05-15-02
1. Motorola Switches to TI for DOCSIS Chips
2. Kinetic Releases Updated Market Data
3. Yankee Group Releases Broadband Market Study
4. Frost & Sullivan Releases Market Study
5. Latest News from CableLabs
6. AT&T Introduces IP Services to MSO Affiliates
7. Freeserve to Offer Data Services over NTL
8. Cablevision Offers Security Software Option
9. EarthLink & AOL Launch in More TW Markets
10. Microtune Introduces Tuner-Amplifier
11. Stargus Introduces IP Management Solution
12. Charter to Use Ceon for Provisioning
13. Broadcom Names Vendors Using Propane
14. Pioneer Introduces Residential Gateway
15. Terayon's TJ 720 Receives Euro-DOCSIS Cert
16. Mediacom Ends Q'1 with 127,000 Data Subs
1. Motorola Switches to TI for DOCSIS Chips
Texas Instruments has said Motorola will use its DOCSIS chips for its
SURFboard SB4220 cable modems. Word of Motorola's move to TI, announced last
week, caused Broadcom's stock to plummet nearly 20%.
TI's DOCSIS solution integrates a PHY, MAC, communications processor,
peripherals for networking and communications applications, and a A-TDMA
advanced PHY.
Motorola has shipped approximately 8 million cable modems.
Motorola
http://www.mot.com/broadband
Texas Instruments
http://www.ti.com
2. Kinetic Releases Updated Market Data
Last week, Kinetic Strategies publisher of the monthly e-publication, Cable Datacom News,
released cable modem market data based on Q'1 activity. The firm finds that Toshiba led
the North American market in DOCSIS modem shipments in the first quarter, shipping
430,000 units. The company eclipsed Motorola's market leadership for the time. Motorola
shipped only 330,000 DOCSIS modems in NA in Q'1, down more than 50% from the previous
quarter. Kinetic finds that Motorola did lead worldwide shipments, shipping 600,000
DOCSIS modems for the quarter.
Kinetic has said the overall worldwide DOCSIS shipments were flat for Q'1, with a total
of 2.1 million units shipped. Of the modems shipped in the quarter, 69% were destined
for North America and 10% were sent out to retailers and e-tailers.
Q'1 DOCSIS Cable Modem Shipments by Vendor
http://www.catv.org/k.html
Kinetic Strategies
http://www.kineticstrategies.com
Cable Datacom News
http://www.cabledatacomnews.com
3. Yankee Group Releases Broadband Market Study
The Yankee Group has released its quarterly broadband market study under its
"Global Forecast" line of research that provides an overview of trends in demand
for broadband services, and five year forecasts divided by region for subscribers,
penetration, and revenues for cable and DSL.
By 2006, the firm finds that residential and business cable and DSL subscriptions
will rise to 45 million. The U.S. will have 39 million subs and Canada will have
6 million subs.
The Yankee Group
http://www.yankeegroup.com
4. Frost & Sullivan Releases Market Study
Frost & Sullivan [F&S] has released "World Cable Modem and Head-End Equipment Markets," a
part of the firm's Broadband Equipment and Services line of research. F&S finds the
worldwide cable modem and CMTS market revenues will grow from $1.61 billion in 2001 to
$2.5 billion in 2004. By 2005, the CMTS market is expected to represent the major
source of revenue for the marketplace.
Frost & Sullivan
http://www.frost.com
5. Latest News from CableLabs
In the last month, CableLabs has announced the release of CableHome 1.0 specifications,
completion of phase 3 of digital ad insertion testing, release of middleware specifications
for its OpenCable Application Platform [OCAP], and the procedure for pooling patents for
OCAP.
The CableHome 1.0 spec, released April 9, provides ongoing management, security configuration,
and hands off provisioning of the residential gateway and home networking devices. The
technology includes firewall management, upgrade functionality, and QoS guarantees.
Certification testing for CableHome products is expected in the second half of this year.
In May, CableLabs concluded its third phase of digital ad insertion testing. Ad servers and
splicers supplied by BigBand, Cisco, Harmonic, nCube, SeaChange, and Terayon were tested
for compliance with SCTE 30 2001 [communication and control protocols between splicers and
ad servers] and 35 2001 [cue tone messaging] as well as certain MPEG standards. Testing
covered error handling of several severe failure modes, splice time accuracy measurements,
multiple audio switching capabilities, MPEG compliance of a splicer's output, and some Level 1
functionality. Future phases will include testing of additional Level capabilities and
advanced equipment functionality.
CableLabs released OCAP 2.0, the middleware specification, in the first week of May. The
technology extends the OpenCable platform with the addition of web technologies such as XHTML,
XML, and ECMAScript. The 1.0 spec defined a Java based Execution Engine.
Also in May, the R&D consortium, established procedures for patent pooling for OCAP. Patent
holders who believe their technology will be used in the implementation of OCAP are instructed
to submit a declaration to the law firm of Wimler, Cutler & Pickering, while copying CableLabs.
After all patent claims are identified, patent holders will be invited to form a patent
licensing pool. Patent holders will be encouraged to offer licensing royalty free, but may
include a nominal royalty fee, if it is offered within the guidelines of CableLabs' IPR policy.
CableLabs
http://www.cablelabs.com
http://www.cablemodem.com
http://www.opencable.com
http://www.packetcable.com
6. AT&T Introduces IP Services to MSO Affiliates
AT&T has introduced a set of new IP broadband services to cable operators using its IP network
to offer cable modem services. New network management and monitoring capabilities include
automated end to end trouble reporting with daily to monthly viewing options, troubleshooting,
ongoing capacity management, as well as monitoring/reporting for network usage, reliability,
and performance. MLPS capabilities have been introduced for routing efficiences, QoS features,
and creation of VPNs.
Other managed broadband service elements introduced include support for network and services
provisioning, end-user provisioning and account management, and VoIP and content distribution.
AT&T's IP network carries more than 440 terabytes of traffic per day.
AT&T has 6 MSO affiliates including Mediacom and Insight.
AT&T Managed Services
http://www.att.com/business
7. Freeserve to Offer Data Services over NTL
NTL will introduce a bundled voice, video and data package with an option to pick Freeserve
as the cable modem service provider. Freeserve will be limited to providing 512kbps service.
The company will manage the sale and delivery of cable modems through retail and e-tail
distribution channels and provide billing and tech support.
NTL will continue to pitch its own cable modem service, adoptable as a stand alone offering or
in a bundle. The provider offers data rate support in three tiers including 1 Mbps, 512kbps,
and 128kbps.
Freeserve will make its service available to 6 million NTL subs later this year.
Freeserve serves 2.487 million active registered dialup accounts and 5.988 million unique
users.
NTL
http://www.ntl.com
Freeserve
http://www.freeserve.com
8. Cablevision Offers Security Software Option
Cablevision Systems will offer its Optimum Online subscribers a package of security software
supplied by Computer Associates. The technology suite dubbed eTrust EZ Armor includes a
firewall, antivirus software, and email protection.
Cablevision will offer its subscribers a free 30-day trial of the software. After users can
license the software for $29.95 a year for the first year and for $19.95 annually, thereafter.
Cablevision Systems
http://www.cablevision.com
http://www2.my-etrust.com/cvision
Computer Associates
http://www.ca.com
9. EarthLink & AOL Launch in More TW Markets
EarthLink & AOL have launced their respective cable modem services over Time Warner systems
located in Minneapolis [380,000 HHP], and Detroit [118,000 HHP]. The Detroit area includes
Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Redford, and Livonia.
EarthLink
http://www.earthlink.net
AOL
http://www.aol.com
Time Warner
http://www.timewarner.com
10. Microtune Introduces Tuner-Amplifier
Microtune has introduced MT2050, a 1/4", single chip tuner amplifier that contains all of
the active functions of the RF receiver chain. The technology connects directly to a
demodulator chip in a simplified system implementation. The MT2050, targeted at
developers of DOCSIS 1.0 and 2.0 modems, uses approximately 1.5 watts of power.
Initial customers include Advanced Digital Broadcast, Samsung, and Hitron.
The chip is currently sampling. The MT2050 is priced at $5.00 in quantities of 10,000.
Microtune
http://www.microtune.com
11. Stargus Introduces IP Management Solution
Stargus has introduced CableEdge, a network management and planning solution that
provides real-time monitoring and management of DOCSIS devices and services. The
technology reports on faults, congestion, security, availability and performance. It makes
recommendations based on analysis of data.
CableEdge is based on a distributed architecture consisting of the StarNode and StarController.
The StarNode, located on the edge of the network, collects data, and provides initial analysis
and aggregation. Each StarNode can support up to 30,000 cable modems. The StarNodes
send data to the StarController for data warehousing, service specific
application analysis and reporting.
The StarNode and StarController run on off the shelf small footprint servers. Users access the
system via a web-based interface to the StarController.
CableEdge will be available this quarter. Currently, two major MSOs are testing the technology.
Stargus
http://www.stargus.com
12. Charter to Use Ceon for Provisioning
Charter Communications will use Ceon's Integration and Provisioining Suite to support
flow-through provisioning functions for the provider's cable modem service as well as
supporting VoIP and CBR voice activation. Charter plans to have the technology in
place later this year.
In other company news, Ceon has said that it has added an intelligent element
manager to its software suite. The new addition acts as a complete IP provisioning
platform featuring DNS/DHCP/TFTP/TOD functionality for cable CPE.
Service providers can implement workflow models as pre-provisioning,
auto-provisioning or both. With pre-provisioning, devices are assigned to subscribers
and recorded in the the provisioning application in advance. The subscriber plugs
them in and the intelligent element manager automatically assigns the appropriate
service level and activates. With auto-provisioning, subscribers self-register for
service and subscriber devices are captured by the intelligent element manager and
recorded in the Ceon system. A self service module provides a "walled garden"
registration site where subscribers will register for the services prior to the intelligent
element manager configuring the device and activating the services.
Ceon
http://www.ceon.com
Charter Communications
http://www.chartercom.com
13. Broadcom Names Vendors Using Propane
Broadcom has named a new wave of customers planning to implement its
Propane bandwidth expansion technology within their data networking gear.
ADC and Arris will use Propane in their CMTS products and Scientific Atlanta,
Tellabs, and Thomson will use the technology in their respective cable
modems. Com21 was announced as a customer earlier this year.
Propane uses algorithms to boost capacity in DOCSIS networks, providing up
to three times greater capacity in the upstream. The technology, compatible
with DOCSIS 1.0 and the future 20., is available with Broadcom's CMTS and
cable modem chipsets.
Broadcom
http://www.broadcom.com
14. Pioneer Introduces Residential Gateway
Pioneer is developing a residential gateway that combines a DOCSIS 1.0/1.1
modem, router-gateway, and wireless based station. The technology supports
wired networking over Ethernet connections to a PC. It maintains data privacy
with 40/128 bit WEP encryption and triple DES. The gateway is expected to
begin shipping in the second half of this year.
Pioneer
http://www.pioneerbroadband.com
15. Terayon's TJ 720 Receives Euro-DOCSIS Cert
Terayon's TJ 720, already armed with an A-TDMA PHY, was Euro-DOCSIS
certifed by tComLabs.
Terayon
http://www.terayon.com
16. Mediacom Ends Q'1 with 127,000 Data Subs
Mediacom Communications has reported ending Q'1 with 127,000 cable
modem subs, up 12,000 from the previous quarter. The MSO reported
1,572,000 homes marketed (59% of total HHP) among 1,900,000 data ready
homes. Mediacom claims a 8.1% penetration rate.
Mediacom
http://www.mediacomcc.com
© Copyright 2000 Gecko Research & Publishing
The Broadband Bob Report is a weekly take of the latest news regarding data over cable, 2-way HFC networks and related applications and services.
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