2000
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CableLabs Summer Conference 2000. -
2000 Summer Conference - Q and A. -
2000 Summer Conference Audience. -
2000 Summer Conference - Dick Green. -
2000 Summer Conference Audience.
Voice
2000: Partly because DOCSIS 1.1 was a pre-requisite for PacketCable-styled services, this project moved steadily, quietly and without a lot of fanfare in 2000. The year was spent paving the way for a maelstrom of activity expected in 2001, as silicon and equipment based on DOCSIS 1.1 emerged as a baseline platform for PacketCable-based voice-over-IP (VOIP).
2000: The first dry tests of interoperability among manufacturers of PacketCable-based VOIP equipment are initiated. Tests included basic voice calls, multi-codec calls, feature assessment and billing, among others.
May 2000: PacketCable issued the final feature set for residential VOIP;. By year-end, interim specifications describe how a packet-based phone call traverses from one cable subscriber's home to another's - even if the two live in systems run by different cable providers. This is known in PacketCable parlance is "inter-domain" signaling.
November 2000: PacketCable 1.0 is released to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for consideration as an international standard. What made it different - and better - than other VOIP efforts was its focus on the entirety of the signal path, from one home or business to another, and every point in between.
December 2000: By year-end, interim specifications describe how a packet-based phone call traverses from one cable subscriber's home to another's - even if the two live in systems run by different cable providers. This is known in PacketCable parlance is "inter-domain" signaling.
Video
February 2000: CableLabs leads the cable and consumer electronic industries to a historic agreement on key technical requirements of the RF interface and the carriage of broadcasters PSIP data on the digital cable plant.
April 2000: OpenCable conference attracts 120 people from 50 participating companies. Intent is to facilitate information sharing and collaboration amongst all in the food chain of digital video devices - including makers of component electronics, test equipment, TVs, and set-top boxes.
June 2000: Two watershed OpenCable events punctuated the yea r 2000 for OpenCable, the CableLabs project area focused on advanced digital set-tops. First, in July, the efforts taken in 1999 and 2000 to produce removable security modules paid off. Known then as PODS (point of deployment modules), and now as CableCARDs, the modules fit into a companion receptacle in a host set-top. July 1, 2000 was the federally mandated deadline for interoperable set-tops that could be sold at retail; OpenCable and the industry met the deadline with little fanfare.
July 2000: CableLabs OpenCable™ Review Board verified the interoperability of the industry's first digital removable security devices from Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta. With the completion of this testing, CableLabs finished its initial work on digital point of deployment (POD) modules (later called CableCARDs), enabling cable operators to meet the government imposed July 1, 2000, deadline for POD availability. The POD modules are a critical element in enabling manufacturers and retailers to engage in retail sale of interoperable navigation devices, such as set-top boxes and integrated digital television sets.
September 2000: OpenCable's second 2000 milestone was its September resolution on advanced set-top software, known as "OCAP" (OpenCable Application Platform). OCAP separated the set-top software environment into two pieces, and specified vendor authors for each to develop written specifications. The advantages of OCAP and its two layers were envisioned as beneficial to software developers, cable MSOs and cable subscribers. For programmers, it means a content authoring environment that is "write once, run anywhere." For cable MSOs, the specification assured parity among interactive TV suppliers, so that no one operating system or middleware gained control over the interactive authoring environment. For cable subscribers, OCAP, while transparent to their usage, assured a wider range of interactive applications.
September 2000: CableLabs selects lead authors to begin development of OCAP specifications. Sun Microsystems became the lead contributor and Sun's contributions were based upon significant work already completed in applying Java™ technology for television applications. Corresponding Java technologies, including Java TV, have been licensed by Sun to CableLabs for use in the specification.
Data
Throughout 2000: 86 new modems are certified, in a series of test waves. (14 modems had been certified at the end of 1999.)
2000: Throughout the year 2000, in a series of certification waves, more than 86 new modems receive CableLabs certification. (Point of comparison: 14 modems had been CableLabs-certified at the end of 1999.) Of the CableLabs-certified modems in 2000, nearly a dozen include Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections. Proprietary modems, with a price tag of $500 in 1995, ceded to standards-based modems, selling in the mid-$100s.
2000: Euro-DOCSIS specification is launched. It differs from the North American version mostly in European nuance - 8 MHz channel widths vs. 6 MHz, for instance.
2000: Partly because DOCSIS 1.1 was a pre-requisite for PacketCable-styled services, this project moved steadily, quietly and without a lot of fanfare in 2000. The year was spent paving the way for a maelstrom of activity expected in 2001, as silicon and equipment based on DOCSIS 1.1 emerged as a baseline platform for PacketCable-based voice-over-IP (VOIP).
2000: The first dry tests of interoperability among manufacturers of PacketCable-based VOIP equipment are initiated. Tests included basic voice calls, multi-codec calls, feature assessment and billing, among others.
May 2000: PacketCable issued the final feature set for residential VOIP;. By year-end, interim specifications describe how a packet-based phone call traverses from one cable subscriber's home to another's - even if the two live in systems run by different cable providers. This is known in PacketCable parlance is "inter-domain" signaling.
November 2000: PacketCable 1.0 is released to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for consideration as an international standard. What made it different - and better - than other VOIP efforts was its focus on the entirety of the signal path, from one home or business to another, and every point in between.
December 2000: By year-end, interim specifications describe how a packet-based phone call traverses from one cable subscriber's home to another's - even if the two live in systems run by different cable providers. This is known in PacketCable parlance is "inter-domain" signaling.
Video
February 2000: CableLabs leads the cable and consumer electronic industries to a historic agreement on key technical requirements of the RF interface and the carriage of broadcasters PSIP data on the digital cable plant.
April 2000: OpenCable conference attracts 120 people from 50 participating companies. Intent is to facilitate information sharing and collaboration amongst all in the food chain of digital video devices - including makers of component electronics, test equipment, TVs, and set-top boxes.
June 2000: Two watershed OpenCable events punctuated the yea r 2000 for OpenCable, the CableLabs project area focused on advanced digital set-tops. First, in July, the efforts taken in 1999 and 2000 to produce removable security modules paid off. Known then as PODS (point of deployment modules), and now as CableCARDs, the modules fit into a companion receptacle in a host set-top. July 1, 2000 was the federally mandated deadline for interoperable set-tops that could be sold at retail; OpenCable and the industry met the deadline with little fanfare.
July 2000: CableLabs OpenCable™ Review Board verified the interoperability of the industry's first digital removable security devices from Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta. With the completion of this testing, CableLabs finished its initial work on digital point of deployment (POD) modules (later called CableCARDs), enabling cable operators to meet the government imposed July 1, 2000, deadline for POD availability. The POD modules are a critical element in enabling manufacturers and retailers to engage in retail sale of interoperable navigation devices, such as set-top boxes and integrated digital television sets.
September 2000: OpenCable's second 2000 milestone was its September resolution on advanced set-top software, known as "OCAP" (OpenCable Application Platform). OCAP separated the set-top software environment into two pieces, and specified vendor authors for each to develop written specifications. The advantages of OCAP and its two layers were envisioned as beneficial to software developers, cable MSOs and cable subscribers. For programmers, it means a content authoring environment that is "write once, run anywhere." For cable MSOs, the specification assured parity among interactive TV suppliers, so that no one operating system or middleware gained control over the interactive authoring environment. For cable subscribers, OCAP, while transparent to their usage, assured a wider range of interactive applications.
September 2000: CableLabs selects lead authors to begin development of OCAP specifications. Sun Microsystems became the lead contributor and Sun's contributions were based upon significant work already completed in applying Java™ technology for television applications. Corresponding Java technologies, including Java TV, have been licensed by Sun to CableLabs for use in the specification.
Data
Throughout 2000: 86 new modems are certified, in a series of test waves. (14 modems had been certified at the end of 1999.)
2000: Throughout the year 2000, in a series of certification waves, more than 86 new modems receive CableLabs certification. (Point of comparison: 14 modems had been CableLabs-certified at the end of 1999.) Of the CableLabs-certified modems in 2000, nearly a dozen include Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections. Proprietary modems, with a price tag of $500 in 1995, ceded to standards-based modems, selling in the mid-$100s.
2000: Euro-DOCSIS specification is launched. It differs from the North American version mostly in European nuance - 8 MHz channel widths vs. 6 MHz, for instance.