Setting the Pace with 85,000 IP set-top box order 

ATLANTA--Generally, unless there are seven figures involved, a set-top box order is a yawn that may or may not make the pages of the annual report-–in a bad year. Pace Micro Technology Americas, a world-leading, set-top box maker is well aware of this, yet this week was hyping an 85,000 box order because it was “the industry’s largest order for IP-based video.”

Myrio, continuing to push the IP video-over-DSL envelope, ordered the boxes from Pace. It will take delivery of the first 10,000 within the next 12 months and the remainder during the following 18 months. Additionally, Myrio committed to using Pace’s next-generation products that will support low-bit-rate video streams, the companies said.

The first boxes handle both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 compressed digital video streams. Next generation units will decode MPEG-4. The first boxes also use a 10BaseT Ethernet connection that runs off a cable or DSL modem, explained David Novak, Pace’s marketing director. The modem functionality will be built into the units in future generations as Pace becomes acclimated to delivering video services via IP.

“Everybody knows us as a satellite and cable box builder,” said Novak. “We want to get that (IP) experience early on.”

Myrio uses full-rate DSL to deliver 8 Mb/s of downstream data capability split between digital video, voice, high-speed data and analog video. 
Jim Barthold is Senior Editor at Telephony. He can be reached at jim_barthold@intertec.com.