Closing the Digital Divide

Nov 19, 2001 12:00 PM

Nearly five decades ago, most of Horry County, S.C., was without basic telephone service. Larger telephone companies in surrounding metropolitan areas felt it was not feasible, or lucrative, to bring their service into such a deeply rural community. In 1952, several dedicated businessmen decided that since the existing telephone companies would not come to Horry County, they would form their own entity. In 1952, Horry Telephone Cooperative Inc. (HTC) was founded.

Today, HTC is the largest telephone cooperative in the United States and delivers the latest technological advances to Horry and Georgetown counties of South Carolina. These services include long-distance telephone, cable television, pay-per-view programming, digital cable, cable music services, paging, Internet access and digital wireless services.

HTC's latest effort is to offer premium-quality, bundled broadband entertainment and communications services (voice, video and data) to Horry County's new "greenfield" areas (pre-planned subdivisions that are pre-wired to host a variety of advanced communication and entertainment services). HTC has deployed cutting-edge technology from VideoTele.com Inc. and Next Level Communications Inc. to deliver an array of entertainment video and audio, as well as enhanced phone and high-speed data services to customers. The vendors' systems enable HTC to provide more of these new services by reducing service provider deployment costs. As a result, HTC passes along its cost savings to its customers by offering an economical DSL service. The first area to receive the new service is the Barefoot Resort Community of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., a planned residential community that boasts 6500 units, four golf courses and a large resort motel-all located along the Intercostal Waterway.

FSN: The key enabling technology

HTC is using full service network (FSN) technology to deliver the full spectrum of broadband services to Barefoot Resort subscribers. A FSN delivers entertainment video and audio, as well as enhanced phone services and high-speed data services over a single connection. Most FSNs employ technologies that support multiple network access technologies, including very high bit rate DSL (VDSL) technology and asymmetrical DSL (ADSL) technology.

DSL technology uses the twisted copper phone lines as the means by which service providers deliver the bundled telephony, data and video services to customers' home. Using the twisted pair (copper) network to deliver video requires a facility known as a digital headend (DHE). DHEs convert diverse video and audio content to a format optimized for transport over FSN transmission networks. The content arriving at the DHE can range from encoded and bundled variable bit rate (VBR) data, optimized for satellite distribution systems, to traditional analog video from local VHS stations. The equipment in the headend must encode, demultiplex and/or repackage the arriving content into a set of constant bit rate (CBR), single program transport streams (SPTS) for distribution over the FSN. At the customer's end, a set-top box, or N3 Residential Gateway, brings the latest home entertainment services into customers' homes.

FSN advantages for new installations

The DHE equipment expands and upgrades HTC Cablevision's existing community video offering. Previously, when implementing the cable plant necessary to deliver a full range of entertainment, telephony and high-speed Internet access, HTC had to install dual plant infrastructure.  From the central office (CO), or DLC, HTC installed copper plant to deliver telephony and data.  From a CATV node, they installed coax cable plant for analog and digital video, and cable modem data services. In other words, HTC previously maintained two parallel networks: a cable television operation for premium television programming and high-speed Internet services, and a telephony operation for enhanced telephone and data services. Furthermore, each TV in the home required its own set-top box to receive enhanced digital video services. Additionally, DSL service required DSL access multiplexors (DSLAMs) in the CO and a DSL modem in each home.

The new FSN technology greatly simplifies the network. The delivery of all voice, data and video services are now consolidated over one network with one connection into the home. Subsequently, HTC has reduced the cost associated with service implementation and network maintenance. Now all channels going into the homes are digital.  HTC installs only fiber to each access point, which can be either a CO or a switch in the field. It installs only copper wire from the access point to each residence. Instead of providing DSL modems and a separate set-top box for each television, HTC now furnishes each home with a single telephone line that feeds into an N3 Residential Gateway. This gateway delivers all DSL connections, video signals and integrated telephony services for up to three separate televisions. 

FSN technology realizes the dream of centralizing all home communications and entertainment services via one connection. Only FSN emission technology provides the scalability and broadband capabilities required by service providers to deliver this array of services over existing copper wires. An additional benefit of the FSN technology is that it is dedicated technology, which creates a huge advantage over shared network technology, in which bandwidth diminishes as more users log onto the network.

VideoTele.com enters the picture

HTC made the decision to implement a FSN using VDSL network technology with vendors VideoTele.com and Next Level Communications in November 2000. HTC was the first company to purchase and implement VideoTele.com's new DHE system, the Astria content processor. HTC selected the Astria platform for its density, scalability and QualView applications, which enable various bit-rate management techniques for pre-encoded video input.

Scott Everett, plant design engineer at HTC, explains the significance of the processing options available with the Astria platform: "Headend space is at a premium. With the Astria platform, we needed only a rack and a half to completely digitize our headend.  We configured our Astria content processor to perform a combination of encoding for analog channels and passthrough/repackaging of existing MPEG-2 signals. One reason for the small footprint of the Astria platform is that it allocates bandwidth very efficiently. The system is able to send its MPEG-2 signals to the ATM switch as a virtual circuit using OC-3 interfaces.  This represents a significant reduction in cost on the ATM ports needed."

Because the Astria platform is software enabled, the system protects a service providers' capital investment. As VideoTele.com develops new technologies such as transrating, HTC can simply load new software to take advantage of these new releases, without purchasing additional hardware.

In addition, the Aveon element management software that augments the Astria platform provides more operational control than that available with competitive systems. Aveon software offers a GUI interface that allows administrators to efficiently manage configure and inventory their DHE network. With the Aveon user-defined software, administrators can drill down to manage each card and shelf, view alarms, and provision service remotely and locally.

FSN implementation

HTC leveraged VideoTele.com's turnkey service offering, employing the company for installation and turn-up of its DHE. Currently, HTC uses its VideoTele.com and Next Level complete end-to-end solution to deliver the same service that it makes available to all of its existing cable customers. HTC offers approximately 180 video channels, including HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Encore, several pay-per-view channels and 45 music channels, as well as telephony and DSL services. 

HTC's FSN works by using the DHE Astria platform to convert analog video signals into MPEG-2 digital format and passthrough/repackage existing MPEG-2 signals.  The platform then encapsulates the digital signals in an ATM packet and sends them to a Marconi ATM Switch as a VC. The ATM switch aggregates all the virtual circuits and sends them to a Next Level broadband digital terminal in the central office, which in turn distributes the signals to multiple Next Level universal service access multiplexors (USAMs) within each subdivision. From the USAMs, the VDSL signals travel up to a maximum of 4000 feet over copper wire to a Next Level N3 Residential Gateway in each home. Each USAM serves 200 to 300 subscribers. 

Because the latest offering is in a new residential development, HTC was able to devise a flexible wiring plan that allows subscribers to place PCs, with DSL service, anywhere in their home. Homes can even include an Ethernet hub, which allows users to install their own Ethernet network.

Value-added services receive high customer satisfaction

"The breadth of premium broadband services and exceptional video quality of the television programming serves as a definite up-sell for our real estate sales force," says Everett.

Today, 200 subscribers are enjoying HTC's full broadband communication/entertainment package. The services will ultimately reach all of Barefoot's 6500 homes. The successful deployment at Barefoot has prompted plans to implement the system in three to four new planned divisions in 2002.

Amy Peavey is Communications and Public Relations Coordinator for HTC.

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