Friday, December 12, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
The Cloud is on the Horizon
Everyone is rightly talking about the Cloud and its potential
as top-tier MSOs are already using it to offer cutting-edge network DVR
services – and this is just the tip-of-the-iceberg.
Alticast recognizes that the Cloud could dramatically change
not only how MSOs deliver services, but also enable them to enhance their
existing services and deliver new ones.
You can learn more about the potential of the Cloud in a
recent Multichannel
News article written by our own Susan Crouse.
Clouds are on cable’s
horizon and it’s a good thing.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Monday, December 1, 2014
Alticast Partners With Videotron To Provide An Enhanced Multi-Room Experience
Videotron and Alticast continue their partnership to help advance
Videotron’s successful
illico TV service
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – December
1, 2014 – Alticast, a global partner for the delivery of media
entertainment, today announced that it played a significant role in helping the
Canadian cable television giant Videotron rollout its next generation of set-top
boxes (STB) that enable its subscribers to simultaneously record up to eight
different programs.
Videotron’s new X8 multi-room HD PVR is the latest example
of the company’s commitment to continually enhancing its advanced illico
interactive TV service and to providing its more than 1.7 million subscribers
with the latest live, on-demand and interactive services delivered to multiple
devices in the home.
Alticast’s team of veteran engineers was responsible for
developing much of the critical software for the X8’s multi-room PVR capabilities
and interactive applications. The development,
integration and test teams worked closely with Videotron and its STB suppliers
to ensure that the X8 performs flawlessly and seamlessly with Videotron’s
back-office systems.
“Keeping our illico service at the cutting-edge of
entertainment delivery is a strategic imperative, so we turned to Alticast to leverage
their expertise in the industry to help us bring our new X8 set-top box to
market quickly,” said Marie-Ginette Lepage, Vice President, Marketing-Content
and Broadcasting. “Offering our
subscribers the very best multi-screen TV experience with continued innovation is
our goal, and our new X8 set-top is one of the keys to ensuring that we meet
this goal.”
“Videotron has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and
with their new X8 set-top box it is clear that they are committed to keeping
their illico interactive TV service on the leading edge of innovation,” said John
Carlucci, CTO, Alticast US. “This
project not only demonstrates Videotron’s commitment to its subscribers, it
demonstrates the capabilities of our engineers and their ability to solve
operators’ most demanding software development needs.”
Monday, November 24, 2014
The End of the CableCARD
Written by John Carlucci, Alticast US CTO
From time to time, we reflect on the end of CableCard...
The US House of Representatives passed legislation that will sunset the CableCard generating separable security requirement over two years. In September, legislation was introduced into the Senate that allows for a working group to investigate a substitute that would stimulate creation of “competitive devices”. Bill S.2799 (http://www.opencongress.org/bill/s2799-113/show) suggests a “software-based downloadable security system”. The charter for the working group is shown below.
- (1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission shall convene a working group of technical experts representing a wide-range of stakeholders, to identify, report, and recommend performance objectives, technical capabilities, and technical standards of a not unduly burdensome, uniform, and technology- and platform-neutral software-based downloadable security system designed to promote the competitive availability of navigation devices in furtherance of section 629 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 549).
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
The Cloud Is on the Horizon | Multichannel
If you haven't had a chance, check out this recent article by Alticast's Direction of Product Management on Cloud technology.
The Cloud Is on the Horizon | Multichannel
Monday, November 17, 2014
What You Need to Know About Cloud DVR
If you’re at all thinking of rolling out a Cloud DVR service
you need to listen to Light Reading’s recent webinar “Sunny Skies for Cloud
DVR?”. Our CTO John Carlucci is one of several industry luminaries who
examine the benefits and challenges of implementing a Cloud DVR service.
Even if you’re not already thinking about Cloud DVR, you
really owe it to yourself to still listen to the webinar to understand its potential
to reduce subscriber churn, trim capital costs and deliver a more personalized
TV Everywhere viewing experience.
Some highlights include:
- You don’t have to millions of subscribers to be successful. An economically viable Cloud DVR service can have as few as 50,000 subs.
- Unlike STB-based DVRs, which can only simultaneously record as many programs as they have tuners, there’s essentially no limit to how many simultaneous programs Cloud DVR can record.
- Cloud DVR reduces subscriber churn – Telefonica has seen substantial reductions in churn which is attributed to their popular Cloud DVR service.
- Providing content from the Cloud allows operators to take advantage of IP content delivery to HDMI dongles and other emerging CPE that are smaller, portable and which consume less power.
- Local ad insertion doesn’t have to be affected by a Cloud DVR service, ensuring that this important revenue stream is maintained.
- Cloud DVR can provide a personal vault for User Generated Content (UGC). As users increase the content they want to keep in the cloud, operator can add a new revenue stream by selling additional storage space.
The largest operators are setting the pace with Cloud DVR
offerings while breaking ground by improving efficiencies, establishing best
practices and driving down the costs.
Cloud DVR is a future proof method for expanding viewer
services. Planning for spinning up this service should be on the horizon for
any operator that serves up content.
Monday, November 10, 2014
3 Out of 3 CTOs Agree: There is a Cloud in Cable’s Future
If you haven’t already watched the Broadband Technology
Report’s recent roundtable of industry CTOs – including our own John Carlucci –
you’re in luck as you can still watch it here.
It’s an interesting and informative discussion as the three
cable veterans talk about the state of the industry and what’s it its
future.
Some highlights include:
- The Cloud is for real and moving beyond hype as MSOs are increasingly taking advantage of it – growing Cloud DVR deployments are an excellent example of this trend
- As much as the Cloud is taking hold in cable, hardware isn’t going away any time soon. As John points out, “I’m still waiting for analog to go!”
- Far from eliminating hardware, the potential of the Cloud may spur a new generation of subscriber devices that enable MSOs to offer more compelling services
- While no one thinks DOCSIS 3.1 is far off, it may in fact be closer than we expect
These
are only a few of the topics discussed during this engaging roundtable which is
well worth 30 minutes of your time
Monday, November 3, 2014
IoT – The Next Big Thing for Cable?
As expected, I heard about a lot of cutting-edge
technologies at Cable-Tec. While – as
you might expect – the Cloud was a hot topic, what really struck me were a few
whispers about the Internet-of-Things (IoT).
While nothing imminent nor distinct was mentioned, it made me glad to
know I’m not the only one pondering what a world with tens of billions of
connected devices could mean for operators.
Yes, I wrote tens of billions.
The numbers don’t come from me, but from the analysts at
Gartner and ABI Research. ABI expects
there to be more than 30 billion devices wirelessly connected to the IoT by
2020, while Gartner is more conservative projecting a still massive 26 billion
devices in 2020.
I may be biased, but I think cable is in an excellent
position to both facilitate and profit handsomely from the impending IoT revolution.
From its humble beginnings, cable has invested in
technology. We’ve seen one-way networks
suitable only for the delivery of analog programming transformed into two-way,
fiber-rich “smart pipes” with the capacity to deliver a plethora of digital
video, telephony, high-speed data and even home security services to consumers
and businesses. Unlike satellite operators, cable is continually finding new ways to leverage its networks
to deliver its own services, rather than charge smarter guys for leasing its
bandwidth.
What’s more, when you think about some of the key
requirements of the IoT, you realize that cable is indeed well positioned. The need for reliable two-way bandwidth is
obvious, and likely you recognize that the robust quality of service (QoS)
capabilities IoT will require are already proven in cable. Additionally, security is of paramount
concern, and clearly cable has decades of experience securely delivering content
to millions of subscribers. Then
consider that cable passes tens of millions of homes and businesses across the
country and that operators are rapidly expanding their deployments of public
Wi-Fi hotspots and you’ll probably come to the same conclusion I have: IoT represents a tremendous opportunity for
operators.
Clearly we’re at the beginning of a revolution, with a lot
of work first needing to be done by standards bodies, the vendor community,
regulators, operators, chip companies and many others, but IoT is coming and
it’s good news for operators.
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