Motive Communications Inc. signed a provisioning deal with Cox Communications
Inc., while Harmonic Inc. said Insight Communications Co. Inc. is deploying its
gateway and transport products for video-on-demand, marking two of a handful of
MSO deals that were among a plethora of vendor announcements emanating from the
Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' Cable-Tec Expo in Philadelphia
Monday.
On the Internet-protocol front, Motive said Cox has licensed its "Motive xi
Smart Service Suite," which includes self-activation and auto-provisioning for
high speed Internet service.
Motive's "SmartActivation" software provides new Internet customers with an
automated service-activation experience covering self-install, problem-solving
and frequently asked questions. The software also provides standard integration
interfaces with Cox's operational-support systems, eliminating the need for
manual processing.
In other news from the Cable-Tec Expo:
\u0007 Incognito Software Inc. announced its "IP Commander Broadband Edition 4.2"
provisioning system, which provides additional security and diagnostic
tools.
\u0007 Stargus Inc. announced new additions to its "CableEdge" product family, as
well as interoperability agreements for that platform.
The new additions, "Bandwidth Report" and "X-Ray," provide reporting on how
bandwidth is used and real-time and historical-performance configuration details
down to the individual modem level.
Also, Stargus said it has completed interoperability tests with ADC
Telecommunications Inc., Arris, Juniper Networks Inc. and Motorola Inc.
\u0007 Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. said it will embed Jungo Software
Technologies' CableHome-based "OpenRG" residential-gateway software into its
wireless-cable-modem router. Toshiba said the new units will start shipping in
the third quarter.
\u0007 Motorola Broadband Communications Sector announced that it is working with
Cedar Point Communications Inc. to create voice-over-IP-telephony solutions for
cable using Motorola's advanced IP-access technology and Cedar Point's
integrated class-5 packet switch.
\u0007 Com21 Inc. signed an original-equipment-manufacturing agreement with Arris,
allowing Arris to rebrand and market Com21's "DOXcontroller 1000XB" cable
modem.
\u0007 On the high-definition-TV/video-on-demand front, Harmonic said Insight
would deploy its "Narrowcast Services Gateway" smart-edge device and "Gigabit
Ethernet" transport solution.
"We found that an IP-based network is essential to maintaining the quality
and value our customers have come to expect," Insight vice president of new
technology integration Patrick Forde said.
Harmonic also said it's providing visual-monitoring capabilities for its
"NMX" digital-services manager, which can communicate directly with Harmonic's
"Narrowcast Services Gateway."
\u0007 Bright House Networks, the former Advance/Newhouse Communications
properties, said it is deploying the broadband-multimedia-service-router
platform from BigBand Networks Inc.
Bright House will deploy "BigBand Grooming" and "BigBand Transport Gateway"
in Tampa, Fla.
BigBand also announced enhancements to its "VOD Edge" product line, including
redundancy for uninterrupted service and a multiple-BMR-manager application.
\u0007 Terayon Communication Systems Inc. said it has added new network interfaces
to its "Network CherryPicker" digital-stream-management systems. The interfaces
include gigabit Ethernet and MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group)-over-SONET
(synchronous optical network) network-interface modules for the "DM6400" and
"DM3200" product lines.
\u0007 Concurrent Computer Corp. said it's working with Gotuit Media Corp. to
index "Everything-On-Demand" content on VOD systems.
The service would consumers to skip to portions of shows or sporting events
they want to watch, Concurrent said. Users can "segment surf," Concurrent said,
watch a variety of interactive playlists and save favorite program scenes in a
personal vault.
Concurrent also announced a deal with Operational Intelligence that will
allow operators to identify, diagnose and resolve VOD operational issues.
\u0007 And CommScope Inc. announced a new line of HDTV cable assemblies and bulk cable
for field installations.
\u0007 On the hardware front, Motorola announced the "SG4000" segmentable,
scalable fiber-optic node, which allows operators to configure bandwidth for
VOD, HDTV, high-speed-data or IP-telephony services. The SG4000 accommodates up
to nine optics modules and a hybrid-management-sublayer-compliant
transponder.
\u0007 Aurora Networks announced the availability of its new "Optiplex OP3524"
series, narrowcast demultiplexer and broadcast combiner. The new unit allows
power levels to be realigned remotely.
Aurora also added an "EtherMux" module to its 'EtherTransport' product line,
allowing up to 24 dedicated 100-megabit connections to be served from a single
node.
And the vendor announced a reseller agreement with Path 1 Network
Technologies Inc. Path 1 also announced a reseller and OEM agreement with
Scientific-Atlanta Inc.
\u0007 OpVista Inc. debuted its new "MetroVista" optical transport, which features
wavelength-on-demand technology. OpVista's "WaveMultiplier" technology carries
four wavelengths per single 50-gigahertz ITU (International Telecommunications
Union) window, and it can transmit signals 1,000 kilometers. A single fiber, it
said, can carry 640-gigabit Ethernet streams.
\u0007 And Acterna Corp. introduced the "DSAM-1500" digital-service-activation
meter for installing, testing and troubleshooting digital
services.
