Harmonic defends RF overlay video strategy

ORLANDO—At a show dominated by a single technology, Harmonic showed up at Telco TV here with a story that both conforms and rebels against the idea that IP video will be the dominant choice for telcos getting into the video market.

As a traditional cable vendor, the company has its roots in the RF world and believes that there are a number of good reasons that carriers would want to launch video with an RF-based strategy. Verizon has been criticized by some of the more vocal IP video evangelists for choosing that path. But according to Ken Wang, director of business management for Harmonic’s FTTP business unit, said an RF approach gives carriers more confidence in deploying video whereas IP-based schemes aren’t nearly as bulletproof.

“The operators need to be able to rely on the technology,” he said. “The overlay strategy is great because it can provide so much bandwidth. It’s also a very proven method.”

Harmonic, which also has an IP video product line, believes one of the most important advantages of the RF strategy is the ability to offer standard, basic cable services to big slices of the market. IP architectures rely on either putting a set-top on every TV or using relatively new technology to move video around the home.

“There’s a large segment of the population that doesn’t want a set-top box at all,” Wang said. “There’s also no standard for moving video around the house. There are lots of solutions out there, but none of them are really cost effective.”