies, data compression and new physical characteristics of receivers such as 3D and ultra high definition screen formats might offer attractive features or more channels of entertainment in future.

‘The ACMA is seeking to garner industry and community comment on the future evolution of digital terrestrial television,’ said ACMA Acting Chairman, Richard Bean.

‘We’re interested in the drivers of future technological change. Starting the discussion now means the ACMA can consider what, if any, action it might take in the short term to assist in delivering benefits over the next decade and beyond,’ Mr Bean said.

Copies of the paper and further background information are available on the ACMA’s website. Submissions to the discussion paper close on 30 March 2012.

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Apple's iPad 3 to support LTE

The report, which cited three unnamed sources familiar with the device, said that Apple will deliver an LTE iPad before an LTE iPhone because the tablet's larger battery can more easily handle LTE's power requirements. Given the release timeframe mentioned in the report, it's likely that Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) will remain Apple's U.S. carrier partners--at least for now. Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), which started selling the iPhone in October, is not expected to launch LTE service until mid-year.

An Apple spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The report also said that the next iPad will support a higher resolution screen than the iPad 2 and will run on a quad-core processor. Mass production of the iPad 3 started this month in China and will break for the Chinese Lunar New Year this month before ramping up to a peak in February.

The higher resolution screen, plus the inclusion of LTE, are steps Apple is taking to keep the iPad competitive with other devices such as LTE tablets from Samsung and Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI). Apple, which reports its quarterly earnings Jan. 24, sold 25 million iPads through the first three quarters of 2011.

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Global IPTV subscribers up 6% in 3Q 2011 to 54.4 million

Broadband Delivers Strongest Growth Since 2009

Third quarter broadband figures achieve 2009 levels of growth
Telecom operators increase market share as fiber shows strongest access growth rate
Asia remains dominant region, with China nearly doubling its broadband subscriber numbers
IPTV approaches 55 million subscribers as Europe holds on to top regional position against strong growth out of Asia
Broadband Forum work underpins the trends and sets course for a strong 2012 with new fiber, management, mobile backhaul and multi-service architecture initiatives

FREMONT, Calif. — Latest broadband and IPTV figures published by the Broadband Forum show a significant surge in growth in Q3-2011, with more new subscribers added in the quarter than at any time since early 2009. The figures also point to the growing importance of fiber as FTTH and hybrid FTTx deployments increase.

Overall broadband growth during the quarter, according to figures prepared for the Broadband Forum by Point Topic, is estimated at 17.4 million lines, bringing the global total to 581.3 million, a quarterly increase of 3.08% – and an annual growth rate of 12.89%.


“These are very healthy figures for Q3 and they demonstrate the ongoing strength of the broadband market,” commented Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum. “We are especially pleased to see the trend in fiber technologies beginning to take off. Our G-PON certification program, launched in Q3 and with first certifications already in place, has been very widely welcomed and this is an indication that the market is ready for much further growth in this area.”

Technology – fiber shows strongest growth

The figures show that FTTx is now gaining ground on more traditional technologies. DSL continues to be the most dominant technology, adding more lines than any other in Q3. However, in percentage terms both FTTH and FTTx/hybrid technologies, showed the largest growth with over 8% overall, compared to 2.2% for cable modems and 2% for DSL. FTTx added just under 19 million lines in Q3 2011 – this is more than double the number in the same period last year and it continues to accelerate. This means that market share for fiber technologies – now at 16% – is fast catching up with cable’s 19.5%.

Broadband Line Market Shares:

DSL 61.5%
Cable Modem 19.5%
FTTx (inc. DVSL, FTTx+Lan, etc.) 13.5%
FTTH 2.5%
Satellite/mobile 1.8%
Other 1.3%
Source: Point Topic

Oliver Johnson, CEO of Point Topic said: “Hybrid FTTx will be where the action is over the next few years. Consumers are showing signs of being ready to pay for faster connections and the hybrid solution set is a cost effective way of getting relatively high speeds to them.”

Regional Growth and Top 10 Countries for Broadband

With a rise of almost 1.5% in the year, the proportion of broadband subscribers in Asia continues to increase. Results from other regions were more muted, although both Europe and the Middle East & Africa returned better numbers compared to the same period in 2011. The Americas also performed better in Q3 than Q2, with overall net additions in subscriber lines rising by 309,518.

Asia continues to dominate with over 10.3 million more subscriber lines added in the quarter, higher than in Q2 and the same quarter in 2010. With over 246 million lines in total, Asia now has 42.34% of the total market share in broadband.

Of the top ten countries, strongest growth continues to be in China, although strong growth in Russia has seen it improve its ranking to seventh place, fuelled partly by increases in IPTV adoption which has brought Russia into the IPTV top ten rankings for the first time.



IPTV – 6.06% growth and Russia joins the Top Ten

IPTV subscribers grew by 6.06% in the third quarter of 2011 and now total 54.4 million globally. IPTV continues to grow steadily, generating significant additional revenues as service providers work hard to make IPTV an integral part of their product package.



Asia, once again, is the fastest growing region for IPTV but European markets are strengthening on an individual basis and while some saturation is taking place there is fundamental strength in the market which has driven the region to a three year high in quarterly net additions.

IPTV Regional Market Share – Q3 2011:

Europe 43.26%
Asia 38.84%
Americas 17.39%
Middle East and Africa 0.51%
Source: Point Topic

The Top 10 countries for IPTV all reported strong growth. Russia is the major success story, entering the Top Ten for the first time and immediately occupying eighth place. Growth in France, the current world leader, is still very strong, in spite of the already high penetration rate, but China will soon take over the top spot, by sheer force of market size.

The Broadband Forum in 2012 – underpinning new technologies

With the strong push for more fiber deployments, the Broadband Forum’s testing and certification program for G-PON was a critical and timely announcement for the industry in 2011 and this work continues in 2012 as more vendors seek to achieve certification for their fiber products. At the same time the Broadband Forum will continue to expand this program to cover additional ONU modules and address XG-PON1.

The organization is also planning to build on its IPv6 work and MPLS in Mobile Backhaul (MMBI) initiative ensuring a smooth transition to LTE/4G. In 2012, it will publish important work defining the industry specifications for multi-service architecture and continue work on a TR-069 CWMP Conformance program, as well as launching new work in support of business services and machine-to-machine requirements.

Robin Mersh emphasized the importance of standards and certification programs: “Standards provide the foundation on which vendors and service providers can build their roadmap for development and deployment of products and services. Our task at the Broadband Forum is to provide the specifications and tools to ensure that global service providers and vendors can achieve standards based deployments. Doing so leads to interoperability and drives down the costs of deployment, encouraging innovation and faster rollouts of new services. One of our key new programs, Broadband Forum Certification, gives service providers world-wide the full confidence in the quality and competitiveness of their vendor equipment selection. We have made major steps forward with our MMBI and new G-PON Certifications and we intend to continue this work and introduce further programs in 2012.”

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Broadcom announces industry’s first integrated MoCA® 2.0 STB and Hybrid IP Gateway SoCs

Broadcom Heads to CES with Industry’s First Integrated MoCA® 2.0 System-on-a-Chip Portfolio; Delivers 2x Home Network Performance for Industry’s Top Operators; Showcases Innovation for 2012 CES Show

MoCA 2.0 more than doubles available home network bandwidth and enhances video quality and distribution in the home.
Enables more energy efficient systems with advanced power management technology for low power sleep and Wake-on-Lan (WOL) modes.
Supports higher levels of security for enhanced content protection.
MoCA 2.0 is supported by top operators including Charter, Cogeco, Comcast, Cox Communications, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Rogers Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable and Verizon’s FiOS services.

LAS VEGAS — 2012 International CES — Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced one of its showcase innovations at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – the industry’s first MoCA 2.0-Integrated Portfolio including six new set-top box (STB) and Hybrid IP Gateway system on a chip (SoC) platforms.

By integrating MoCA 2.0 directly in the STB SoC Broadcom’s new comprehensive portfolio of HD STB and Hybrid IP Gateway solutions realize the benefits of MoCA 2.0 including double the video bandwidth, increased security and lower power. Broadcom’s BCM7425 Dual HD Transcoding Gateway STB SoC features dual HD decoding and dual transcoding support for streaming simultaneous video broadcast content wirelessly to multiple devices, paving the way for advanced services like video conferencing and faster channel change with Broadcom’s FastRTV® technology.

Top operator support for MoCA 2.0 includes Charter, Cogeco, Comcast, Cox Communications, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Rogers Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable and Verizon’s FiOS services.
Broadcom’s 40nm MoCA 2.0-integrated STB and Gateway platforms are powered by its high performance dual-thread Zephyr (MIPS®-based) CPU that delivers 3000 DMIPS with industry-leading processor capability. Designs include the following:
BCM7429 Multi-Room HD-DVR STB SoC
BCM7428 IP HD STB Client SoC
BCM7425 Dual HD/Dual Transcoding Hybrid Gateway STB SoC
BCM7422 Dual HD Hybrid Gateway STB SoC
BCM3325 Hybrid IP Transcoding Gateway SoC
BCM3322 Hybrid IP Gateway SoC
MoCA 2.0 redefines the standard for video distribution in the home by providing more than double the throughput performance and capacity compared to MoCA 1.1; critical power management capabilities for new low power requirements; and enhanced security for additional content protection.
MoCA 2.0 supports an improved packet error rate, enabling higher quality of service levels for operators.
MoCA 2.0 enables the effective use of higher numbers of tuner/demods being integrated into next generation STB and gateway devices.
MoCA 2.0 provides complete interoperability with MoCA 1.0 and 1.1 while also providing full performance with MoCA 2.0 nodes.

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Hybrid Cable Set-Top Box with Home Gateway

LAS VEGAS — 2012 International CES — Humax (KOSDAQ:028080), a premier set-top box manufacturer, will debut its global advanced tru2way set-top box at the International CES 2012 in Las Vegas. The version to be shown is targeted for the North American cable television market leveraging SeaChange International’s (Nasdaq: SEAC) Nucleus Hybrid Gateway software and Nitro applications suite providing a seamless subscriber experience. This next generation Humax platform supports cable operators’ QAM, IP and transitional video environments and is entering lab testing with a major U.S. cable operator.

Humax advanced set-top box demonstrations at the SeaChange booth will show home gateway capabilities such as media sharing across multiple DLNA enabled and IP connected video devices which include Apple and Android tablets and smartphones as well as game consoles. The new Humax set-top box is powered by the Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) BCM7425 Dual HD Transcoding MoCA 2.0 Gateway SoC platform, offering dual HD decoding and dual transcoding support for streaming simultaneous video broadcast content wirelessly to multiple devices; the BCM3128 Full-Band Capture Multi-Receiver SoC; and the BCM3383 DOCSIS 3.0 cable gateway SoC.

“Humax will provide a state-of-the-art Home Gateway Server & Client Set-Top solution. With its rich experience in the digital broadcasting and interactive home networking solutions industry, the joint efforts with SeaChange on the Humax platform will be the launching point into the next generation Server-Client markets,” said Albert Son, President, Humax Americas.

“Humax has addressed one of cable’s most pressing CAPEX problems with its hybrid set-top introduction while simultaneously providing a new generation of connectivity and applications previously unavailable to the market,” said Shiva Patibanda, General Manager, In-Home Business Unit, SeaChange. “SeaChange is very pleased to collaborate with Humax to produce this end-to-end solution using our open, standards based software and blending proven tru2way interoperability with internet functionality through HTML5.”

“The Humax and SeaChange solution is on the leading-edge of innovation in delivering exciting multi-screen connected TV and Internet experiences in the home,” said Dan Marotta, EVP & GM, Broadband Communications Group, Broadcom Corporation. “Broadcom’s Full-Band Capture technology, DOCSIS 3.0 and MoCA 2.0-integrated Gateway with Transcoding platforms are driving a more efficient distribution of video streams and IP services to connected devices in the home ecosystem.”

The new product is a Gateway Server Set-Top Box which includes DOCSIS 3.0 gateway functions using the Broadcom BCM7425 Dual HD Transcoding MoCA 2.0 Gateway solution and provides home-networking service based on multi-screen features and MoCA 2.0. One of the core features is a multi-screen function which transcodes and delivers two HD channel content to various products including tablets, PCs and other mobile devices. MoCA 2.0 benefits include more than double the video bandwidth, increased security and lower power. The built-in eight tuners provide the Whole-Home DVR service and supports client’s set-top boxes in other rooms. Broadcom’s Full-Band Capture digital tuning technology directly samples and digitizes the entire 1GHz downstream spectrum of a cable plant, providing access to any channel anywhere and enabling a more efficient distribution of video streams and IP services to connected devices in the home ecosystem. The SeaChange Nucleus software enables the client box to provide same functions of server DVRs. The product also enables users various additional services with HTML5 server capability, tru2way’s OCAP and open software platform.

SeaChange’s Nucleus Hybrid Gateway software is the next generation solution for supporting cable operators’ transition from QAM to IP video so operators can offer consumers multi-screen media sharing, whole-home DVR, access to apps and OTT content, using smartphones as remotes and much more. Supporting the SeaChange Nitro Subscriber Experience software and leveraging its open, standards-based approach, SeaChange produced the Nucleus end-to-end solution to blend the proven tru2way interoperability with Internet functionality through HTML5.

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Celeno bows new video-grade Wi-Fi chip

Celeno Communications will be showing off its new video-grade Wi-Fi chip at next week's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The CLR260 is a single PCIe WLAN chip powered by Celeno's OptimizAir and digital beamforming technology. The chip can be used in wireless home gateways and set-top box applications.

"With the introduction of the CLR260, Celeno now offers a full product suite optimized for robust wireless video streaming in the home," said Lior Weiss, vice president of marketing of Celeno. "Our 802.11n video-grade product line has been adopted by over 20 ODMs and OEMs to enable a range of OEM Wi-Fi products. Service providers can now implement a video-grade Wi-Fi-enabled home cost-effectively using Celeno-enabled devices. These could include broadband gateways enabled with 3 x 3 CLR260 5 GHz and CLR260 2.4 GHz, video bridges enabled with a CL1830 3 x 3 SoC, and set-top box and laptops leveraging on USB dongles enabled by a CLR250 3 x 3 USB/Wi-Fi chip, among others."

The CLR260 operates in both the 2.4 GHz and the uncongested 5 GHz frequency channels and works with legacy home networks, as well as new 5 GHz-powered portable devices.


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Amino picks Celeno's Wi-Fi platform for IPTV STBs

Amino Communications has selected Celeno Communications' Wi-Fi solutions for use in its IPTV set-top boxes.

Celeno's OptimizAir Wi-Fi chipsets will be used worldwide by Amino to help distribute IPTV and over-the-top (OTT) services throughout homes via Wi-Fi home networking applications.

With the deal in hand, Celeno is now a preferred technology partner for Amino. Financial terms of the agreement weren't released.

"With Celeno's field-proven Wi-Fi technology and rich Wi-Fi chipset portfolio, we are able to offer our telco customers devices that combine all the quality they've come to expect from Amino devices with additional wireless functionality," said Amino's CEO Donald McGarva.

Amino and Celeno will offer the following wireless joint solutions in the marketplace:

Wi-Fi/Ethernet bridges powered by Celeno's CL1830 SoC to wirelessly enable after-market IP set-top boxes, including the Aminet A130, A140 and A540. These bridges will enable whole-home wireless PVR functionality, allowing the consumption of centrally stored content anywhere in the home.
Wi-Fi/USB dongles powered by Celeno's CLR250 chip to wirelessly enable after-market IP set-top boxes to receive HD IPTV and OTT content.
"Our Wi-Fi portfolio provides superior home networking infrastructure to customers such as Amino, combining high performance for flicker-free video with the flexibility and ease of use required by consumers," said Celeno CEO Gilad Rozen.

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THE BROADBAND 50 - 2011

1: IP migration: A perfect circle

It has long been apparent that IP transport will eventually reach near-ubiquity, driven by the virtuous circle (… wider use drives down costs, dropping costs drives wider use, wider use drives …). Still, few can legitimately say that they expected usage to grow so quickly.

Even with YouTube, Netflix and Hulu out there, nobody outside of Apple saw the iPhone or the iPad coming – and, more to the point, nobody saw the rampant growth in IP data demands that smartphones and tablets represent. That demand includes traffic on everyone’s own networks, in addition to the backhaul some operators perform on behalf of others.

The business market – SMBs, and eventually enterprise customers – also demand IP transport, of course. And with cable giving up on cellular? It looks like Wi-Fi hotspot networks are in many more MSOs’ futures, suggesting even more IP traffic.

So expect to hear more about myriad manifestations of the migration strategy, including DOCSIS, CCAP, MPLS, pseudowires and more. – Brian Robert Santo



2: This cloud thing looks like a winner

Everything, it would seem, is headed to the cloud. And why not? Cable operators can cut down on multitudes of servers and other equipment in data centers, while businesses can reap the rewards of virtualization.

For those cable operators that lack Comcast’s financial clout to build their own clouds, there are public, private and hybrid clouds, through various partnerships and cloud vendors, to consider. Cable operators are also able to cash in by providing Ethernet transport services to and from clouds for businesses.

Comcast’s Xcalibur user interface is cloud-based, and consumers got in on the act with services such as Apple’s iCloud and Amazon’s cloud-based storage.

Cablevision and ActiveVideo Networks partnered up on cloud-based interactive services several years ago, and last year, Cablevision added “Quick View” mosaics, which let customers personalize their viewing preferences through ActiveVideo’s CloudTV platform.

VOD content also made its way to the cloud for quicker, more efficient streaming services. – Mike Robuck



3: All hail Comcast

Comcast hit on all cylinders last year. CEO Brian Roberts once again took over the spotlight at The Cable Show with demos of the next-generation, cloudbased Xcalibur platform, which will march

Comcast toward the IP world, as well as a speed test running on a Comcast cable modem that broke through the 1 Gbps speed barrier.

Xcalibur, which was developed by Sam Schwartz’s Comcast Converged Platforms team, is headed to a major market deployment early this year before a more widespread launch later this year.

“Comcast's work on Xcalibur is superb,” said one industry insider. “Sam Schwartz did a fabulous job.”

Also at The Cable Show, attendees got a peak at the Technicolor device that will provision Comcast’s Skype service, which will bring HD video conference calling to home TVs, PCs, and compatible smartphones and tablets.

Comcast took the wraps off of a home security service using iControl’s software, and it announced that it was one of the investors in the start-up company.

Lastly, Comcast started reaping the rewards of being both a cable operator and a programmer. One example was earlier VOD windows for NBCUniversal programming. – MR

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