Why IT Hates the iPhone

Corporate information-technology departments say the phone poses security risks. But they seem powerless to stop employees from using it.

In less than a year, the iPhone has won the hearts of users, who speak of the combination cellphone, Internet device and music player with reverence.

Indeed, the iPhone, which maker Apple Inc. says has captured 28% of the U.S. smart-phone market, seems to be loved by everyone -- everyone, that is, except those who work in corporate information-technology departments.

Designed with the consumer in mind, the iPhone is less secure than business-oriented smart phones such as those from Nokia Corp. or Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, according to IT professionals. But that isn't stopping people from using the device for work-related tasks such as checking email, managing sales contacts and getting information about prospective clients. In fact, market researcher Nielsen Co. estimates that one-quarter of iPhone owners over the age of 18 pass their phone bills on to their employer, suggesting significant use of the device for business.

Many IT groups have banned the iPhone from their workplaces, complaining that there is no way to force employees to protect their iPhones with passwords and that they can't erase sensitive corporate data from remote locations if the device is stolen or lost. Additionally, they say the iPhone doesn't support the software many businesses use and that it only works on one cellular carrier's network.

But keeping the iPhone out of the office may be a losing battle. As a result, some technology experts say the iPhone could usher in a change in the way businesses adopt new technologies.

Shifting Landscape

Whereas software vendors and other tech suppliers traditionally pitched their products to high-ranking executives and IT managers, some are now paying closer attention to the technologies workers actually use. Some vendors say that if employees make clear that they are going to embrace a particular device -- with or without their IT department's approval -- then they will develop compatible products for it. Otherwise, they risk losing business to rivals.

"It's clear to us that power is shifting to the users" and away from IT departments, says Mike de la Cruz, a vice president at business-software maker SAP AG. "So we've changed our strategy to focus on the users."

SAP, of Germany, says it is developing a version of its customer-management software for the iPhone that will let salespeople access information about leads and customers, partly because its own salespeople prefer the iPhone. International Business Machines Corp. of Armonk, N.Y., is developing a version of its Lotus email and collaboration software for iPhone users, and salesforce.com Inc., of San Francisco, and Sun Microsystems Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., are among other companies tailoring software for Apple's device.

Some vendors are designing applications aimed at making the iPhone more business-friendly. Sybase Inc., for example, released an iPhone version of its software for forwarding corporate email and other data to mobile devices. Sybase's software is installed and managed centrally, so it gives IT departments some measure of control over what end users are doing. Overwhelming demand from managers and executives at customer companies led Sybase to create the iPhone-tailored software, according to Senthil Krishnapillai, a director of project management at the Dublin, Calif., company.

Apple and its iPhone partner, AT&T Inc., are trying to make the iPhone more business-friendly, too. In January, AT&T began to allow iPhone purchases by corporate-account holders. Previously, the telephone company would bill iPhone charges only to individuals, and they would have to seek reimbursement from their companies. "We saw business customers clamoring for the iPhone" and wanted to make it easier for them to use the device, says an AT&T spokesperson.

Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., said earlier this month that it plans to release new iPhone software in June that will allow IT departments to integrate the device with Microsoft Corp.'s email, calendar and contact-management software. The new software also will allow iPhones to connect to a corporate network in a secure fashion and give IT staffs the ability to erase data on a lost or stolen iPhone from a remote location.

Simon Yates, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., says these moves address the biggest concerns that IT departments have about the iPhone. Another research company, Gartner Inc., said the announced changes would make the iPhone appropriate for business use.

Harboring Doubts

Despite the steps to make the iPhone more business-friendly, some chief information officers continue to harbor doubts. David O'Berry, who heads IT for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, says his organization uses email software from Novell Inc., not Microsoft, so Apple's changes won't help him. In addition, even though Apple intends to set up a private section of its new App Store -- the service through which people download applications for their iPhones -- for business, Mr. O'Berry and other chief information officers don't like the fact that they would have to go through Apple to distribute in-house software to employees. That means giving Apple access to their computer code, which some are reluctant to do.

Most people who use their iPhones for work don't think about these technical challenges. What they see is a device capable of connecting to wireless Internet networks, with a full-fledged Web browser and a large screen that gives them access to the same Internet pages they can get on their personal computers and gives them the ability to play music and movies.

Michael King, a Gartner analyst, says that while other phones have browsers with similar features, their smaller screen sizes give them limited utility. He expects bigger screens to become more commonplace on smart phones soon.

When Mark Russell, vice president of sales and marketing at U-Line Corp., had to replace a damaged Nokia smart phone, he bought an iPhone. The phone's "cool" factor was its main appeal, but he found that its Web browser allowed him to more easily locate distributors and get directions to meetings. He says that because he is an executive, his Milwaukee company agreed to support the device, using software from Visto Corp. that allows him to access email on the iPhone.

Productivity Boon?

Dale Frantz, chief information officer at Auto Warehousing Co., a Tacoma, Wash., company that inspects vehicles for auto makers, has been using an iPhone since the first week it was available. He is convinced that the iPhone's Web browser can boost productivity.

Auto Warehousing's systems -- everything from email to the internal software used to inspect autos -- can be accessed by any Internet-connected device with a Web browser, which typically meant a desktop or laptop computer.

But in February, while waiting for a flight in the Detroit airport, Mr. Frantz used his iPhone to check the system Auto Warehousing uses to track vehicle inspections. He found that several cars in the same plant all had scratches. He called the auto plant, where it turned out a worker on the assembly line was scratching the cars with his belt. Mr. Frantz says he wouldn't have been able to catch and resolve the problem so quickly had he been using a different phone.

Still, Mr. Frantz isn't convinced that the changes Apple announced this month to help businesspeople will have a big impact on his company, because Auto Warehousing uses Web-based software. He also has concerns about the plan requiring businesses to distribute software through the App Store.

Other technology executives aren't convinced, either. Smart phones can contain a lot of valuable and confidential corporate information, and they can be so easily lost or stolen. BlackBerrys and other mobile devices designed for the corporate market have built-in software that enables the IT department to require employees to encrypt or password-protect the devices.

None of that may matter, however. As Beth Cannon, the San Francisco-based chief security officer for Thomas Weisel Partners Group, says: Even after she explains to people why her IT department can't allow them to use the device, they "still want to use their iPhone."

By BEN WORTHEN
wsj.com

In SDV we trust !?

Switched Video, also called Switched Digital Video or SDV, is a telecommunications industry term for a network scheme for distributing digital video via a cable with limited capacity. Switched video sends the digital video in a more efficient manner so that additional uses may be made of the freed up bandwidth. The scheme applies to digital video distribution both on typical cable TV systems using QAM channels, or on IPTV systems. Users of analog video transmitted on the cable are unaffected. See diagram below for an illustration of how Switched Video saves bandwidth on a cable company's cables in the last mile where channels are transmitted via coaxial cable.

In current Hybrid fibre-coaxial systems, a fiber optic network extending from the operator's central office carries all video channels out to a fiber optic node which services any number of homes ranging from 1 to 2000 homes. From this point, all channels are sent via coaxial cable to each of the homes. Note that only a percentage of these homes are actively watching channels at a given time. Rarely are all channels being accessed by the homes in the service group.

In a Switched Video system, the unwatched channels do not need to be sent.

In cable TV systems in the United States, equipment in the home sends a channel request signal back to the distribution hub. If a channel is not currently being transmitted on the coaxial line, the distribution hub allocates a new QAM channel and transmits the new channel to the coaxial cable via the fiber optic node. For this to work, the equipment in the home must have two-way communication ability. Switched video uses the same mechanisms as Video on Demand and may be viewed as a non-ending video on demand show that any number of users may share.

Two-way communication is handled differently between cable and IPTV schemes. IPTV use communication protocols used on the internet but requires entirely new video distribution infrastructure. Cable companies in the United States elected the less costly approach of upgrading existing infrastructure, and European operators may well take the same approach. In the upgrade approach, various proprietary schemes use specific frequencies for passing messages back to the distribution hub. In the United States, there is currently no standard for two-way communications from consumer electronics devices using CableCARDs, such as Digital video recorders, High-definition televisions and Home Theater Computers.

For a switched video system to work on cable systems, all digital television users in a subscription group must have devices capable of communicating to the distribution hub in a compatible manner. Unlike other features dependent on two-way communication such as Video on Demand, the requirement to upgrade all digital set-top boxes within a group makes conversion to switched video extremely expensive. CableLabs proposed in the CableCARD 2.0 specification that two-way communication be supported with a scheme which required more powerful hardware capable of running Java programs. Many cable companies have indicated they will build lower cost devices that do not require this OCAP programing environment, so that upgrading to a switched video system would not be as costly. Consumer electronics companies also prefer a more light weight solution for two-way communication, and so absent a standard for two-way communication, the conversion to switched video may require many years to complete.

Switched video is sometimes abbreviated as SDV for switched digital video, or SVB, for switched video broadcast.

wikipedia.org

Using Bandwidth More Efficiently with Switched Digital Video - Motorola White Paper
Switched Digital Video: The Elements of an Architecture Scientific Atlanta

How Switched Digital Video Works

To understand how SDV works, we'll first need a quick lesson on how cable companies traditionally provide service to customers. In older cable systems, the cable company broadcasts every channel in a single stream of programming to every section of its network all the time. When you use your set-top box (STB) to tune to a particular channel, the STB searches the stream for the channel's frequency and carries the signal to your television.

Because the cable company sends every channel through the entire network, there's not much spare bandwidth available for Internet service or digital video channels. High definition channels take up more bandwidth than normal digital video, so spare bandwidth decreases as cable companies add HD channels to their lineups. Because HDTVs have become more affordable and more households have acquired them, demand for HD programming has increased. Cable companies have to find ways to meet customer expectations, particularly in light of the fact that HD television providers already offer dozens of channels in HD format.

In a traditional video delivery system, the cable company
combines all channels into one data stream,
even if no one is watching most of them.

Switched Digital Video Advantages and Disadvantages

Switched digital video systems' most obvious advantage is that they address one of the biggest problems cable companies have -- running out of bandwidth. As more people sign up for HDTV services, high speed cable modems and VOD, cable companies have to find a way to deliver. An SDV system helps cable companies implement a solution without replacing miles of cable, since the system can work on top of an existing infrastructure.

Increased bandwidth can also lead to more services. A cable company could choose to increase the number of channels it offers, allowing it to compete more effectively with satellite television companies. Additional channels could include more HD feeds or programming catered to a particular region.

Cable companies provide Internet access in much the same way they provide television feeds. Companies feed Internet downstream through 6-megahertz (MHz) channels in the cable bandwidth. Upstream feeds, the information sent back through your modem to the Internet, goes into a 2 MHz channel. When customer demand gets heavy, the cable company creates a new 6 MHz channel to relieve stress on the system. With SDV, cable companies have more bandwidth available to convert into Internet channels during periods of high customer demand.

howstuffworks.com

Switched Digital Video Will Give Cable Operators A Big HD Boost

Switched Digital Video (SDV) technologies provide an excellent, long-term approach that is helping cable operators keep up the pace with expanding High Definition TV and super-high-speed data services, reports In-Stat.

SDV is a new technology that distributes video more efficiently over cable TV coaxial lines, the high-tech market research firm says. SDV will enable cable operators to better compete with rivals in digital broadcast satellite and telco TV.

"Initial deployments will create a strong market for upgrades, which will become dominant in 2012," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. "The strategic key to success for vendors will be winning early deployments, because follow-on upgrades will be lucrative. World-class professional services, staff training, and the ability to remotely monitor and repair SDV installations will be the winning formula."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

* The market for SDV equipment, software, and services is expected to grow from about US$165 million during 2008, up to more than US$1 billion in 2012.
* North America will be the biggest market, with Asia coming on strong later.
* Large cable TV systems will drive early growth for SDV.
* Medium cable TV systems will become an important segment as early as 2009.
* Even small cable TV systems will turn to SDV in large numbers after 2010.
broadcastbuyer.tv

IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment Market to Reach $9.8B in 2011

The combined IPTV and switched digital video market is forecast to grow in healthy double-digits annually to reach $9.8 billion worldwide, according to Infonetics Research's latest quarterly "IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services, and Subscribers" report.

"With each quarter, the battle for video subscribers gets more heated," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for IPTV at Infonetics Research. "Buoyed by the success of rollouts by Orange, Free, Neuf, Fastweb, PCCW, Telefonica, and China Telecom, IPTV service providers continue to build out headends and spend on IP set-top boxes to aggressively court video subscribers. Meanwhile, North American cable MSOs, such as Comcast and Cablevision, are leading the charge in switched digital video, to free up bandwidth and offer more HD content to their subscribers."

Other highlights from the report:

• Total worldwide IPTV and SDV equipment revenue hit $1.1 billion in 4Q07
• The number of IPTV subscribers is forecast by Infonetics to top 97 million worldwide by 2011
• Worldwide service provider revenue from IPTV services is expected to grow nearly 10-fold in the 5 years between 2007 and 2011
• Worldwide pure IP set-top box revenue grew 16% in 4Q07 over 3Q07 and is set to skyrocket in 2008
• Motorola leads the worldwide IP set-top box market in 2007, Microsoft leads the IPTV middleware and content delivery platform market, and UTStarcom leads the integrated digital headend platform market
• In 2007, the regional breakdown for worldwide IPTV equipment revenue was 40% North America, 30% EMEA, 28% Asia Pacific, and 2% CALA

Infonetics' report provides market size, market share, and forecasts for IPTV equipment, including integrated digital headend platforms, video on demand and streaming content servers, IP video encoders, universal edge QAMs, IPTV middleware and content delivery platforms, and IP STBs. The report also tracks IPTV, cable IPTV and cable SDV service revenue and subscribers.

Companies tracked include 2Wire, ADB, Alcatel-Lucent, Amino, ARRIS, Celrun, Cisco, Dasan Networks, Ericsson, Huawei, Microsoft, Motorola, Netgem, Nokia Siemens, OptiBase, Pace, Phillips, Sagem, Samsung, Scientific Atlanta, Sumitomo, Tatung, Telsey, Thomson, Tilgin, UTStarcom, Yuxing, and others.
www.tvover.net

Digital (All vs. Switched) Economics

Whether and when to deploy switched digital video (SDV) are questions on the minds of strategists at cable operators both large and small. The variables of this puzzle are costs, budgets and alternatives.

One window into the thinking at a second-tier cable op came during Mediacom's earnings call last week. As reported by sister pub CableFAX Daily, Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso explained his company's planned 2008 expenditures as directed toward "a lot more digital simulcasting, going all-digital in some systems, beginning our switched digital video initiative and FCC mandated requirements."

One takeaway is that Mediacom, reflecting the industry as a whole, is pursuing multiple options. Of course, each operator is on its own timetable.

Whereas there are only a couple of Comcast systems, for instance, that have yet to deploy digital simulcasting, Mediacom is at the front end of that cycle: currently at 25 percent of its footprint, with the expectation of growing to 50 percent by year end.

Once having deployed digital simulcast, generally regarded as an interim solution in that it consumes rather than reclaims spectrum, an operator is better off either to launch a switched digital solution or drop the analog tier entirely.

That Commisso indicated that some systems were going all digital is also telling. That approach has strong appeal, especially among tier 3 operators.

Massillon Cable

As reported previously here, all digital was a strong theme at last month's National Cable Television Cooperative Winter Educational Conference (WEC) in Phoenix. The presentation by Massillon Cable TV President Bob Gessner explicitly ruled out three other bandwidth expansion options: SDV, spectrum overlay and 1 GHz upgrade.

Gessner operates two systems in northeast Ohio that pass about 70,000 homes from a single consolidated headend that transmits, a la simulcast, both analog and all-digital video signals. Massillon has 45,500 video subscribers, a third of whom take digital video.

In a matrix that included capital expenditure, cost of customer premises equipment, operating expenditure, level of disruption, timeframe for completion, amount of spectrum reclaimed or freed up, confidence in success and level of unknowns, the analog elimination option came out on top of Gessner's analysis.

Gessner emphasized that a key and as yet missing component to this preferred path is a low-cost digital-to-analog (DTA) converter that can serve all TV sets in a subscriber's home. It may not go missing for long.

At WEC, Brent Smith, CTO of Evolution Canada, held up a model of an NTIA converter with a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) tuner. Discussion that Comcast had slipped into hardware developer mode and was specifying such a device followed the MSO's 4Q 2007 earnings call three weeks ago.

Like others at WEC, Smith emphasized the all-digital approach. "(Switched digital video) is not a solution for independent operators," he said. "Maybe if you're Time Warner Cable in Manhattan .…"

More math

Not surprisingly, SDV pioneer BigBand Networks underscores the favorable economics of switching. According to Biren Sood, BigBand VP and Manager of Cable Video, the math works out to $0.90 per QAM channel per home passed for SDV, vs. $3 for all digital.

One cable engineer familiar with this technology roughly confirmed that figure, saying that with some add-ons, it could be closer to $1.00 per QAM signal.

How that translates into homes passed appears to be a matter of headend economics. At least one MSO is pegging that number at $15, which is about half as much as the capex number that Gessner used in his analysis. (Total capex of $2 million divided by 65,500 homes passed = $30.50.)

Another difference in views is estimates in how much spectrum SDV is able to make available. Whereas Gessner put 25 MHz to 50 MHz in his matrix, Sood talks about SDV's ability to reach enable a "virtually infinite, capacity by demand."

That is a worthy goal, Sood said. "At some point," he said, "you're always going to hit the wall with a broadcast architecture."

Jonathan Tombes
cable360.net

Management World India is next week!

Management World India March 31st-April 4th 2008 Le Méridien New Delhi, India India is rapidly becoming a global centre for innovation and development. Following previous successful TM Forum events in India, Management World India 2008 builds on the challenges rising from huge subscriber growth as the Indian market goes through a state of transition moving beyond just issues associated with this massive growth. Register now

Conference Theme

As the market matures and competition increases, the attraction and retention of customers requires innovation in every aspect of service delivery. New service providers coming to market are driving the need for services to be created and delivered quicker and for operations to be optimized more cost-efficiently. This event will provide essential and unique insight into innovations in service operations, managing growth and delivering profitability, as well as into the latest high-technology developments and organizations based in the region. Click here to visit the Conference Agenda . Confirmed expert speakers include representation from: OSS Observer * Government of India * NMSWorks Bharti Airtel Ltd. *Reliance * Accenture * Satyam HP * Tech Mahindra * Telcordia Technologies Tata Teleservices Ltd.* Teradata * Siemens AG NetCracker Technologies * Oracle Corporation Infosys Technologies Ltd. * Deutsche Telekom AG NMSWorks Software Pvt. Ltd * IBM Corporation Square Hoop Limited * VSNL International Reliance Communications * Wipro Technologies Mformation * Tata Consultancy Services Conference highlights include: How to guarantee customer satisfaction for retention & growth Gaining insight into TM Forum technical programs through real-world case studies Surviving competition by creating innovative, profitable and affordable new services Obtaining the foundations for successful Business Transformation from executives at leading local service providers Software experts discussing the role of Service Delivery Platforms, Frameworks & Environments in a newly converging environment Mr R.N. Padakone, Senior DDG TEC, Department of Telecom , Government of India and representatives from VSNL, Deutsche Telekom, Reliance, Subex, Tech Mahindra and other regional and international industry leaders under one roof to present and discuss the latest challenges and solutions

IMS Research says IPTV service numbers will grow 52.2% annually

An estimated 13.2 million households received IPTV service last year with nearly 8.4 million IP-enabled boxes shipping worldwide, according to an IMS Research Study.

“IPTV: A Global Market Analysis - 2008 Edition” says the number of households using IPTV will grow 52.2% annually through 2012.

The increasingly competitive pay-TV landscape with proliferation of new content, triple/quadruple play offerings, and new Internet-based TV services is one of the main factors behind IPTV household growth,” explains Shane Walker, research analyst and author of the study.

“Another important factor is the rapid uptake of IPTV services in China and South Korea as governments relax regulations restricting deployment and as telcos become more involved with expanding IPTV services.”

Click here for more information on the report.

interesting point of view from

With Shane Walker, industry analyst, IMS Research. Walker wrote a report, "The IMS Research study IPTV: A Global Market Analysis - 2008 Edition," which the firm released earlier this month.

Question: What did the research look at regarding IPTV?
Walker: We covered 60 countries in depth. We looked at what operators are doing. They could be telcos that had been deploying for three or four years or are in trials. It was interesting to see what was happening in the emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and established countries in Western Europe, which also have interesting growth. IMS historically has been conservative in its view and forecasting of IPTV. We've been proven correct. This research is definitely more optimistic than it's been in past. We see close to 65 million IPTV households by the end of 2012. The current market at the end of 2007 was 13 million. This report is a change in our view of where the market is going.

Question: So you folks see it shaping up positively.
Walker: The future for IPTV is brighter than it was in the last couple of years. Our last report was in 2005. At that point, from 2005 to 2007, we were more conservative. We were proven right. From 2007, we are seeing a lot of growth, significant uptake. Set-top box shipments are going to reflect that. Some companies are growing, there will be alliances and convergence between vendors. There will be an annual growth rate year to year of a bit over 50 percent. There are a lot of vendors coming into the market.

Question: Where is the growth?
Walker: We are seeing rampant uptake in China and South Korea as governments relax the rules. The U.S. has the AT&T and Verizon deployments. Those will be driving growth through 2012. That growth was very speculative before. China and South Korea was restricted to push VOD, which limits the uptake. China is a little more complicated. It was not necessarily restricted to push, but IPTV is heavily regulated. The situation had been that digital television must be available in an area before IPTV. They’ve now become a bit more relaxed.

Question: What about the Americas?
Walker: We saw increased rollout in the Americas for tier-1 telcos like AT&T and Verizon. The acceleration in North America in the 2010 time frame will be to IPTV. Because Verizon is not all IP, we do not classify them as IPTV today. We have to cover them in our report. But in the numbers, we do not count them as IPTV households before 2010. They are part of the 65 million at the end of 2012 but, prior to 2010, they are not in the household numbers.

Question: Why is the momentum changing?
Walker: The technology is definitely more solidified, tested and proven. That includes Microsoft's Media Room. Major telcos worldwide have adopted Media Room and can continue pushing the service with confidence. That is one of the factors. Microsoft is one of the major players when it comes to IPTV software platforms. I also see content acquisition as a factor. There are more agreements between telcos and content providers. It is becoming more of a mature relationship. The content being offered is pretty much what consumers can get elsewhere. There is competitive parity. In places like the U.S., we see alliances of SES Americom, a satellite service, the NRTC, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative's IP-Prime service, which provides IPTV to tier-2 and tier-3 telcos. The market still is small compared to total television households. We do expect to see rapid growth in the next few years. There is also significant investment in Western Europe. The infrastructure is going to ADSL 2+ and VDSL. So those upgrades are delivering better service, obviously.

Question: Did IMS see this coming — but not definitely enough to change your predictions — or is all this really a big surprise?
Walker: We definitely saw some of this coming. I think among the things that could be predicted in 2005 were some of the regulatory changes in China and South Korea. We couldn’t predict when they would happen. We had a good idea they were going to happen, but not when. [For instance, interview subjects in] South Korea say that there will be true broadcast IPTV, but nobody is certain when. They are still waiting for the final word. It looks like it will be fairly soon and will lead to significant uptakes of subscribers by carriers such as KT and Hanaro.

Question: Does the interest in IPTV have a synergistic effect on infrastructure creation?
Walker: It is encouraging investment in the infrastructure, clearly. In Western and Eastern Europe as well, there are operators investing more and more in infrastructure. That is going to happen globally, AT&T is doing it in the U.S.; Verizon is doing it. Operators in Canada are doing it as well.

Question: Is it pushing fiber to the home and similar initiatives?
Walker: In Western Europe, it is ADSL 2+ and VDSL; in the U.S., Verizon is using fiber and AT&T is as well. It's more expensive. It's definitely going to continue. I don’t have a number off the top of my head as to when and how fast it will replace ADSL or VDSL. In the U.S., we looked at AT&T, SureWest in Northern California and the Pioneer Telephone cooperative. AT&T is using fiber, SureWest is using fiber, Pioneer is using fiber. AT&T is also using ADSL 2+ and MPEG 4, SureWest is using MPEG 2 and MPEG 4, and Pioneer is using MPEG 2.

Question: What does that tell you?
Walker: This primarily is for equipment suppliers, but it does give you an idea of what level of service consumers can expect from the operators. The standards as far as MPEG 4 and MPEG 2 matter because there is a significant bandwidth improvement when you go to MPEG 4 and it determines whether you will be able to deliver HDTV services. AT&T delivers IPTV, HDTV, DVR, mobile Internet service, VoIP, fixed line and premises security. They cover a lot of ground and can offer a lot of bundles, which is a very important factor when looking at whether an operator has competitive parity or an advantage against cable or satellite. Premises security is beginning to be an issue.

Question: So the bundle is where the action is.
Walker: The proliferation of triple and quadruple and even five play offerings. These are coming from cable satellite and telcos. It is a key behind telcos adding digital TV. Another driver of the numbers is the entry of more telcos. We're talking tier-2 and 3 telcos. This is happening in South America [for instance] and not just tier 2 and 3. Spain's Telefonica is making significant moves in South America to establish a foothold there. If a telco wants to remain competitive, it has virtually no choice but to enter a market with a bundle that must include video. No telco I talk to today doesn’t feel that video is a necessity. It is pretty essential at this point.

itbusinessedge.com

Comcast and BitTorrent Form Collaboration to Address Network Management, Network Architecture and Content Distribution

PHILADELPHIA and SAN FRANCISCO, March 27 /PRNewswire/ - Comcast Corporation and BitTorrent, Inc. announced today that they will undertake a collaborative effort with one another and with the broader Internet and ISP community to more effectively address issues associated with rich media content and network capacity management. While BitTorrent and Comcast are talking directly, they are also in discussions with other parties to help facilitate a broader dialogue and cooperation across industries.

The Comcast and BitTorrent discussions have already produced meaningful results. On the one hand, Comcast announced that it will migrate by year-end 2008 to a capacity management technique that is protocol agnostic. "This means that we will have to rapidly reconfigure our network management systems, but the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today's emerging Internet trends. We have been discussing this migration and its effects with leaders in the Internet community for the last several months, and we will refine, adjust, and publish the technique based upon feedback and initial trial results," said Tony Werner, Comcast Cable's Chief Technology Officer.

In turn, BitTorrent acknowledged the need of ISPs to manage their networks, especially during times of peak congestion. "While we think there were other management techniques that could have been deployed, we understand why Comcast and other ISPs adopted the approach that they did initially. Recognizing that the Web is richer and more bandwidth intensive than it has been historically, we are pleased that Comcast understands these changing traffic patterns and wants to collaborate with us to migrate to techniques that the Internet community will find to be more transparent," said Eric Klinker, BitTorrent's Chief Technology Officer.

"Earlier this year, Comcast announced its plans for the aggressive deployment of wideband Internet services using the DOCSIS 3.0 standard, which we project will be available in up to 20% of Comcast's households by the end of this year," said John Schanz, Comcast Cable's Executive Vice President of National Engineering and Technical Operations. "Additionally, we plan to more than double the upstream capacity of our residential Internet service in several key markets by year end 2008. We plan to take advantage of multi- carrier technology to further increase upstream capacity for all of our broadband customers in advance of the full DOCSIS 3.0 roll out."

BitTorrent and Comcast have also agreed to work with other ISPs, other technology companies, and the Internet Engineering Task Force, to explore and develop a new distribution architecture for the efficient delivery of rich media content. "In the spirit of openness and fostering innovative solutions, BitTorrent will take the first step in enhancing our client applications to optimize them for a new broadband network architecture. Furthermore, we will publish these optimizations in open forums and standard bodies for all application developers to benefit from," said Ashwin Navin, co-founder and president of BitTorrent, Inc.

"This new architecture would enable many new and emerging applications and will be based upon an open, non-discriminatory framework that could interface with or support multiple technologies. We believe that P2P technology has matured as an enabler for legal content distribution, so we need to have an architecture that can support it with techniques that work over all networks," said Werner.

Both BitTorrent and Comcast expressed the view that these technical issues can be worked out through private business discussions without the need for government intervention.

"BitTorrent and Comcast can serve consumers best by working together along with the broader ISP and Internet community to jointly develop more efficient networks and applications. This should prove to be a productive partnership that will provide consumers with a better Internet experience," said Doug Walker, CEO of BitTorrent.

"We appreciate the recent dialogue that we have had with BitTorrent and the progress that we have made in addressing our respective concerns. Working together, we can deliver a truly superior experience to all of our customers," said Steve Burke, President of Comcast Cable.

About BitTorrent
BitTorrent is the global leader for delivering high-quality files over the Internet. Millions of users worldwide are using BitTorrent's leading peer- assisted content delivery platform to publish, discover and download digital entertainment content quickly, easily and securely. Founded in 2004, BitTorrent is a privately held company backed by venture capital firms, Accel and DCM (formerly known as Doll Capital Management). The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit http://www.bittorrent.com.

BitTorrent is a trademark of BitTorrent, Inc.

About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (http://www.comcast.com) is the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services. With 24.1 million cable customers, 13.2 million high- speed Internet customers, and 4.6 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, ten Comcast SportsNet networks and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast's Internet business. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.

bittorrent.com

Comcast to Stop Hampering of Internet File-Sharing, Will Treat All Data Equally

Comcast Corp., an Internet service provider under investigation for hampering online file-sharing by its subscribers, announced Thursday an about-face in its stance and said it will treat all types of Internet traffic equally.
Comcast said it will collaborate with BitTorrent Inc., the company founded by the creator of the peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol, to come up with better ways to transport large files over the Internet instead of delaying file transfers.

Since user reports of interference with file-sharing traffic were confirmed by an Associated Press investigation in October, Comcast has been vigorously defending its practices, most recently at a hearing of the Federal Communications Commission in February.

Consumer and "Net Neutrality" advocates have been equally vigorous in their attacks on the company, saying that by secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers, Comcast made itself a judge and gatekeeper for the Internet.

They also accused Comcast of stifling delivery of Internet video, an emerging competitor to the core business of the nation's largest cable operator.

It was not immediately clear what effect, if any, the move will have on the FCC's ongoing probe, but Net Neutrality groups remained skeptical.

"This deal is the direct result of public pressure, and the threat of FCC action, against Comcast," said Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press, a media reform group. "But with Comcast's history of broken promises and record of deception, we can't just take their word that the Internet is now in safe hands."

Shares in Comcast rose 29 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $20 in midday trading Thursday.

Comcast has said that its practices were necessary to keep file-sharing traffic from overwhelming local cable lines, where neighbors share capacity with one another.

On Thursday, Comcast said that by year's end, it will no longer target files based on the type of protocol used, such as BitTorrent's, and will instead explore alternatives.

"The outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today's emerging Internet trends," Tony Werner, Comcast's chief technology officer, said in a statement.

One option is to delay file transfers for the heaviest downloaders, regardless of protocol, the Philadelphia-based company said.

Comcast said it also was monitoring Time Warner Cable Inc.'s experiment in placing explicit caps on the monthly downloads for new customers in Beaumont, Texas. Subscribers who go over their allotment will pay extra, much like a cell-phone subscriber who uses too many minutes in a month.

But Comcast may be wary about charging certain users more because of competitive pressure, especially after rival Verizon Communications Inc. said recently that such traffic is legitimate and that its FiOS network can handle the flow, said Harold Feld of Media Access Project, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

Comcast has been hampering the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which together with the eDonkey protocol, accounts for about a third of all Internet traffic, according to figures from Arbor Networks. The vast majority of that is illegal sharing of copyright-protected files, but file-sharing is also emerging as a low-cost way of distributing legal content -- in particular, video.

On Thursday, Werner all but embraced peer-to-peer file transfers, saying the techniques have "matured as an enabler for legal content distribution."

The company initially veiled its traffic-management system in secrecy, saying openness would allow users to circumvent it. Werner said the company now would "publish" the new technique and take into account feedback from the Internet community.

Comcast and BitTorrent said they want to work out network management issues privately, without the need for government intervention.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell agreed as much, saying in a statement that "the private sector is the best forum to resolve such disputes."

For its part, BitTorrent acknowledged that service providers have to manage their networks somehow, especially during peak times.

"While we think there were other management techniques that could have been deployed, we understand why Comcast and other ISPs adopted the approach that they did initially," Eric Klinker, BitTorrent's chief technology officer, said in a statement.

Comcast also said that the issue is larger than BitTorrent. It said it was in talks with other parties to find solution, although the cable company might not have much of a choice.

Verizon recently announced that by sharing information with Pando Networks, another file-sharing company, Verizon was able to speed up file-sharing downloads for its subscribers while reducing the strain on its own network. AT&T Inc. has been looking at similar collaboration.

However, phone companies are in a better position than cable companies to deal with file-sharing traffic, since neighbors don't share capacity on phone lines.

Associated Press Business Writer Barbara Ortutay and Technology Writer Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this story.

biz.yahoo.com

"Achilles' heel" of DSP 860 from Trilithic

A power connector for a printed circuit board comprises a plastic body and a conductive plate disposed on the top surface thereof. Conductive pin contacts pass through the body and are attached by solder to the conductive plate.

have used DSP860 daily for several years

push it "straight in" and pull it "straight out" and you will NEVER have a problem?

broken DC power jack/power connector

IMHO this seems like a design flaw

from off. site:
The 860 DSP provides all of the testing power needed to insure HFC networks operate to high standards. This includes balancing the distribution system, maintaining analog and digital signal quality, controlling return path ingress and much more. Many options equip the 860 DSP cable analyzer for a variety of roles, and all configurations feature an attractive price. Unlike other digital cable analyzers, the 860 DSP analyzer includes:

High Performance Digital Cable Signal Analyzer

* Measures Levels
C/N, 2nd and 3rd Order Intermodulation, Forward Gain and Tilt, Reverse Gain and Tilt (with Option), Hum and Low Frequency Noise
* 5 to 870 MHz Frequency Range
Scans all Forward Channels, a Select Group or tunes by Frequency

* QPSK, QAM Analyzer
Measures MER/BER, displays Constellations (with option)

* High Resolution Spectrum Analyzer
Displays spectrum up to full span, and (with option) at resolutions from 10kHz to 3 MHz

* Reverse Path Tester
Emulates Trilithic's Guardian 9580 SSR Return Path Field Unit (with option) and RSVP Installer's Reverse Tester (with option)

860 DSP Options

The 860 DSP is the first high-performance distribution analyzer designed specifically for the demands of HSD and VoIP. More than just a signal level meter, the 860 DSP makes full use of DSP (digital signal processing) techniques to perform a wide array of transmission and signal quality tests, on both analog and digital signals. With options, the capabilities of the 860 DSP can be expanded to include high-resolution spectrum analysis, QAM and QPSK analysis and a wide range of return path installation and distribution tests, all without impacting size, weight or battery life.

The 860 DSP is fully compatible with Trilithic 9580 SST and 9581 SST Reverse Path Analyzers and can emulate the functions of the Guardian 9580 SSR Reverse Field Unit and Guardian RSVP2 Installer's Reverse Tester.
DSP: For Today and Tomorrow

The unique architecture of the 860 DSP makes it easy to upgrade and expand over time to meet emerging measurement and data communication requirements. The 860 DSP achieves this adaptability by employing virtual instrument techniques, eliminating much of the analog circuitry of older instruments with cutting-edge digital signal processing (DSP) technologies. The flexibility of DSP means that applications that were not even available when the 860 DSP was originally purchased can be added later, usually by simply downloading firmware from the Internet.

DSP technology also gives the 860 DSP the measurement speed that modern conditions demand, refreshing all-channel displays and performing signal analyzes up to 12 times faster than any other analyzer.

Not only is the 860 DSP the most capable and flexible analyzer in its class: it is also the most cost-effective. The use of DSP reduces reliance on expensive and complex analog circuitry, giving the 860 DSP a starting price no greater than that of some installation meters.
Designed for Convenience, Designed for Durability

As with all Trilithic instruments, the keyboard functions are simple and direct. Buttons are large and widely spaced, making it easy to operate the 860 DSP with heavy gloves. Most measurement or data communication functions can be accessed with a single keystroke, and soft keys simplify navigation through set up and operation menus. Tests and other functions are selected from one of four convenient "desktops." Measurement results and received data are displayed on a high-resolution "4.6 X 3.5" back lit LCD display, and detected audio can be heard through the built-in, waterproof loudspeaker.

Though the 860 DSP has the capabilities of a lab instrument, it is built for rugged, everyday use. The housing is constructed of strong shock-resistant plastic and further protected by an integral rubber boot and padded bag that minimize impact damage and increase water resistance. The 860 DSP weighs only 4 lbs., and a hand strap makes it easy to hold the 860 DSP securely in all conditions with one hand. A shoulder strap allows for hands-free carriage.

• 860 and 860 DSPi Datasheet
• Workbench Software
• 860 DSP Options

read also

Advanced Digital Troubleshooting

Digital Carriers
BER
VoIP
Ping
RSVP/SSR modes
Spectrum
QAM Constellations
Return Path

Advanced Digital Troubleshooting presentation

Click on the image above to download the PowerPoint Presentation

Why watch porn on your little computer monitor when you can watch it on a 150-inch HDTV in your living room?

Instantly Access DVD-Quality Content

FyreTV does not download anything to your television or box. Instead, it uses streaming technology across a DSL connection to offer immediate access to the movie of your choice. Avoid delays from buffering and instantly play high-quality adult videos on your television screen.

FyreTV, the guys who are releasing a nondescript set-top-box that streams IPTV adult video straight into your living room just gave us a hands-on demo with their machine. Here's what we think: it's the best thing we've seen yet to bring you on-demand porn over the internet into your living room.

The FyreTV streams you DVD-quality adult IPTV from major studios, letting you enjoy content without having to store it locally. You've got three packages to subscribe with beyond the mandatory $US9.99 monthly fee that gives you a certain bucket of minutes.

• Buying more on-demand minutes to use as you watch, which will be somewhere between $US0.17 to $US0.24 a minute.
• Buying a specific movie to get unlimited viewing.
• Buying a monthly pass to get unlimited access (for that month) to a specific studio's content, which gives you all the movies in their catalog. This will be somewhere around $26-ish, depending on the studio.

The box performance was great. DVD quality video was good on the cheap Vizio set they were demoing it on. The remote control was super responsive, and when you queue up a video it streams incredibly fast (probably because of their setup on the floor, so we'll have to see how it performs in the real world when we do a hands-on at home).

Other great functionality include bookmarking, favourites, playback history, playlists, scene ranking (1 to 5 stars), combination tag searches (Blondes, Boobs, Blondes + Big Boobs were the ones we used) and easy fast forward/rewinding through scenes.

FyreTV's best news is that their box will have no stickers (as shown in the pictures) or markings on it, so you can hide it in plain sight next to your DVR and have your in-laws be none the wiser. Why watch porn on your little computer monitor when you can watch it on a 150-inch HDTV in your living room? Oh and if you've read this far, it means you're definitely interested in this thing. We're going to have a special code soon for Gizmodo readers that will get you into the expanded beta (they went from 5,000 to 10,000 beta units) ahead of everyone else. [FyreTV]

Photo credit: FyreTV
by gizmodo.com.au

HTC + Android= Handroid (+ SMS+Ad=> G$)

The mobile phone High Tech Computer (HTC) has been developing to run on the Android software from Google will be called "Dream," and it will have a large touchscreen and full QWERTY keypad, a person close to the situation said Thursday.

HTC may become the first handset maker in the world to put out a mobile phone developed around Android, but it faces stiff competition from Samsung, a separate source said. Samsung has stepped up its effort to put out a Google phone, the person said.
HTC's Google handset is just over 5 inches long and 3 inches wide, with a keypad underneath the screen that either slides out or swivels out. The aim of the keypad is for easy e-mail, note-taking, and writing Web addresses. Internet navigational controls are situated below the screen on the handset. The handset will likely hit the market near the end of this year, the person said.

The company officially remained mum on the handset. "We cannot comment on this product," said Maggie Cheng, an HTC representative.

Last November, HTC became the first company to admit to developing a mobile phone based on Android, although Samsung, Motorola, and other handset developers are part of the group dedicated to furthering the software, the Open Handset Alliance.

Android, an open source software platform that includes an OS, is designed to take advantage of Internet services for mobility. The software could become a potent new rival to Windows Mobile and other handset operating systems. At the launch ceremony, Google announced that over 30 companies had joined the Open Handset Alliance.

Android™ will deliver a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. An early look at the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is now available.

infoworld

Introducing Android

Mobile messaging to grow to US$212 billion by 2013, says ABI Research

SMS is taking off in the Americas, mobile email continues its strong growth in developed regions, subscriber growth is driving messaging adoption in Asia-Pacific, and social networking is lifting the messaging boat across nearly all regions, according to research firm ABI Research. The combination of these factors is expected to grow revenues from mobile messaging to US$212 billion by 2013, according to the firm.

Messaging services growth will have different regional specific drivers. Despite the differences, however, the common growth denominator is that messaging services provide a timely, cost-effective, customer-specific communication and information capability. Principal analyst Dan Shey says, "You will not find many customers worldwide who don't find messaging cost-effective and valuable for communications and delivery of information. The range of capabilities, services and pricing options can be fit to the economic and social differences of each region, and the result quite simply is steady growth over the next five years."

But the benefits driving messaging growth go beyond its obvious economic, social and convenience advantages relative to voice calling. The next stage of messaging growth will be strongly influenced by new input and access capabilities and integration across mobile and fixed-line platforms. According to Shey, "Innovation in messaging input, including touch screens, voice-to-text, and advanced keyboard designs, makes initiating a mobile message very easy. By combining input options with greater ease of communicating across mobile and fixed platforms regardless of messaging service, messaging providers serve customers' needs very well in both the consumer and business domains."

And there is a third stage of growth for mobile messaging, according to Shey, "Some very creative companies are finding unique ways to incorporate advertising in mobile messaging. If done right, advertising will completely change the mobile messaging market."

digitimes.com

Panasonic Cable TV Solutions with Tru2way Technology

by www.cable360.net

FCC's 700 MHz auction

Results from the FCC's 700 MHz auction emerged last Friday. Sister publication CableFAX Daily offered this rundown on the MSOs engaged in this auction, the amount they bid and what they got:

• Cox Communications; $304.6 million; 22 licenses, including blocks in New Orleans and Las Vegas
• Vulcan (linked to Charter Communications); $112 million; two A Block licenses.
• Bend Broadband; $6.7 million; one Oregon-based license
• Bresnan Communications; $3.9 million; three licenses in MT.

Cable's competitors unleashed much greater amounts of cash. CableFAX reported that Verizon spent $9.63 billion (some 22 times as much as the total listed above) on all of the regional C block licenses; AT&T spent $6.7 billion on 227 licenses; and Echostar acquired 168 E Block licenses for $711 million.

By Jonathan Tombes
www.cable360.net

Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 3/16/2008

This week there were three hours of WWE coverage. Each hour grew more viewers and the 9pm and 10pm hours earned WWE: RAW the top two spots (the first hour placed 11^th).

This week SpongeBob only made the top 20 eight times, but this was seemingly due to a Fairly Odd Parents extravaganza. You don’t need to cry for SpongeBob or Nickelodeon, the Bobster still snuck in 16 airings into the top 40 and Nickelodeon took 30 out of 40 spots. Even by Bill Gorman’s accounting, that is the lion’s share. Nick’s own iCarly also bested SpongeBob with 4.35 million viewers. Disney ran the movie The Incredibles at least twice (one airing made the top 20, one didn’t, the only Disney participation in this week’s top 40).

The Saturday (3/15) 9pm showing of the movie Wisegal on Lifetime averaged 3.4 million viewers, and was 15^th on a household ratings basis (25^th by viewers). The Monday (3/10) airing of The O’Reilly Factor placed 30^th for the week on a HH ratings basis, and 37^th out of 40 on a viewers basis (3.09 million). Keith Olbermann? I don’t hate you, but you didn’t make the top 40.

The premiere of the John Adams miniseries on HBO? Not on the top 40 and HBO doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to release a press release (never a good sign), but I will keep my eyes open for some John Adams data. Update: the two episode premiere on Sunday averaged 2.7 million viewers.

Some TVbytheNumbers favorites made the top 40 via syndication. A Monday night 9pm airing of Gorman favorite Law & Order on TNT had 3.15 million viewers (34^th on a viewers basis) and A Friday night 11pm airing of House on USA had 2.91 million viewers, the 40^th most watched program on Cable last week.

Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 3/16/2008:

Rank	PROGRAMS	Net	DAY(S)	Live+SD HH Rtg	Live+SD Viewers
1	WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)	USA	MONDAY	3.4	5,690
2	WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)	USA	MONDAY	3.3	5,542
3	ICARLY	NICK	SATURDAY	2.7	4,347
4	SPONGEBOB	NICK	SATURDAY	2.7	4,175
5	FAIRLY ODD PARENTS	NICK	FRIDAY	2.6	4,034
6	BACK AT THE BARNYARD	NICK	SATURDAY	2.6	4,029
7	SPONGEBOB	NICK	SATURDAY	2.7	3,991
8	INCREDIBLES, THE	DSNY	SATURDAY	2.5	3,941
9	FAIRLY ODD PARENTS	NICK	FRIDAY	2.5	3,899
10	SPONGEBOB	NICK	SATURDAY	2.5	3,805
11	WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)	USA	MONDAY	2.4	3,804
12	SPONGEBOB	NICK	SATURDAY	2.3	3,749
13	FAIRLY ODD PARENTS	NICK	MONDAY	2.4	3,703
14	FOP MOVIE FAIRLY ODD BABY	NICK	FRIDAY	2.4	3,685
15	FAIRLY ODD PARENTS	NICK	SATURDAY	2.4	3,538
16	SPONGEBOB	NICK	FRIDAY	2.2	3,529
17	SPONGEBOB	NICK	SUNDAY	2.3	3,526
18	SPONGEBOB	NICK	MONDAY	2.3	3,518
19	FAIRLY ODD PARENTS	NICK	SATURDAY	2.3	3,508
20	SPONGEBOB	NICK	SATURDAY	2.3	3,482

Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved