December 1995 -- Volume 7 Number 9
Leading executives of the North American cable television industry used the Western Cable Show as a backdrop to announce agreement with key equipment manufacturers to specify some of the technical ways cable networks and data equipment talk with one another.
The announcement included the Executive Committee of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs), the cable television industry's research and development consortium. Among the companies represented were CableLabs and cable television companies Comcast Corp., Cox Communications, Tele-Communications, Inc., Time Warner Cable, Rogers Cablesystems Ltd., and Continental Cablevision.
Speaking on behalf of equipment manufacturers were Mike Ozburn, General Instrument Communications Div. vice president for telecommunications; Webb McKinney, general manager, Home Products Div., Hewlett-Packard; Rouzbeh Yassini, president and CEO, LANcity Corp.; James M. Phillips, corporate vice president, Multimedia Worldwide Distribution and Marketing Division, Motorola; J.A. (Ian) Craig, president, Broadband Networks, Nortel; Robert Luff, chief technical officer, Broadband Communications, Scientific-Atlanta; Iwami Asakawa, senior vice president, media and entertainment, Toshiba America, Inc.; and William G. Luehrs, president, Zenith Network Systems Division.
"This international specification will take the World Wide Web a step further, bringing broadband interconnections into homes worldwide," said CableLabs Chairman Dr. John C. Malone, president and CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc.
The representatives of cable companies and equipment suppliers, which provide the central elements required in order to establish ubiquitous high speed data networks, said consumers would benefit through lower prices and more choice if these points of connection, or interfaces, were specified.
The cable television networks that pass 97% of property lines in North America have tremendous bandwidth that allows for the transmission of many services in addition to video. But these networks require devices, called modems, in order to carry data services such as the Internet or online services to home computers.
There are many companies that are making such modems today. Cable operators already have purchased thousands of these modems and may buy hundreds of thousands more in order to meet the high market demand for such devices. "However, these modems are not interoperable," Malone said.
"We applaud the research that went into today's modems, and obviously wish to use it to get into the marketplace first," he said. "But in the next generation of modems, we look for more commonality in cable so that vendors may enjoy mass market sales and cable customers can be assured that their devices work on TCI systems or Time Warner cable systems or any cable systems in the world," Malone said.
Cable companies and manufacturers today are working toward an open standard that includes those proprietary portions that are available in licensing on a non-discriminatory basis. To spearhead this effort, CableLabs has been asked to coordinate the process which its members hope will result in specifications for these connection points, called interfaces.
Leading U.S. and Canadian cable companies will be involved in this endeavor and hope to build upon the valuable early work done by the cable modem manufacturers and the lessons to be learned from deployment of various modems in 1996. These specifications will then be presented to recognized standards-setting bodies for approval as standards.
"It is CableLabs' intent that the proposed standard address interoperability of modems, leaving each vendor free to offer its own implementation with a variety of additional, competitive features and future improvements," said Dr. Richard R. Green, president and CEO of CableLabs.
Several interfaces are within weeks of being specified. One is the connection between the cable television modem and the computer. This connection would use the technical protocol known as 10base T.
In addition, the link between cable networks and the next level of wider area networks is close to being identified. Industry engineers note that there is a strong likelihood this connection would be the so-called internet protocol (IP) running over one of the following protocalls: an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) or fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) or either of the digital service (DS) 3 or optical carrier (OC) 1.
Some interfaces also reside within the cable network. Several of these system-level interfaces also will be specified in order to ensure interoperability of such important functions as authentication for login/logout, self-installation of cable modems for easy and reliable customer activation, and some spectrum management over the cable network's hybrid fiber/coaxial plant.
Manufacturers who invest in technology early on, and who supply the early generations of modems for market entry, will have many opportunities to increase sales as interfaces are established, executives said.
CableLabs will work with vendors and others on these intellectual property rights issues, to ensure a continuing supply of modems to meet the high early demand.
CableLabs' CableLabs Board OKs 1996 Budget (Back to Top of Page)
The Board of Directors of Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs) has approved the 1996 budget of $14.1 million, reflecting an approximate 7.8% increase compared with the 1995 budget.
The budget breakdown is as follows: $9.9 million for operations, $3.7 million for the research funding pool and almost $500,000 for capital equipment. The research funding pool in 1996 will be used for funding specific research projects as well as for hiring new staff. The CableLabs staff complement currently is at 57 including a visiting executive. There are eight other unfilled positions that carried forward.
The Labs' top priorities in 1996 are working with members on establishing interfaces for cable data modems and on obtaining technologies that will allow cable operators to enter the telecommunications business, and assisting members to deploy digital transmission and compression technology.
In addition to adopting a budget, the Board of Directors at the December meeting selects officers: Dr. John C. Malone, president and CEO of TCI, was re-elected chairman; Brian Roberts, president of Comcast, was re-elected secretary; and William Schleyer, president of Continental Cablevision, was elected treasurer.
These officers were renamed to the Executive Committee along with Joseph Gans, president of The Cable TV Co.; Jim Robbins, president and CEO of Cox Communications; Colin Watson, president and CEO of Rogers Cablesystems Ltd.; and Robert Miron, president, Advance/Newhouse Communications. CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green is an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee.
Nick Hamilton-Piercy, vice president engineering and technical services for Rogers Cablesystems Ltd., was named chairman of the CableLabs Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and David Fellows, senior vice president, engineering and technology for Continental Cablevision, was elected TAC vice chairman, a new position.
The following Board members were re-elected to two-year seats: Gans, James Rigas, vice president of Adelphia Cable; William Bresnan, president and CEO of Bresnan Communications; Andre Chagnon, chairman and CEO of Le Groupe Videotron Ltee.; and Richard Leghorn, president of OKTV.
CableLabs is a research and development consortium of cable television system operators representing more than 85% of the cable subscribers in the United States, 70% of the subscribers in Canada, and between five and 10% of cable subscribers in Mexico. CableLabs plans and funds research and development projects that will help cable companies take advantage of future opportunities and meet future challenges in the television industry. It also transfers relevant technologies to member companies and to the industry. In addition, CableLabs acts as a clearinghouse to provide information on current and prospective technological developments that are of interest to the cable industry.
Copyright © 1995 Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All Rights Reserved.