Video re-emerges: Focus on VDSL is breathing new life into telcos' ambitions

Lurking in the shadows of Internet protocol and networking technologies at last month's Supercomm, vendors displaying video-oriented technologies were staging their own minor comeback.

To be sure, no one would confuse this year's Supercomm with those in the early 1990s when video dominated the show floor and conference discussion. In the intervening years, video has slowly fallen off the radar screen of telco priorities. At the same time, though, vendors have made numerous improvements to their platforms that make them more acceptable to real-world telco environments.

Perhaps the biggest change has been vendors' recognition that telcos don't necessarily need to overbuild existing cable operators to compete. Just as important, digital subscriber line (DSL) and wireless technologies have advanced to the point that telcos can deploy systems with enough capacity to justify video applications.

"For the first time, there are two critical technologies available that allow the telephone companies to get into the video business," said Bill Weeks, vice president of technology for NextLevel Communications.

NextLevel, making its first appearance at Supercomm since being spun off by General Instrument, displayed its switched digital access system, which can push 26 Mb/s over existing twisted pair wiring. The system, which lets telcos deploy up to three digital video channels and high-speed data services, had its first field deployment with U S West in Gilbert, Ariz., in late May. Additionally, NextLevel will announce a second major telco customer this summer and is receiving interest from smaller Independents.

Key to the system is a residential gateway that separates video, data and voice signals and sends them to their appropriate end points.

"We've collapsed the functionality of three set-tops and a cable modem into a single box for two to three times less the money," said Weeks. "We basically create a mini three-channel cable TV system in the home and I'm able to leverage the existing inside wiring. We've helped close the telcos' business case and for the first time, the [Bell companies] have the weapons to compete in the cable market."

On the show floor, NextLevel showed two simultaneous video channels and streaming video on a PC running over a 10BaseT connection. Using very high bit-rate DSL compression, the system delivers signals to the residential gateway up to 4000 feet. Dismissing skeptics who claim 4000 feet is too limiting, Weeks said at that distance, telcos could hit 85% to 90% of homes if fiber is deployed to a neighborhood cabinet.

"The one limitation in an integrated pipe is the ability to do point-to-multipoint transmission. That's an expensive CPE proposition. When you look at the DSL technologies, they really are at point to point."

Also concentrating on DSL-based video applications was mPhase. The Norwalk, Conn.-based company announced at Supercomm that it had completed the second of two tests proving the viability of its digital video and data delivery system.

The Traverser system, which has undergone tests at DTC Communications in DeKalb County, Tenn., transmits a single digital video signal over existing twisted pairs up to 9000 feet. In its latest test, the company linked a content provider with DTC's central office over a Sonet network.

The system, which uses rate adaptive DSL for the transport portion of the access network, delivers a combined video/data signal to a unit placed in the home that then translates video signals to analog format and sends data to a PC.

"We don't want to call it a set-top for the obvious reasons, but it could be used as one," said David Klimek, director of engineering for mPhase.

In the coming months, the company will continue pushing the distance limitations of DSL. "Right now, we're comfortable at about 12,000 feet. But we feel video can go up to 15,000 feet over copper. In a data-only approach, we're already at 18,000 feet," Klimek said.

Scientific-Atlanta showed up at Supercomm with a significantly smaller presence than in past years, focusing its efforts on backbone networks. The company introduced a new fiber amplifier that lets network operators reach more subscribers over the same fiber counts. The ytterbium/erbium co-doped fiber amplifier also lets operators drive fiber deeper into the network. Additionally, the company displayed Explorer 2000 digital set-top, although only as part of an overall network schematic.

Scientific-Atlanta's focus on telcos is geared more to offering products that allow services over existing Sonet networks, said Lee Johnson, vice president of systems marketing for Scientific-Atlanta's terrestrial network systems unit. "The [RHCs] are looking at this as a packaged network service that they can offer anyone. They're figuring out that the business case for video works."

Taking a more software-oriented approach to the video market was iMagicTV Inc., which made its debut at Supercomm. The Saint John, New Brunswick, company, w hich has investments from New Brunswick Telephone and Newbridge Networks, has developed software that lets telcos deliver broadcast TV over IP networks.

iMagicTV's solution combines Internet access with broadcast TV over copper wires. NBTel, which owns 51% of the company though Brunco Inc., will use the system to deploy a service that allows viewers to order pay-per-view programming and "click-and-view" content over a PC or TV.

Broadband wireless vendors mostly concentrated on data applications. However, a few managed to showcase video. ioWave showed its ioLink 1 and ioLink 4, which provide up to four T-1 links over a 2.4 or 5.7 GHz wireless path. In Atlanta, the company highlighted video applications, including videoconferencing and distance learning.

As carriers choose to up their data rates and add more links, the company is planning a migration path that allows them to change out cards in a base station unit, said Taher Behbehani, CEO of ioWave. Additionally, the company is working on a point-to-multipoint system that lets carriers add broadcast capabilities.

The objective is to concentrate on proven frequencies in the lower gigahertz range. "We think people are chasing the wrong frequencies," Behbehani said regarding vendors focusing on the higher band local multipoint distribution services. "If you look at the cost of a link to a user and work backwards, you really can't do it immediately in the higher frequencies in the next few years."

Also focusing on videoconferencing was Starvision Multimedia, which demonstrated a telemedicine application using its server and application software. The software, written in Java, lets carriers deploy video services over existing IP networks. However, to do so effectively, network equipment must be based on newly emerging standards such as the ITU-T's T.120 family, said Pete Briscoe, executive vice president. The company used Microsoft's NetMeeting for client software with a downloadable Java applet.

"The whole Internet model is moving, but it still doesn't handle the visual information well," said Briscoe. "We've developed an applet that allows secured but open capacity."

The company is getting more interest from European carriers for its telemedicine application, although it has placed several distance learning systems in the U.S., including a large network within Boeing Corp., said George Lipski, president and CEO of Starvision. "We're trying to recreate the working environment that people are used to," he said. "That means moving to a more real-time interactive environment."

Regardless of which direction the video market takes, it's clear by the number of vendors coming back to the Supercomm show floor that video is not about to be lost in the fray. Indeed, several vendors see a future where video becomes an essential part of service providers' offerings.

"You're starting to see a confluence of technologies that is going to make the business cases work," said Scientific-Atlanta's Johnson. "All of the pieces are starting to fit."