Hoping to help cablecos squeeze more out of their current networks, TANDBERG Television is offering the OpenStream Switched Digital Video (SDV) Solution that allows cablecos to control and manage 2mbps to 20mbps digital TV services.
The company said SDV provides failover to ensure delivery of critical video channels while using and open platform to reduce integration issues and deployment costs. Beyond better bandwidth utilization, OpenStream SDV solution employs a multi-format (SD/HD; MPEG-2/MPEG-4) environment in the network.
Cable operators can mix MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC set-top boxes in the same network using TANDBERG Television switched technology. The new system supports the installed base of STBs that use MPEG-2, while letting folks move to MPEG-4.
“The cable companies are looking at SDV to help them scavenge bandwidth so they can pump more bits down the cable for broadband access,” said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corp., who cited Comcast’s plans to trial DOCSIS 3.0, as further evidence of the growing need for speed.
The DOCSIS and SDV efforts are in response in part to the success telcos such as Verizon Communications Inc. have had in delivering triple-play packages to customers over fiber-to-the home (FTTH) networks, said Nolle.
CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.0 sets a mark for downstream speed at 160mbps and upstream speed at 120mbps. The cable industry association released the specifications last August.
From a resource management perspective, TANDBERG said the system provides centralized network resource management across multiple services – VoD, SDV and HSD – and allows the operator to share network resources.
Cable Laboratories Inc. www.cablelabs.com
TANDBERG Television www.tandbergtv.com
