THE CABLE PIPELINE

Cisco’s mantra continues to be about networking and collaboration, and that is what it continues to offer consumers and busy executives with an array of products.

Cisco Cius

Starting with the newly introduced Cisco Cius at the Cisco live conference in Las Vegas, it promises to take business collaboration to the next level with its HD quality video and wireless desk-top integration. From collaborating at the office or from a remote location the Cius makes it possible to keep you in touch with what is important in your business.

Features include Cisco network centric:

• Unified Communications
• Quad Collaboration Platform

Tools include:

• Webex Collaboration Cloud
• Cisco Telepresence
  • Real-time collaboration
• Cisco Quad Collaboration
  • integrating business apps with social networking tools, with VoIP, instant messaging, video, and calendars
• Forward and Rear facing cameras
  • Forward for HD Video 720p
  • Rear for 640×480 video and still image captures
• Cloud Apps
• Docking

It does not matter where you are when collaboration takes place because the Cius brings you front and center with real time business integration.

Cisco Valet

With consumers in mind, the Cisco Valet is a simple but yet ingenious wireless router for the home priced at $99.00, and makes connecting the whole home Wi-Fi experience a fast and easy task, which historically could be somewhat of nightmare. The Valet soothes consumers into “easily connecting your family’s computer, games and devices to the internet”.

Features:

• Get Connected
  • Create a wireless hotspot in your home and quickly connect your laptops, desktops, game consoles, and mobile devices to the Internet. Treat your family to an Internet experience that simplifies your life.
• You’re the Boss
  • Parental controls allow you to limit your kids’ time online, block specific sites and/or certain times of the day. Customize the settings on each computer for a safer Internet experience.
• Set Up in Minutes
  • Simply insert Valet’s included Easy Setup Key to launch Cisco Connect software, breeze through the simple screens, and you’re wireless.
• Instant Guess Access
  • Give friends and visitors password access to the Internet but not your private information.

Cisco Flip

With its announcement on March 19, 2009, Cisco purchases Pure Digital Technologies, Inc, maker of the Flip, while increasing its brand in consumer technologies.  Ned Hooper, senior vice president of Cisco’s Corporate Development and Consumer Groups communicated that, “The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco’s strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking.” The Flip allowed consumers to instantly capture, edit and share video with family, friends and colleagues then organize, edit and immediately share with YouTube, MySpace and other networking sites.

Fast forward to April 13, 2010, Cisco announces the launch of the All-New Flip SlideHD which can capture events and replay them immediately to friends or family. Consumers will be allowed to shoot four hours of HD video while storing twelve hours on the SlideHD, and it travels with you when needed sharing video with anyone, anywhere.

Specifications:

• Color: White/Silver and Personalized
• Recording Time: Up to four hours
• Storage Time: Up to 12 Hours
• Memory: 16GB
• Screen: 3-inch wide transflective touch screen
• Video Resolution: High Definition; 1280×720 (30fps)
• Video Format: H.264, MP4
• Battery: Internal Li-ion rechargeable
• Battery Life: Up to two hours
• TV Output: HDMI Widescreen
• Zoom: 2x digital
• Audio: Stereo speakers, headset jack

The Flip SlideHD is priced at $279.99 at major retailers, online retailers and at the Flip Store.

Cisco Flip MinoPRO camcorder

First in a series of the enterprise-class Cisco Prosumer Video solution camcorder products, The Flip MinoPRO enhances business process and improves collaboration by allowing the capture of video content for secure editing and sharing.

Benefits:

• Added dynamic component to messages:

• Record earnings calls, company announcements, and product demos to improve delivery of communications within and outside of organizations.

• Improved information delivery and retention:

• Use video capture to share best practices, sales techniques, and complex processes and designs to increase collaboration.

• Reduced global barriers and travel costs:

• Provide video training instead of spending the time and money to travel.

• Ease of use:

• Spend more time producing relevant content with the easy-to-use Cisco Flip MinoPRO camcorder.

Cisco continues to raise the bar in both consumer and business collaboration with its video integration and communications processes through the web, making and it both easy and affordable for next generation technology to serve customer needs.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Cisco boosts video line-up (channelweb.co.uk)
• Cisco Entering Tablet Market with Android-Based Device (readwriteweb.com)
• Cisco Just Kicked iPad Out of Enterprise Market With Cisco Cius (diversity.net.nz)

 Read More →

Have you ever incurred an incident where your child has become lost and needed help? How many times has this issue crossed every parents mind as they wait for sons or daughters to come home or receive a phone call to hear; I’m okay?

Amdocs has just this scenario in mind when creating CRM solutions which marry broadband, mobile, GPS, and IPTV technologies which interface in giving real time convergence for service providers in solving real life problems.

Scenario

1. Dad is watching TV and sets caller display to (Do Not Disturb) unless a family member calls.
2. Megan his 16 year old daughter calls from her mobile phone, the TV shows she is calling and gives a prompt to pause live TV
3. Dad uses TV remote to answer call and speaks to Megan via the TV conference service
4. Megan says she is lost and can Dad pick her up
5. Dad uses the TV remote to select the “Find Me” application which use the GPS capability of Megan’s mobile phone to show her location of a Google map

Amdocs has successfully integrated B2B solutions for service providers to offer customers what they want, when they want it. And this is just the “tip of the iceberg” with the kind of solutions Amdocs has in store for companies wanting to capture the (Quad-Play), keeping customers from migrating elsewhere to get that encompassing all-in-one service. This is the challenge going forward and Amdocs offers the solution.

Subscriber Data Management

Marrying CM-RM-OSS solutions in a virtual directory employing synchronized and up to date configuration data serving the jNETX, (Communications and Commerce) system Amdocs provides Tru-2Way, EBIF, and Yahoo Widgets with Voice CMS-Calling name server- Set-Top-Box to offer a true in-home communications experience that is TV enabled. It combines third party configurations through Voice Switch-Presence Server-HLM to complete the external communications.

Use of Multi-Platform Recommendation Engine

• Interconnected TV
  • Yahoo Widgets
• STB based DTV
  • Tru2Way EPG
  • EBIIF EPG
• Smart Phone
• PC Web Browser

Value Proposition

By combining subscriber data management and cross-platform personalization, Amdocs establishes the critical infrastructure to build integrated customer experiences while leverage existing investments, and provide consistent recommendations across multiple platforms.

To realize a better recommendation hit ratio, multi-platform usage improves the accuracy of subscriber preferences resulting in a greater number of impulse purchases while improving the accuracy of addressable advertising subscriber data.

Success in the Connected World

It cannot be denied, there is a march to a connected world where both business and consumers will be interacting together with superior technologies and applications that were little more than a dream ten years ago.

Amdocs wants to increase the speed at which these services reach the market by helping service providers to:

• Expand Faster by connecting emerging devices while penetrating new industry verticals
• Drive Experience so customers will live a truly connected life across devices, networks, screens and services
• Run Leaner by building cost-efficient business and technical environments that can bring change quickly to on-board new partners while remaining manageable and controlled

Message

Amdocs is an Open Systems company which is investing the future of the Pay TV industry while innovating to increase the speed of convergence

The point to be made is that service providers will need to upgrade their legacy systems to compete in the (war of the brands) for the total customer experience. Brand names will outstrip incumbents in the race for an increasingly hungry one-stop shop consumer. A continuing consolidation of markets will result in fewer but larger players who are well funded while an increasingly regulatory environment will begin appear.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mformation Announces Partnership with Amdocs to Deliver Industry’s First Integrated Mobile Device Customer Care Solution (eon.businesswire.com)
• Amdocs Buys MX Telecom For $104 Million (paidcontent.org)
• Global Demand for Service Delivery Platforms to Exceed $6.1 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (prweb.com)

 Read More →

Cisco is doing its research in coming up with a contest designed to engage constituents interested in video platforms, and produce a smart video that portrays how video content could integrate with your TV in the future. Titled, “If your TV could do anything, what would you want it to do?” the contest throws down the gauntlet in asking for the best idea of what the future of TV should look like.

Research

Where did the idea come from? While researching the dynamics in the future demand for mobile content, Cisco pulled together statistics in indicating the potential growth in video over a wide array of platforms in the not too distant future. Referencing Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2009-2014, Cisco confirms the prediction in exponential growth in the way video is accessed in the future and maybe how your TV screen will interact with these platforms, where an increasingly mobile market is set to explode in capturing video. This in turn, sets the stage for how video could end up on your TV from many different venues.

From E-911 responders, police, and various security measures for government entities, both mobile and wireless technologies will allow real-time video of actual events taking place from external locations throughout the world. Cisco addresses current applications in helping communities to discover the benefits of such use with, Cisco Outdoor Wireless Solutions for Mobile and Wireless Video Communications and how it can help protect the safety and welfare of communities and their citizens.

Benefits:

• Reduced danger to enforcement personnel
• Safer citizens
• Quicker response to incidents
• Advance information in the field
• Full connectivity on any platform
• Easier installation while saving space and power

Appendix B: The Cisco VNI Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Methodology

Cisco predicts that it will not be the connection which will be the central traffic driver, but the device itself from the likes of smartphones, non-smartphones, laptops/tablets/netbooks, e-readers, digital still cameras, digital video cameras, digital photo frames, in-car entertainment systems, and handheld gaming consoles. It also forecasts the inclusion of the fundamental drivers in mobile data traffic coming from available variables like connection speed, pricing of connections and devices, computational processing power, screen size and resolution, and even device battery life.

TV does not necessarily mean, (TV in the traditional sense)

What does all this mean for consumers and businesses? The TV can be any kind of mobile device capable of capturing video and processing it across multiple platforms. Where will your TV screen be in the next two to three years? How will you view TV from a more traditional aspect? It certainly does not seem to reference the big screen home TV in a historical context, but forecasts the external access to video that can be captured, viewed and then uploaded to your big screen as a caveat. It will be as much a business concept and a personal one. However, do expect and get ready for unprecedented growth in video content applications for the mobile TV screen in the coming years.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Cisco Sees Flip Camera Catching on with Corporate Users (beet.tv)
• The Sleeping Giant Awakes: Cisco Launches First Smart Grid Products (earth2tech.com)
• Cisco to Buy Design Consulting Firm Moto (abcnews.go.com)

 Read More →

Utopia: the definition brings about visions of an “ideal place or state”, or “a system of political and social perfection.” Thus became the name chosen for a consortium of sixteen Utah cities building their own broadband infrastructure with a fiber-to-the-premise architecture, while offering residents a clear and alternative choice to incumbent operators, including Quest and Comcast.  Is it perfection or fantasy?

UTOPIA, billed as providing light-speed to your door while connecting you with friends, family, entertainment, businesses, healthcare, and education, highlights itself as being part of your home, not owned by any network provider. It is unique in that UTOPIA is part of a combined network owned by connected cities, and therefore citizens of each community. It allows any network provider to use the infrastructure to offer related consumers services in an effort to create more competition within the broadband universe, and to provide rural residents state of the art fiber connections to their homes.

Overview:

• Maintained by city employees, UTOPIA requires a deposit to participate just as citizens would pay for a sewer connection to their home
• A monthly service fee is charged to maintain the system which includes maintenance, and billing just as with electric, water & sewer services
• Open Access Network – open to various service providers which have access to the network

 UTOPIA Service Providers:

Currently with eleven listed service providers using the network, UTOPIA is offering a variety of services to residents within its service area. In the past two years since hiring new management, subscriber growth has doubled from previous levels beginning from 2002. UTOPIA indicates a need to add another twenty thousand customers quickly to ensure the long-term viability of the consortiums investment. 

This venture is similar to what Google has committed to accomplish with its advertised foray into the broadband infrastructure arena touting network speeds one-hundred times faster than those typically offered today. Goggle will also operate an (open access network) allowing multiple service providers to offer subscribers a wide variety of enhanced applications and services. See (Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network)    

Divergent Industry Infrastructures

Historically, Cable operators have chosen the hybrid-fiber coax architecture to build out their networks, with Docsis 3, and GPON to gain efficiencies in bandwidth. Others like Verizon, UTOPIA, and now Google have opted to use fiber-to-the-premise, a total fiber network to connect customers to a true high-powered and hefty bandwidth architecture, which can offer deep access to both existing and future applications.

While the hybrid-fiber-coax construction is less expensive on the front end, it is not considered the long-term or end game solution. Total fiber construction is more expensive on the front end, but as costs continue to come down more service providers will opt to consider this solution.

Perfection or Fantasy

UTOPIA, Verizon, and Google’s networks will have to be proven profitable both in the short and long-term to be considered viable alternatives in private industry adoption. The heavy capital expenditures on the front end for fiber-to-the-premise construction must be coupled with robust adoption by customers to not only reach a break-even cash flow standpoint, but go on to make a reasonable profit.

This will be critical in obtaining needed capital for companies going forward, where UTOPIA is using bond issues along with pre-paid deposits and long-term subscription agreements to fund its venture. There is no doubt that fiber-to-the-premise is robust alternative from an operational standpoint with its high speeds, hefty bandwidth, and future applications potential.

 Read More →

By 2014, annual global mobile data traffic will reach 3.6 exabytes per month. Globally, businesses and consumers will be transferring the equivalent of billions of DVDs each month. What’s driving that incredible growth? What does it mean to service providers? Are users worldwide becoming mobile data megalomaniacs? Read on to find out.

Before I get into details, I’d just like to point out that a lot of this data comes from the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Forecast. A great summary of Cisco VNI research is here, along with a helpful mobile data forecast whitepaper, can be found here.

Video is, well, huge, and getting ginormous

So, what’s going on? Let’s take a look at a key driver of the pending data deluge: Video.

Video is becoming more social and, as a result, getting more use. But, more importantly, it is easier to discover and access than ever. Not just to users with high-speed Internet access, but specifically to users in developing nations without computers but smartphones instead. Not only is the smartphone business booming – as much as a 20.9 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) percent in the years leading up to 2013 (according to a report, “Worldwide Mobile OS 2009-2013 Forecast and Analysis”, by IDC), but consider that, in 2009, one smartphone generated the data equivalent of at least 10 basic phones. By 2014, one smartphone will generate the equivalent of more than 100 basic phones.

Beyond mobile, consider traffic generated in machine-to-machine communications (M2M). How much data will the fridge (and other appliances) of 2014 process and deliver wirelessly? What about asset tracking systems in shipping and manufacturing sectors, medical patient record storage and retrieval, and so on? The latest Cisco VNI figures predict that, by 2014, there will be five billion mobile consumer devices in use and billions more M2M nodes in all sorts of consumer and business/enterprise applications.

Another factor is our changing lifestyle

It wasn’t too long ago that humans would just go to sleep when the sun went down. With the advent of television, a few of us decided to stay up late watching Johnny Carson or Conan O’brien. But now, with the Internet becoming the dominant medium for consuming everything other than your meals – and its ubiquity, and its ease-of-access, humans are changing the way they behave. Research into the habits of information workers indicates that multitasking will add six “network hours” to every day.

Instead of just watching TV, people will browse the Web to learn about a new product they just saw. While paying bills they will watch videos on demand – hopefully educational information helping them to balance their budget, instead of just a cute kitten video. Even while watching a video, users will keep an eye on their RSS feeds to keep abreast of the latest trends…and latest popular videos.

All of this extra network time is compounding the strain service providers will be under in the coming years.

Around the world

Let’s take a deep breath now and ask ourselves: Is my network capable of handling all of that? Is my mobile infrastructure going to crumble under the weight of quintillions of packets? Let’s look at how the various regions of the world will fare in the coming storm. For maximum effect, read the next section in the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. For the forecast period 2009 to 2014:

• The Middle East and Africa are expected to lead the world with the fastest mobile data growth rate (for regions) at a CAGR of 133% percent. The regional will be followed closely by Asia-Pacific, with a 119% CAGR, followed by North America with a 117% CAGR.
• Western Europe will account for nearly 1/3 (30%) of all mobile data traffic by 2014. Asia-Pac will contribute 26% and North America will contribute 22% of global mobile traffic by 2014.
• India will blow the rest of the world away with the highest mobile traffic growth rate of 222% CAGR. China will trail with 72% CAGR and South Africa will have a 156% CAGR.

What’s a service provider to do?

Run, hide? Build a fortified compound and wait out the storm? Those are valid courses of action, certainly. There are a multitude of answers available. I’d love to know how you plan to cope, though – what’s your strategy? I’d love to have you sound off in the comments. We’re also talking about this (and other topics) in our community forum on a regular basis, and I’d like to invite you all to join us there sometime, too.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Cisco Introduces Faster Router to Lure Carriers (Update1) (businessweek.com)
• Cisco predicts wireless data explosion (news.cnet.com)
• Cisco Sees Mobile Data Doubling Annually (blogs.wsj.com)
• Cisco set to make major announcement (financialpost.com)

 Read More →

With some 1900 company name changes last year, one would think these re-branding efforts would pay dividends in market share, customer perception, and employee focus in forging a new direction, both in the short and long term.  Does XFINIITY, See (Comcast launches XFINITY), make relevant and pertinent business sense for all stakeholders involved, or can it be viewed as confusing and irrelevant?

These are the questions Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) must answer when making the investment in retraining customers to think in terms of their existing and new products under new brand name.  But there are inherent issues with re-branding which must be addressed to ensure the new name fits with an existing and future targeted customer culture.

Does the company have these items?

• Multiple Delivery Platforms
• Multiple Types of Users
• Products & Services with Multiple Features
• Future Content Offerings
• Existing Umbrella or Corporate Names

Can the New Name Pass this Test?

• Will it have an emotional Bond with customer?
• Will the brand name be easily remembered?
• Does the name association reverberate positive or negative?
• Does the new name position the product as intended?
• Can the new name be easily pronounced by customers?
• Will the sound of the new name bond with the customer?

These are the issues Comcast probably considered when changing its product brand name to XFINITY.  If you take the meaning of the word (affinity), pronounced and spelled similar to XFINITY, the meaning produces associations like:

How does an Affinity connection relate?

• (A feeling of connection) – “a natural liking for or identification with somebody or something”
• (Connection)-“a similarity or connection between people or things
• (Somebody attractive)-“somebody to whom somebody else is attracted to”

The question remains, will customers have a connection with the XFINITY name?  Is Comcast seeking to merge its products, both existing and new, into a new brand that best describes its future? What else will the company do to enhance the name, such as tying it to new and improved customer service and quality engineering?  Or maybe it wants to distance its products from an old brand name like Comcast, which has been through the ups and downs of customer perceptions.

Although the company parent name will remain Comcast, even with the newly acquired NBC-Universal, all of its products will be marketed under the name XFINITY, including, Digital Video, Broadband, and Telephone. This goes on to include employee uniforms, customer bills, and product related advertising.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Comcast says new name Xfinity is a signal of innovation (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Xfinity: New Name for the Same Old Comcast? (technologizer.com)
• Comcast Rebranding as ‘Xfinity’ (philly.com)

 Read More →

Recent hearings before the House on the proposed merger between Comcast and NBCU drew both accolades and skepticism for regulators on Feb 4, 2010. The skepticism seemed to come from what was perceived as inconsistencies in previous statements by CEO’s Roberts and Zucker from what was being purported in the public meeting.

Robert’s Inconsistencies

Specifically, Senator Al Franken, (D-Minn.) called out Comcast’s Roberts for being inconsistent in his statements to Franken privately, regarding program access rules, while Comcast lawyers were challenging these rules in Federal Court.

Zucker’s Inconsistencies

Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA) questioned NBU’s Zucker who seemed to contradict himself on the question of Hulu, owned by NBCU, in blocking users of Boxee from downloading Hulu’s content to the TV. Zucker had two explanations of the incident which did not match; saying to legislators this month that Boxee was illegally taking Hulu’s content; and in a previous statement that Hulu management did not want content to become a TV viewing experience. 

Providing a United and Consistent Message

At issue is credibility in addressing an audience of regulators who will determine the final outcome of the merger and then possibly provide stipulations that protect a market with competitive dynamics. The message has to be clear and consistent. These issues brought up on Feb 4, 2010 should have been vetted with external communication experts with both companies, see (Cable Industry Executive Quotes to Remember in 2009).

Rather than appearing to be caught off-guard, both CEO’s should have been ready to explain these inconsistencies with current and prior statements. While I have changed my views on issues from time-to-time with further research, it would be more plausible for these company leaders to admit making those statements and give reasons why their positions have changed.  In addition, consistency in both statements by CEO’s and actions by their companies should be merged into one message. See (Top Issues at Comcast-NBCU Hearings: Jobs, Competition, Broadcast TV and Online Video)

Going Forward

With the resources of Comcast and NBCU, it should not be difficult to adequately prepare for these hearings and to project a united front with a consistent message to regulators. It may seem awkward to revisit previous statements that do not align with your vision today, but from a credibility standpoint explaining the inconsistencies and reasons for a change of heart would be more productive in reaching company goals. My message to both Roberts, and Zucker would be that consistency in message and actions, frankness, and direct dialogue are the (keys to the kingdom).

Related articles by Zemanta

• NBC Universal Boss Jeff Zucker Lies To Congress About Boxee (techdirt.com)
• Comcast Pleased With First Round (techdailydose.nationaljournal.com)
• Boxee Denies That It Accessed Hulu Content Ilegally (appscout.com)

 Read More →

Since announcement of the Comcast/NBC-Universal merger consummated the deal creating subsequent analysis and conjecture about how the new venture will be structured, with its impact on programming distribution and fears of dominance, and anti-trust issues within the marketplace; Comcast  is set to go before regulators to convince a skeptical crowd how this union will benefit competition and the continued adoption of broadband access.

News of the deal set-off a firestorm of controversy from public interest groups, competitors, and Internet Access Providers alike, all concerned over the potential abuses such a merger could unleash on Broadband stakeholders and their ability to access, and compete in what is perceived as a Free Internet World.

Ultimately though, a deal such as this has long been the dream of Comcast leadership including lessons learned from previous merger attempts to bond programming and pipeline, thereby creating market dominance along with a competitive edge for the long haul; and it all may be as simple as this scenario which drive the motives behind the acquisition of NBC-Universal. But upcoming regulatory scrutiny will decide how the merger will stand-up under the glare of legislators.

The Pipeline:

Comcast has always, since its inception, believed in the pipeline and the business benefits of building an infrastructure with which to carry interesting, informative, and socially beneficial programming on a broad scale within a national market. The pipeline is the core business, or the building blocks if you will, of which all other Comcast businesses are constructed. The strategy has not changed, and it fits well with the advent of high cost content that has driven smaller operators to the merger or take-over table.

The Programming:

To fill the concept of a pipeline with relevant content, generating concurrent and steady revenues on a monthly basis, Comcast realizes the need to be more than just a pipeline filled with expensive to carry programs. It needs a strong formula to deliver vertically integrated demand driven content that will outstrip the competition in securing bundled revenue streams in an increasingly broadband proliferated genre. Hence, the NBC-Universal   merger that gives the right recipe of owned versus purchased programming rights.

Regulatory Finesse

The cable giant has not under-thought the implications of the regulatory hurdles it would face with its merger. The company has for many years relied upon strategic thinking within a 5 to 10 year framework in predicting where the pipeline industry is headed, and then acting upon that strategic intelligence to formulate a plan of action. So, it is not a mere coincidence that NBC-Universal came into its sights at this time, but was more of researching all the implications, including regulatory, and waiting for the right opportunity at the right price. NBC-Universal filled this need as an underperforming part of GE-Vivendi SA considered not a good operational fit from the get-go. It has continually and concertedly moved to reassure regulators of its intentions to run NBC-Universal as a separate company, making it more transparent and independent, to include Hulu with its free Internet content concept.

In conclusion, Comcast motives are simple. Acquire more vertically integrated programming to fill the pipelines serving 24 million customers with unique and relevant content used both in a linear and broadband format that preserves the status-quo and addresses the future. It’s a win-win situation for Comcast; its customers, and the Cable Industry.

Related articles by Zemanta

• To get NBC, Comcast still has persuading to do (sfgate.com)
• Justice Dept. to scrutinize Comcast-NBC deal (news.cnet.com)
• Josh Silver: Comcast Launches “TV Everywhere”: Say Goodbye to Free Online Television (huffingtonpost.com)
• GE profit tops analysts’ estimates, shares ease (financialpost.com)

 Read More →

Comcast is appealing a ruling before a three-judge appeals court panel concerning the FCC’s sanctions in 2008 of the operator, and whether it has jurisdiction under current Net Neutrality rules to do so, for what has become known throughout the media as past throttling of BitTorrent. (See FCC formally rules Comcast’s throttling of BitTorrent was illegal). This could be an important decision for ISP industry operators, who have many (irons-in-the-fire) when it comes to a business model that depends on both residential Internet and business customers, in helping it pay for a broadband pipeline created with private investment.

It also has implications for consumers who are increasingly using more file sharing applications to watch video content from their Internet Service Provider connections, and Internet giants like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)who depend on free access to its information sharing business model. While Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA,CMCSK) has indicated their Internet management practices have since been changed, as a result of the issue, and it no longer throttles customers, what remains is a court challenge this past week in which the court grilled the FCC on its authority to regulate ISP’s under current Net Neutrality rules without a legislative mandate. (See Comcast Scores Against FCC in Court Battle over Net Neutrality).

The wider ramifications is whether the ruling will apply to business applications, which require special and unique service agreements for much larger file sharing and speeds in offering these programs. In essence, ISP’s need the flexibility to charge differing rates depending on the requirements of certain applications, which in-turn allow for infrastructure investments to accommodate these needs. This is their (Bread and Butter) of profitability.

On the one hand the FCC is under a mandate by the current administration to have a free flowing Internet with consumers and file sharing applications having unfettered access, and on the other, private investors which have created the pipeline are mandated by economics to make a profit depending on differing needs, from both consumer and business. If the FCC loses this current battle in court, then future challenges will likely occur concerning any new Net Neutrality rules that are adopted.

It seems from opening arguments before the courts that the FCC may have overstepped its boundaries in taking Comcast to task over BitTorrent, and may have to back up and ask Congress for a legislative mandate in regulating broadband as an information service.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Appeals Court: FCC Can’t Make Comcast Stop Throttling BitTorrent (mashable.com)
• CES: FCC Commissioners Pessimistic on Net-Neutrality Prospects? (blogs.wsj.com)
• White House Backing Away from Net Neutrality? Not So Much (dailykos.com)
• Comcast, FCC take net neutrality dispute to court (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

 Read More →

It is rare that I contemplate reviewing any company; however Kabel-X, USA, LLC may be the exception. With its patented technology that changes the way telecommunications providers view and manage wire-line replacements including upgrade costs; Kabel-X is set to become the most needed company in the evolution to Digital Video/HD, and Web Content Applications.

“When Co-Chairman, Michael M. Adler heard about a way to upgrade communities to higher bandwidth without damage to entire landscapes, Adler instantly recognized the Kabel-X solution as a fit with his prior business success.”

“That business success can be found at Adler Group, Inc., one of South Florida’s largest real estate companies, where Michael serves as chairman and chief executive officer. Michael has played a significant role in the growth and development of South Florida as a major center for international trade.”

The Kabel-X process is both as ingenious, as it is simple. It extracts the existing core of Telecom and Cable TV cables in their existing deployed environments and replaces them with upgraded fiber lines for next generation services. The cost savings and benefits for infrastructure revitalization and replacement is quite astounding, in my opinion.

The Applications:

• Underground Crossings…………………. Underground Conduit Systems

• Cable TV, (aerial/underground)……… Historic Areas

• Aerial Crossings…………………………….. Right-of-Way

• Air Core Abandoned Cable……………. Jelly Abandoned Cable

Whether you are an historic organization, college campus, Telecom/Cable TV provider, city, or institution, having infrastructure which needs an upgrade, Kabel-X can save you money. Within the last year, Kabel-X claims an increase its individual pull lengths to 1,500 ft’, and a reduction in operational site-construction times by 90%. One of the more unique attributes about their technology is that of being (environmentally friendly), which precludes the destructive process of trenching, along with the laboriously associated restoration process and costs.

The Benefits:

• Less Engineering………………………… Less Permitting

• Less Construction Time………………. Less Restoration

• Environmentally Friendly…………….. Community Support

• Budget Reduction Costs……………. Cost Effective

The company is poised to make a serious dent in the continued upgrade of existing plant by both Cable and Telecom Operators in the race to increase bandwidth for Digital/HD Video, Broadband, and IP Telephony services. It is without question a concept which could save the Pipelines $Millions while gaining (Kudos) from environmentally friendly communities in an increasing competitive arena. This technology, in turn, could benefit consumer pocketbooks as an ancillary effect in reducing capital costs to providers.

To learn more about Kabel-X USA, LLC and their cutting-edge technology visit their website at http://www.kabelxusa.com/index.htmll

Headquarters and Operations : Kabel-X USA

4380 Oakes Road, Suite #807

Davie, FL 33314

Telephone: (954)745-5430

Fax: (954)327-7330

E-mail: info@kabelxusa.com

 Read More →