CABLE'S HYBRID TECH GAME

The notion of "hybrid" is nothing new to cable technologists, who have a knack for combining otherwise disparate technologies. Consider fiber optics and coaxial cable.

As the industry's HFC architecture and related network infrastructure continue to evolve, that word has been popping up in new places, such as the home, or more specifically, the set-top box.
 
In a deployment announced last December and discussed more fully at last week's IPTV World Forum event, Danish MSO Telia Stofa made Motorola hybrid cable/IP set-top boxes part of its overall layering of IP services on its existing cable platform.

The first IP-based service enabled by this Motorola VIP 1920 series set-top was VOD, using the box's IP communication path. Now in test phase, according to Telia Technical Manager Thomas Helbro, are StartOver-style services.

Other features are promised by way of the set-top's KreaTV software, which came into Motorola's hands as a result of its early 2006 acquisition of Swedish-based Kreatel.

Flexible and cheap

A box that does both IPTV and DVB-C tuning is more expensive than a pure-play IPTV device, but the hybrid approach fit with the No. 2 Danish MSO's philosophy. "Flexibility is a key word for us," said Helbro.

The limited extent of Telia's IP-based video services plays into that universal trait of MSOs: careful attention to costs. In this case, that would encompass the relative expense of DOCSIS 3.0 vs. DVB-C technology.

"We don't think that IP streaming is cost effective," Helbro said.

Apart from Motorola CPE, Helbro said the others parts of Telia's self-integrated platform included conditional access from Irdeto Access, edge QAM modulators from Harmonic, flash-based VOD servers from Edgeware, on-demand session resource automation from EventIS. Additional partners were Teleste, Tandberg, AppearTV and Ruwido, Helbro said.

This tendency - especially in Europe - to think in terms of multiple or hybrid technologies also derives from the dual cable/telco nature of many of these providers. The leading Danish cable operator, for instance, TDC Cable TV, maintains both copper and coax access plants and has deployed both DSL and DOCSIS technologies. And as discussed in this interview in late 2006, TDC was an early dabbler in television over IP technologies.

In another IPTV World Forum presentation, Multimedia Polska Director of Strategy and Development Bartlomiej Kasinksi outlined his company's deployment of IP-based TV services, notably using a single CA solution from Latens, over a plant that he said is 80 percent cable and 20 percent telco.

- Jonathan Tombes

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THE 110 CONNECTOR BLOCK

Last week, we looked at the 66 block, the most common type of connector block used as the demarc in business telephony installations. The punch down, insulation-displacing contacts of this device were a major innovation that improved time to install and the quality of the electrical contact between the wire conductor and the terminal. However, there can be challenges with physical placement of larger capacity cables run to 66 blocks, and most manufacturers' 66 blocks do not meet the standards for terminating CAT-5 and higher cables. The 110 block solves these problems with an improved design for both the connector base and the punch-down terminals.

The 110 block was originally created as a cross-connect point in larger telephony installations. Typically, it is found in wiring closets located in hallways or within a tenant's office suite on each floor of a building. Most often, these closets are intermediate cross-connect points between vertical (backbone) cable and horizontal cable going to workstation locations. As CAT-5 and above wiring systems came into use, however, several contractors began using 110 blocks at building entrances as network demarc points, rather than the 66 block.

Physically, the 110 block is a two-piece assembly consisting of a raised wiring block that forms a base and several much smaller connecting blocks that fit on top of groups of terminals on the base. Wiring blocks are available in 25, 50, 75, 100, and 300 wire pair capacities, arranged in 25-pair rows. Each row consists of 50 individual wire channels, where each wire of a pair is laid. The wiring block is a raised frame that has sufficient rear clearance to allow riser or other cables to be brought in from underneath the block to the right or left edge. At the edge, cable jackets are removed, and wire pairs are routed through trough-like wire channels on the top of the block, slightly lower and directly next to the rows of individual wire channels. The small columns that form each side of the individual wire channel are color-coded for easy identification of pair groups.

Connector blocks are the devices that both make the electrical connection and mechanically secure the pairs to the wiring block. Embedded in both top and bottom of the connector blocks are metal insulation-displacing termination knives similar to, but much smaller than, the terminals on a 66 block. When a special impact tool secures the 110 connector block on top of a group of pairs in a row of the 110 wiring block, the termination knives cut the insulation at each contact point, making electrical contact between the pair from the cable and the termination knife. Pairs from workstations may then be placed in channels on top of the connector block and connected to the termination knife using an impact tool.

Connector blocks are available in three-, four- or five-pair capacities. Typically, four-pair connector blocks are used to terminate six four-pair cables brought into the wiring block channel, three per side of the block. Since the connector block has a 25-pair capacity per row, the rightmost position in each row is usually vacant, and the rightmost connector block may be a five-pair version.

Once a connector block is attached, it is very difficult to remove. Most wiring changes are done by removing and reattaching pairs at the top of a connector block that is already attached to a wiring block.

In a finished installation, the larger wire channels across the length of the 110 block are covered by label strips that identify the pairs going to workstations.

- Justin J. Junkus

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FROM THE WIRE

Tandberg to Deploy in China

Tandberg Television has announced that its OpenStream Digital Services Platform has been selected by Tianjin TEDA Cable TV Network Co. to expand its cable TV offering into VOD and network PVR services. Tianjin TEDA Cable already provides digital cable TV services to the people of Tianjin TEDA (Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area) using a Tandberg headend and network control solution. As part of the contract, Tandberg has also provided its Xport on-demand content production software system.

Cox Renews Convergys Contract

Convergys has announced a multi-year contract renewal to provide Cox Communications with expanded relationship management functionality to streamline order entry workflows, provide intelligent customer alerts, and manage campaigns in its markets. The Convergys Customer Service Manager solution provides agents with a consolidated view of the customer's service history, payment history, and collections information brought quickly to the their desktops using fewer screens and systems than is typical today.

ACA Lauds, Cautions FCC

Responding to recent reports that the Federal Communications Commission has granted satellite TV providers a four-year extension on carriage rules for digital broadcast signals, the American Cable Association called the extension a positive sign for small and independent cable providers, but also warned that easing the rules for only one set of providers would give satellite TV an unfair competitive advantage. The ACA renewed its call for exemptions for small cable operators.

Cable Goes Green

October Strategies has launched 'Screen to Green,' an initiative for the cable industry to engage consumers in recycling obsolete TV sets. Analog TV sets contain significant amounts of lead, mercury, cadmium and other metals. When televisions are improperly disposed and crushed into landfills, the toxic metals are released into the air and water tables. Screen to Green is expected to hold its first S2G Recycling Rally in mid-2008.

Telco Picks Alloptic for Fiber Network

Citizens Telephone in Leslie, GA, has begun deploying a fiber-optic communications network from Alloptic. As the network is deployed, the residents and businesses in the city of Vienna, GA, will have access to a triple-play communications and entertainment bundle and an extended portfolio of business products. Alloptic focuses on the development and deployment of RFoG and PON technology.

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