Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue - SCTE - Society for ...

1Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue

2 Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue


contentsVolume 38 No. 4 - November 2016

ISSN 1751-0791

Chartered SupportersThe SCTE is grateful to the following chartered supporters for their continued support of Broadband Journal: Arcom; ARRIS; ANGA; ATX Networks; Corning Optical Communications; DCT-Delta; DVEO; Jonard Tools; MOCA; Premlink; Technetix and Wisi.

SCTE - The Society for Broadband Professionals

Officers and Members of the Executive CommitteePresident Mike Thornton FSCTE Vice President Mike JonesChief Executive Dr. Roger Blakeway FIET, C.EngHon. Treasurer Chris Swires Secretary Beverley Walker FIAMMembers Chris Bailey IEng MIMechIE; Laura Baskeyfield; Paul Broadhurst; John Callas; Costas Kyriacou MIEE BEng (Hons); Rien Baan; Paul Smith; Frank Summerfield; Dave Hodges and Owen Williams.

SCTECommunications House, 41a Market Street, Watford, Hertfordshire WD18 0PN, UKTel: +44 (0) 1923 815500 Fax: +44 (0) 1923 803203Email: [email protected]: www.theSCTE.eu

Managing EditorSara Waddington28 Westwood Drive, Amersham, Bucks HP6 6RJ, UK Tel: +44 (0)777 3488771E-mail: [email protected]

European Editorial ConsultantDipl.Ing. Thomas LangBCN-ConsultingPO Box 1163D-82050 Sauerlach, GermanyTel: +49 8104 8889800Email: [email protected]

PublisherEvolution Print & Design Ltd143 Cavendish Road, Leicester LE2 7PJ, UKTel: +44 (0) 116 274 7700/0330 010 0004Email: [email protected]

Broadband Journal is published on behalf of the SCTE (Society for Broadband Professionals) by Evolution Print and Design Ltd. Neither the editor nor the Society, as a body, is responsible for expression of opinion appearing in the journal unless otherwise stated. Papers and contributions for consideration for publication in Broadband or for reading at meetings are welcome and should be

sent to Sara Waddington.

LettersBroadband Journal is your forum for debate on issues affecting the industry. Let us have your news and views. Write to The Editor, c/o Communications House, marking your letter ‘for publication’. For reasons of space, we reserve the right to edit letters published in Broadband.

© 2016 Broadband JournalInformation in Broadband Journal may not be reproduced, changed or used without prior written permission from the SCTE.

commentary

from the industry

technical

ANGA

SCTE in Focus 2Welcome to the November 2016 issue of Broadband Journal!

products

service finder 92

diary dates 96

Industry News 20The latest global news from the industry.

Standards Update: Standards and Brexit 30What will be the impact of a UK exit from the EU on European and international standards?

Convert Speed, Virtualization and Efficiency into Revenue 32Cable operators have a growing opportunity to turn their strengths and advantages into new revenue streams.

An Eye on IBC 36We review this year’s IBC conference and exhibition in Amsterdam and chronicle the reactions of SCTE’s IBC bursary winners.

An Update on the Human Visual System 44This article provides a comprehensive overview of the history of objective video quality measurement, touching on the current methods used as well as new research into the HVS that enables operators to deliver more consistent, superior video quality.

US Lessons Learned: OTT, Data Usage Growth and Monetisation Results 50By leveraging the network and user behaviour knowledge with cost-effective, cloud-based tools and solutions, European providers are in a unique position to not only provide an optimal user experience but actually monetise the market expansion.

A Design Procedure for a 1-to-4 Ultra-Wideband Wilkinson Power Divider 56The design of a physically small, equal phase and equal power 1-to-4 ultrawideband Wilkinson power divider is presented. Initially, a 1-to-2 divider was designed and optimised for the 3.1GHz-to-10.6GHz range. The 1-to-4 divider was then built using three 1-to-2 dividers and further optimised for full-band insertion loss, return loss and isolation. The circuits were constructed using a 0.75mm thick Rogers RO3035 substrate, and experimentally validated.

ANGA COM 2017: Exhibitor Registration Opens for New Halls 68ANGA COM 2017, from 30 May to 1 June 2017, will move into new two new exhibition halls in Cologne, Germany.

Making the Complex Simple 72Products that allow visibility into sophisticated network infrastructures can solve one of the biggest issues for those trying to diagnose and fix complex network issues in a timely fashion.

The Customer Connection 76In a competitive environment in which access to market and capturing customers is key, reliability and speed are critical. The modularity and simplicity of the hardened connector in a pre-terminated fibre cabling distribution system can accelerate customer coverage with minimal capital investment.

Product Reviews 80Read about the latest technologies on the market.

from the scteSCTE News 4All the latest on news and events from the SCTE.

SCTE India Round-Up 12SCTE India sums up digital and cable developments in India over 2016.

Mandatory Digitisation Of Cable Television In India 16SCTE India is rising to the need for technician training to install, maintain and support quality cable networks in the country.

from the archivesPassive Components for Cable Television Systems 61The important parameters of other passives for cable distribution systems. Chris Swires discusses the design and operation of splitters, subscribers' taps and system outlets.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.thescte.eu/





commentary

SCTE in focusWelcome to the November 2016 issue of Broadband Journal which will be distributed at Convergence India, the FTTH event (France) and DVB Forum (Austria). You can meet us at all these events. SCTE members are strongly encouraged to apply for bursaries (flights, accommodation and entrance paid by the SCTE and its partners) for the FTTH 2017 conference and exhibition (Marseille), DVB World 2017 (Vienna), ANGA COM 2017 (Cologne) and IBC 2017 (Amsterdam) plus the Spring and Autumn 2017 lectures in London. See page 5 for further details.

This year, SCTE India has moved from strength to strength – it has formed a new Governing Council and is launching its own technology journal for the Indian market (see page 8). In this issue, one of its founder members, Colonel Vinod Khare, discusses the development of Cable TV in India (page 16). SCTE India’s Honorary National Secretary, Rahul Nehra, also analyses the status of India’s digitisation pathway on page 12. Meet SCTE India at next year’s Convergence India (8-10 February 2017) on stand E33 in Hall 12A.

Nominations are now being sought for the 2017 SCTE Technological Innovation Awards and 2017 SCTE Individual Achievement Awards, which will be presented at the SCTE Gala Awards Dinner on 17 June 2017 at Draper’s Hall in

London. The best overall submission will receive the SCTE 2017 Technological Innovation of the Year Award. The deadline for entries is 28 February 2017 (see page 6).

The Society offers its members several discounted offers on a regular basis, ranging from 20-30% attendance discounts at international broadband conferences and events around the world to special PR packages and training discounts. These special offers are e-blasted to all SCTE members regularly. Join us today by emailing [email protected]

2016 has been a busy year for the Society but it is with sadness that we say goodbye to a valued member, Ray Seacombe, whose obituary is below.

We wish you all the very best for 2017 and will catch up with you again in the New Year.

Welcome to the November 2016 issue of Broadband Journal!

Our friend and colleague, Ray Seacombe, sadly passed away on 19 October 2016 at the age of 82.

Ray had a long and successful career in the cable television industry. After leaving South East Essex Technical College, Ray worked in the surface coating industry before spending three years in the RAF as an air radar fitter. Ray became involved in cable when he joined Teleng Ltd in 1958 as a planning engineer and where he eventually rose to chief systems engineer. In 1968, he joined Rediffusion Engineering as a liaison engineer and then British Relay (subsequently Visionhire) in 1974, rising to become chief engineer. Ray spent some time with BT in the Broadband Services Division before joining City Centre Cable and CUC Cablevision in the early 1990s.

Ray first joined the SCTE in 1961 and was elected onto

the SCTE Executive Committee in 1966, remaining on the Committee until 1995. This represented some 30

years of valuable service to the Society, including two terms as President in 1971 and 1987.

For most of his time with the SCTE, Ray served on the international standards committees and chaired the British Standards Committee for Cable Networks. Ray also regularly lectured and wrote excellent technical articles for the SCTE during his time on the Committee and also designed the original SCTE ‘bowtie’ logo.

In 2004, Ray was awarded the SCTE Tom Hall Award for his outstanding

contribution to the cable industry. In all, Ray made a considerable contribution to the

Society and his legacy is the continuing high standards which he helped the Society to achieve.

In Memory of R J (Ray) Seacombe HFSCTE

Sara WaddingtonManaging EditorSCTE, Society for Broadband ProfessionalsE-mail: [email protected]: www.theSCTE.eu





http://www.ftthconference.eu/


news from the scte

Book now for SCTE Benelux Gala Dinner

Don’t miss this year’s sumptuous Benelux Gala Dinner on

2 February 2017 at Montfoort Castle (Kasteel Montfoort) in the

Netherlands. The black tie dinner will be preceded by a drinks

reception, followed by a four-course banquet.

Montfoort (or Montfurt) Castle is in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

It was built in 1163 by Bishop Godfrey to protect the diocese

from attack. The name comes from 'Mont Fortis’ or "strong

mountain”. The castle was destroyed in 1672 during an invasion

of French troops under the leadership of Louis XIV – however,

the old gatehouse and an octagonal tower remain standing.

The Montfurt family was the principal owner of the castle after

the bishop up until 1648, when it sold the building to the city

authorities. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the castle

has been a hostel, then a school for girls and, since 1989, a

restaurant that also hosts corporate meetings.

For further details of the Benelux Gala Dinner, email [email protected]

DOCSIS 3.1, LTE and FTTH at the SCTE Autumn Lecture

SCTE members can now download presentations and video

from SCTE’s Autumn Lecture Meeting and AGM on 19 October

2016 at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

The event featured presentations covering topics such as “HFC

Evolution from DOCSIS to FTTH”, “Delivering Gigabit Speed

to the Home – Next Evolution in Access Architecture”, “BSI's

Stance on Brexit and the Creation of a Technical Specification

for LTE Filters” and ““DOCSIS® 3.1 – An Overview” (in two



news from the scte

The full programme can be downloaded at http://goo.gl/Tucg6i

Download the Autumn lecture presentations at https://goo.gl/oZvLLg or see the SCTE’s YouTube channel for the video from the event at https://www.youtube.com/user/thescte

parts). A cocktail party was also held in the library at the

Royal College of Surgeons after the lecture programme for all

attendees.

Presentations and speakers included:-

n “HFC Evolution from DOCSIS to FTTH” by Jeff

Finkelstein, CTO, Cox Communications.

n “Delivering Gigabit Speed to the Home – Next

Evolution in Access Architecture” by Tal Laufer, Director,

Product Line Management for CMTS and CCAP, ARRIS.

n “BSI's Stance on Brexit and the Creation of a Technical

Specification for LTE Filters” by Dave Hodges, Managing

Director, Blakeglow Systems Ltd.

n “Networks Reshaped: 5G, Fronthaul and Fixed-Mobile

Convergence” by Vanesa Diaz, Market Development

Manager - Access Networks, EMEA, Corning Optical

Communications.

n “DOCSIS® 3.1 – An Overview (Parts 1 and 2)” by Ron

Hranac, Technical Leader, Cisco Systems.

n “Advances in Technology for High Power CATV Gain

Blocks and the Related Challenges in Linearity Testing

during Design and Volume Production” by Rainer

Hillermeier, Engineering Manager CATV Design, Qorvo.

Travel free with the SCTEEuropean SCTE members are encouraged to apply for SCTE grants for

numerous events next year. We are soliciting bursary applications (flights

and hotels paid for by the SCTE and conference/exhibition fees paid

by its partners) for next year’s FTTH conference (France), DVB World

(Austria), ANGA COM (Germany) and IBC 2017 (The Netherlands).

Bursaries are also available for the SCTE Spring and Autumn lectures

in London next year.

Still not applied for your SCTE bursary? Read about some of our

bursary winners’ experiences at this year’s IBC exhibition on page 36 of

this issue to help you make up your mind. Please email 300 words to

[email protected] on why you wish to be considered for the bursary.

http://goo.gl/Tucg6i

https://goo.gl/oZvLLg

https://www.youtube.com/user/thescte



news from the scte

Apply now for SCTE awards

SCTE, the Society for Broadband Professionals, is now seeking

nominations for its 2017 Individual and Technological Innovation

Awards which recognize individual and company success in

the broadband industry. The deadline for nominations is 28

February 2017.

Individual awards include “Engineer of the Year”, the “Richard

Harris Member of the Year Award” and the “Tom Hall Award”.

The SCTE’s Technological Innovation awards, open to the

entire broadband industry, are for technological innovation in

the broadband arena and may be for a product, system or

concept. The three award categories are:

n Best broadband network transmission solution.

n Best CPE solution.

n Best digital processing solution.

There is also an award for the winner of the best overall

submission - the SCTE 2017 Technological Innovation of the

Year Award. To apply for the awards, see http://www.thescte.

eu/component/proforms/technology-innovation-awards

or email [email protected]

The awards ceremony will take place at the SCTE’s Annual

Gala Dinner on 17 June 2017 at Draper’s Hall in London. The

Annual Gala Dinner includes a champagne reception with live

entertainment, a four-course banquet dinner, a souvenir gift for

every attendee, an awards presentation and dancing to a live

band. A number of sponsorship packages are still available for

the event.

For further details, email [email protected]

Above: SCTE award winners in 2016

http://www.thescte.eu/component/proforms/technology-innovation-awards




news from the scte

ATX Networks completes new acquisition

H.I.G. Capital, LLC ("H.I.G."), a global private equity investment

firm with more than US$ 20 billion of equity capital under

management, has announced that its portfolio company, ATX

Networks Corporation, has acquired InnoTrans Communications,

Inc. (“InnoTrans”). ATX (an SCTE corporate member) is a leading

designer and developer of patented, Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC)

and digital video processing equipment used by cable operators

and a growing number of private video networks, A/V integrators

and telecommunication companies. InnoTrans’ advanced fibre

optic solutions will broaden ATX’s portfolio.

Headquartered in San Jose, CA, InnoTrans develops and

manufactures optical transport solutions for cable operators.

The merger of InnoTrans with ATX aims to establish a diversified,

HFC access market leader to serve operators as they continue

upgrading network capacity. The scale, resources and

infrastructure of ATX will speed new product development and

enable InnoTrans to transform into a leading global player in

the HFC access market, the company told Broadband Journal.

Camilo E. Horvilleur, Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital,

said, “InnoTrans represents a transformative investment for

ATX Networks, allowing the company to become a diversified

network infrastructure solutions provider. The partnership

provides InnoTrans with the resources and backing of a larger,

more global business, enabling better customer experiences

and faster development of new, innovative products.”

Mr. Ramachandran will serve as President of a newly created

Optical Network Solutions Division within ATX, which will base

its foundation for expansion using the current InnoTrans team.


http://www.2-atxnetworks.com/BBJ_RF16


news from the scte

SCTE India announces a power-packed Governing Council

Embarking on F.Y. 2016-17, SCTE India started by announcing

a new power-packed governing council. The initiative was

taken on the recommendation of Mike Jones, Vice President

of SCTE in the UK, and Rahul Nehra (Hon. National Secretary,

SCTE India) and supported by the President, Vice President

and all the founder members.

The executives joining SCTE India’s Governing Council are:

n Mr. Vivek Garg, Head (DTH Business), Reliance Big TV

Limited.

n Mr. Rajat Nigam, Group Chief Technology Officer,

Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

n Mr. N K Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer, Electronics

Sector Skills Council of India.

n Mr. Sandeep Bhargava, Executive Vice President, Corporate

Affairs and Public Policy, Vodafone India Limited.

n Mr. Gurdeep Singh Bakshi, Managing Director, Asia

Pacific, PPC Broadband Inc.

n Mr. Shaji Mathews, Chief Operating Officer, GTPL,

Hathway Pvt. Ltd.

Rahul Nehra, Hon. National Secretary, while welcoming the

Governing Council, said: “SCTE stands to play a pivotal role in

emerging Digital India from a skills and innovation perspective

and the new governing council will be the defining light of efforts

going forward.”

Adding to this, Rajat Nigam, Network18 Media & Investments

Ltd, said: “SCTE deserves salutation for driving technology

enhancement and culture in the industry. I am happy to be a

part of the campaign. Today, innovation is a tradition that needs

to be adhered to in order to continue the fast-paced tech

journey enhancing the user experience.”

The SCTE Society has also created the following three

sub-committees with a Chairman and a Co-Chair to each

committee which will together address and align the needs of

the industry and the Society’s vision and current set of activities

and possibilities. The committees formed are:

n Training, Innovation, Standards and Technology Committee.

n Industry Relationships Committee.

n Memberships & Member Relations Committee.

Specific goals for this year include developing technical skills

in the digital space, collaborating with policy-makers to fast-

track innovation and learning, driving standards in the eco-

system and adopting innovation. SCTE India has also planned

to launch its own India Broadband Journal which will be a

quarterly thought-leading magazine in technology-related

offerings in India's cable and broadband world.

“This shall enable us to focus on the needs of the broadband

sector and help build relationships with various stakeholders

in government and industry and create the right policy

environment,” said Sandeep Bhargava, Chairman, SCTE

India's Industry Relationships Committee.

SCTE India is based in New Delhi and led by nine founding

members from the Indian telecoms industry. Like the SCTE,

SCTE India is an educational society designed to promote

expertise, exchange of information and experience and the

training and accreditation of members. Membership of SCTE

India is open to all wireline engineers and technicians throughout

the Indian sub-continent.

For additional updates, follow SCTE India on Facebook at

https://facebook.com/scteindia, Twitter at https://twitter.

com/scteindia and Linkedin at https://linkedin.com/

company/scte-india/ or visit www.scteindia.org and email

[email protected]

For further information, see www.scteindia.org

https://facebook.com/scteindia

https://linkedin.com/company/scte-india/

http://www.scteindia.org/



https://twitter.com/scteindia


news from the scte

AND grows its Balkans presence SCTE corporate member, AND, continues to grow its

presence in the Balkans. Following projects in Croatia,

Slovenia, Macedonia and Bulgaria, it can now add Serbia to

its list of customer countries in the region. In October 2016,

the Belgrade cable operator Kopernikus placed its order for the

AND SystemSolution. Delivery and installation of the system is

expected later in November.

With training scheduled to take place before the end of the year

the operator, which was established in 2006 and today offers

triple play services to over 50,000 customers nationwide, will

begin re-documentation of its existing DOCSIS cable network.

"Once completed, it will have documentation with integrated

engineering allowing users to access essential information when

out on the network via their tablets and other mobile devices.

They will also be equipped for any network expansions and

upgrades, for example towards DOCSIS 3.1," explained AND.

This October, AND partnered with Axiros at the Broadband

World Forum at London’s Docklands, where it demonstrated

the AND SystemSolution, a software solution for the design,

documentation and operational support of access networks

including FTTH, G.fast, HFC/RFoG and campus networks.

For further information, see www.and.com

DVB World 2017 gears up

The DVB World 2017 conference and exhibition, to which

SCTE will be sending two bursary winners, will take place in the

Austrian capital, Vienna, from 13-15 March 2017. The three-day

event will be held at the city's Hilton Danube Waterfront Hotel,

overlooking the River Danube. The hotel is close to Vienna city

centre and is a 20-minute drive from Vienna International Airport.

Prof. Albert Heuberger, Executive

Director of the Fraunhofer Institute

for Integrated Circuits IIS, is to deliver

one of the keynote addresses. The

pre-conference Masterclass will

be on the subject of Virtual Reality,

following the recent publication of

the Executive Summary of the in-

depth DVB Study Mission on VR.

Topics on the agenda for the first two days include: DVB

Receiver Technology; TV Business Models; End-to-end OTT;

Digital TV in Austria; DTT-Wideband; DTT-Mobile/3GPP;

Satellite Now; DVB UHD-1 Phase 2 (HDR HFR NGA); UHD

Phase 2 Features, Benefits, Tests; UHD + HDR in Practice/

HLG Production; HbbTV 2.0 in Practice, Roll Out (Italy, UK);

IP - Personalisation, Measurement, Targeted Advertising and

IP - ABR/DASH UHD.

Day three will be given over to topics such as Virtual Reality, Next-

Generation Video Compression Standards and 5G/Mobile.

The DVB World evening networking event will include the

chance to take a ride on the Riesenrad, Vienna's giant Ferris

wheel and one of the oldest operating Ferris wheels in the

world. The 213-feet high attraction provides exceptional views

over the entire city of Vienna. The Riesenrad was built in 1897

to honour Emperor Franz Josef I's 50th Jubilee and has been

one of the city's most beloved attractions ever since. It even

played a prominent role in the classic movie adaptation of

Graham Greene's novel "The Third Man". The next evening,

delegates are invited to join a one-hour sightseeing bus tour

leaving from the Hilton Danube Hotel.

See www.dvbworld.org for further details or follow the event on Twitter #dvbworld. SCTE members can apply for two bursaries to the event (flights and hotel paid for by the SCTE and event entrance provided by DVB World). Email 300 words to [email protected] on why you should receive the bursary.

Above: Prof. Heuberger

http://www.and.com/

http://www.dvbworld.org/



69 years of telecoms history

SCTE members can easily access the SCTE’s searchable

web-based archive, which chronicles the development of

the modern telecoms industry from its early beginnings to

the exciting multimedia possibilities of today’s high speed

broadband. One of SCTE’s archive articles, from CTE Journal,

has been published in this issue of Broadband Journal (see

page 61).

The comprehensive collection of documents and articles is

now available online and is now fully searchable for SCTE

members all over the world. This valuable research resource

encompasses over 69 years of telecoms history – a rich

source of content that includes archive copies as far back as

1946 of the SCTE’s Broadband Journal/CTE Journal. It also

includes the Crosstalk, Bulletin and selected International

Communications News archives.

This unique collection of documents and published materials

stretches back to the dawn of modern communications.

SCTE members can access and browse the archive with

their usernames and passwords. Why not start today? It is

invaluable for international telecoms engineers and industry

experts and can be viewed via www.thescte.eu

See www.thescte.eu/downloads/members-only-content-1/broadband-cte-magazine-archives-1

news from the scte


http://www.thescte.eu/downloads/members-only-content-1/broadband-cte-magazine-archives-1



69 years of telecoms history

http://www.dveo.com/




The Path to Digitisation By Rahul Nehra, Honorary National Secretary, SCTE India

SCTE India sums up digital and cable developments in India over 2016.

As the year ends, the digital

world of India has unfolded at a

pace which has surprised many.

2016 is set to be remembered

as a year when the world of

multimedia, multiscreen and

quadruple play embraced users

from the cities to the villages.

This shift has a few key contributors such as Reliance Jio;

APSFL; Amazon; Zee; Hotstar; Airtel; Google; Facebook;

Vodafone; MIB and MOC.

Launches and mergersLet's start with the biggest and boldest shift, the Reliance Jio

wake up! This big announcement is bound to have ramifications

for the entire telecoms sector - Reliance Jio has kicked off a

digital revolution. Chairman, Mukesh Ambani, commercially

launched the group's telecoms venture, Jio, on 1 September

2016 offering voice free of charge for life, even while roaming,

besides offering data at around a fifth of industry rates. As per

the company's welcome offer, the data will be free of charge for

all subscribers until the end of this year.

Hailing mobile internet as the future, Ambani said there are no

doubts that it is a life-changing, world-changing technology

for this century. He also added that technology is a huge

opportunity and those who took risks would reap rewards. So,

"Jio is not really a telecom company. It is a tech company," he

told The Times of India.

Confident of a bright future, Ambani said that Jio would

enable India to be among the top 10 countries in broadband

and internet access within the next few years and is aiming to

acquire 100 million customers in the shortest possible time.

Meanwhile, a merger changed the global numbers' game in the

DTH world with the merger of Dish TV and Videocon D2H as

a single DTH company. Ending months of speculation, India's

largest Direct-To-Home (DTH) player Dish TV and NASDAQ-

listed Videocon d2h (Vd2h) decided to merge operations to form

news from the scte

Rahul Nehra, Honorary National Secretary, SCTE India


news from the scte

one of the largest Pay TV operators in the world with 27.6 million

net subscribers. The Board of Directors of the two companies

approved a scheme for amalgamation. Dish TV shareholders will

own 55.4%, while the remaining 44.6% shares will be owned by

Vd2h shareholders in the new entity, Dish TV Videocon Limited.

Current Dish TV CMD, Jawahar Goel, will head the new

company as chairman and managing director, while Vd2h will

nominate two directors - one of whom will be vice chairman

and the other a deputy managing director of the company.

Above: SCTE India's booth at Convergence India 2015

Become a Member!The Society for Broadband Professionals

l Professional Qualificationsl Training and Certificationl Quarterly Technical Journall Lecture Meetingsl Conferences and Exhibitionsl Social Activitiesl Networking Opportunities

The Society covers all aspects of Broadband Technology including Cable, Satellite, DSL and WiFi.

For more information, email us at [email protected] www.scteindia.org

As India goes digital, join SCTE India and share in the growth!




news from the scte

OTT in focusOTT mania seems to be taking over India as mobile proliferation

and bandwidth on three airwaves headed north. With 400-

million plus smartphones and a national seventy per cent

coverage projection of the country by 2017/18, OTT is set to

grow to a hundred players at 45-50 per cent annual growth.

A couple of recent reports on the media and entertainment

industry highlight OTT’s bright future in the country. According to

Deloitte Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions

2016 report, “Over-The-Top is likely to bring new dynamics in

digital media”. A few reasons why OTT will gain market share

in coming years are the three Cs—convenience, content and

control. “4G will bring the complete transformation of the current

television viewing experience and mark a shift in control from the

broadcaster to the consumer,” said the Deloitte report.

The use of smaller screens on personal devices will fuel ‘personal

escapism’ or watching content individually, with 45% of all

content consumed expected to be on the small screen by 2020,

as claimed by another report from consultants, EY. So in five

years, we may see a different world of media and entertainment

with OTT proving to be the technology of the future.

All the major operators, content houses and broadcasters have

thrown their hats into the OTT ring. Star; Zee; Viacom; Sun;

Balaji; Airtel; Vodafone; ETV and Eros have all set in motion a

definite OTT strategy for a piece of the pie.

India’s digitisation programmeThe Indian government and the court seem to have finally put

markers down on the ever-shifting deadlines of Digitisation Phase

III. The deadline for implementing Digital Addressable System

(DAS) in the phase III cities expired on 31 December 2015,

which was challenged on the grounds on non-availability of

set-top boxes and others by multiple local cable operators in

different state high courts.

In the recent order, as reported on 7 November 2016, Justice

Sanjeev Sachdeva of the Delhi High Court’s single bench has

over-ruled orders passed by various other High Courts re

the stay granted for extension of digitisation. The court also

directed the petitioners to run a scroll on their networks about

digitisation and switch off analogue signals within three weeks

i.e. by 24 November 2016.

“It’s a welcome move that the law is taking its own course and

this would be in favour of broadcasters as well as viewers.

Broadcasters would be able to increase revenues, while viewers

will get the power of choice,” said Kaushik Moitra, partner at the

boutique telecom and media law firm, TMT Law Practice.

VD Wadhwa, CEO of SITI Networks, said, “This is a very

important judgement as the Delhi High Court has dismissed the

nine cases, thus paving the way for digitisation. Not just in DAS

Phase III areas, this order will also clear the passage for timely

implementation of DAS Phase IV of digitisation.”

The Andhra Pradesh government has successfully set a global

standard of delivering triple play to the villages across Andhra

Pradesh in record time, paving the way for rural India to savour

the fruits of the emerging digital divide and also bridge the

digital divide.

Another interesting development was the view of all

stakeholders that digital growth would also mean that the

industry would need to protect itself against digital video

piracy and we saw global specialists, such as Friends MTS,

engaging across the eco-system and building best practises

for harnessing the revenues that the fragile digital world would

generate.

All this illustrates that India’s growth story is on track, in motion

and irreversible.

The SCTE India governing council, which met in September,

acknowledged this and set in motion a fast-track process to

meet the skills challenges that will unfold from this digital growth

story.

I can safely now say that 2017 will be an ‘anywhere –

everywhere' world for the consumer for entertainment,

information and education.

Meet SCTE India at Convergence India in New Delhi from 8-10 February 2017 on booth E-33 in hall 12A. Alternatively, to join SCTE India, see www.scteindia.org

CONTACT



SCTE India is rising to the need for technician training to install, maintain and support quality cable networks in the country.

By Lt. Col. VC Khare, Founder Member, SCTE India

Mandatory

Cable Television in India is believed to have started some time

in 1977 with the extension of VCR displays in hotels. It then

graduated from wired extensions of satellite streams to viewer

homes, coupled with cable streaming of feature films as video

channels by cable operators.

The activity remained totally private, as it was sourced from

private funds. The screening of Gulf War and Satellite streams

of STAR TV in the early nineties was popular in India and led

to the proliferation of TV broadcasting as well as the popularity

of the wireline-delivered service.

At present, over 150 million cable homes in India are stated

to be contributing to these services, delivering over 300

programmes (not channels, as they are loosely referred to,

since several programmes in digital services are compressed

into one 7- or 8MHz RF channel in the 47-862MHz RF

spectrum).

The announcement of India’s Cable TV Networks Regulation

Act 1995 legalised the service, resulting in the emergence of

MSO (Multi-Service Operators), although in India they provide

only uni-directional television re-broadcast over HFC (Hybrid

Fibre Coaxial Cable) over wireline networks. The estimated

number of MSOs at present in India is about 6000.

The MSOs run headends feeding the service over optical

fibre to an interconnection near the cable operator. The O2E

(Optical to Electrical) converter (not strictly a node, since

the services are uni-directional i.e. without any return path

requirement) is the property and responsibility of the cable

operator (registered as the network operator and essentially

Digitisation Of Cable Television In India

The estimated number of MSOs at present in India is about 6000.

news from the scte


prohibited from performing any technical functions of a

headend). Coaxial cable is extended through amplifiers and

passives to subscriber premises and accessed through an

addressable Set-Top Box (STB).

MSOs, (totalling approximately 6000 headends), were

mandated to encode and encrypt all content transported from

their headend (strictly prohibiting any analogue transmission)

in encrypted, digitally addressable format. Addressability, in

simple terms, refers to enabling or disabling viewing through

the STB remotely and selectively from the headend through a

compatible SMS (Subscriber Management System).

At the subscriber end, it involved installing an STB,

conforming to Indian standards, for the subscriber to select

and view programmes of their choice only (authorised in the

addressable STB), be billed for the same and remit charges

for the service when billed. Over 150 million subscribers

are served through an estimated 60,000 cable operators,

employing over 240,000 technicians.

Training perspective of mandatory DAS India is a country with a very large population and lean

degrees of understanding of wireline/CATV technology and

the intricacies of legislation and compliance issues. Hence,

subscribers are not aware of DAS provisions. They are reliant

on technicians who, in turn, have not received any recognized/

structured training on the subject.

In the absence of any enforced easement rights, technician

philosophy is based upon a vaguely connected approach

without valid RoW (Right of Way). Most of them have little

understanding of Indian standards on EoL (End of Line)

specifications for connectivity, digital transmission parameters

for assured QoS (Quality of Service) and resultant QoE

(Quality of Experience). Paradoxically, these technicians were

expected to appraise the subscribers on the user perspective

on DAS when installing addressable STBs but could not do so

in the absence of any formal training.

The outcome, after four years of the mandate, is that

subscribers still do not understand DAS except for their

compulsion to install an STB, not always conforming to Indian

standards, and continue to pay a fixed monthly subscription

for watching more content with improved noise reduction on

their TV screens, thanks to digital transmission mandates.

India’s Prime Minister has conceived a ‘Digital India’ with 150

million cable homes (at present, uni-directional) to proliferate

broadband into homes and dilute the digital divide.

Potential for SCTE training in IndiaIn the absence of any organised training facilities for mandatory

DAS, the SCTE philosophy is very conducive to the Indian

environment. SCTE training modules already exist for:-

(a) Installers to follow recommended practices for installing

CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) i.e. STB, fixed line

telephones and broadband modems. This training is

deemed to confine itself to the in-house environment with

full training on subscriber relations and awareness as the

‘nearest and always available’ point of service restoration.

(b) Network engineers, proficient in the route from the

DEMARC point (telco terminology) all the way up to the

Headend/Central Office.

(c) Headend/Central Office engineers who understand

the lay-out of a designed Headend/Central office and

Lt. Col. VC Khare, Founder Member, SCTE India

Over 150 million subscribers are served through an estimated 60,000 cable operators, employing over 240,000 technicians.

news from the scte


its ancillaries, Headend/Central Office management

system, the network management system, the subscriber

management system and affiliated customer care operating

procedures. Essentially, this covers daily checks on quality

and 99.99% reliability for all aspects of Headend/Central

Office operation.

Indian CATV networking is nearly 30 years old now and serves

over 150 million homes which are mandated to comply with

DAS provisions. The implementation remains confined to

estimating implementation from statistics on the number

of STBs sent out (and hence deemed installed) from MSO

warehouses. Therefore, there is a need to focus on training

needs, to upskill the workforce using SCTE training courses

and for quality indicators.

Increasing awareness and the resulting improvement in

service through the customisation of delivery platforms suits

the environment in India, where no academic qualification is

necessary for the personnel who deliver wireline content to

over 150 million subscribers.

Driving further membership to SCTE India is also essential

to impact the QoT (Quality of Training), inherent in the SCTE

philosophy, and to upskill those individuals expected to

maintain and install services at subscriber premises. Such a

skilled work force can quickly become an international asset.

For further information on SCTE India, or to join, see www.scteindia.org

CONTACT

news from the scte

Ask theEXPERT

SCTE members can now

Ask the Expert via a facility

that allows members to ask

technical questions and

receive considered responses and answers

from experienced SCTE Executive Committee

Members. Questions and answers will be

posted on the SCTE website and also emailed

directly to the enquirer.

Don’t miss your chance to benefit from the

long experience of the committee and ask

your question now by logging into the member

section of the SCTE website and accessing

http://www.thescte.eu/members/ask-the-

experts or emailing [email protected],

citing your member number and question.


http://www.thescte.eu/members/ask-the-experts



http://www.arcomdigital.com/


industry news

As data demands continue to grow, scientists predict that

it’s only a matter of time before today’s telecommunications

networks reach capacity unless new technologies are

developed for transporting data. A new technique could help

avert this bandwidth crunch by allowing light-based optical

networks to carry more than one hundred times more data

than is possible with current technologies.

Laser light comes in many different shapes, or spatial modes.

However, today’s optical networks use just one spatial mode

to carry information, limiting the amount of data that can be

transmitted at one time. Researchers led by Andrew Forbes,

a professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa,

have developed a technique known as spatial multiplexing

that re-shapes a laser beam into many spatial modes that can

each carry information.

In a paper presented at the OSA Laser Congress in Boston

on 3 November 2016, the researchers demonstrated

optical communication with more than 100 spatial modes

by combining their new spatial multiplexing approach with

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), which uses different

wavelengths of light to carry information.

“We created 35 spatial modes encoded in three different

wavelengths, producing 105 total modes,” said Carmelo

Rosales-Guzmán, research fellow and first author of the

paper. “Our new method might serve as the basis for future

communication technologies.”

The researchers demonstrated that their technique can

transmit data with 98 per cent efficiency in a laboratory free-

space optical network, which uses light to transmit information

over the air. The scientists say the approach should also work

in optical fibres, the basis for fibre-optic communications.

The new technique makes use of light with an orbital angular

momentum, which gives it a twisted, or helical, shape.

Different spatial modes can be created by varying the number

of twists, known as the azimuthal degrees of freedom. While

other scientists have been exploring the use of azimuthal

degrees of freedom for increasing bandwidth, recent research

showed that even though, in theory, the set of modes with

orbital angular momentum is infinite, in practice there aren’t

enough modes available to make significant improvements.

Forbes’ team solved this problem by using the azimuthal

degrees of freedom plus another variable, known as a radial

degree of freedom. Each azimuthal degree of freedom can

have, in theory, an infinite amount of radial degrees of freedom,

but there are practical limitations that restrict this number.

Because all the modes are orthogonal to each other, the

signals don’t get mixed up as they travel and can be separated

upon arrival at their destination. The researchers say that this

is the first time that two spatial degrees of freedom have been

used to optically encode information.

Key to this new approach is an optical device known as a

spatial light modulator. The researchers used one spatial light

modulator to shape the laser light into the various modes and

another to reverse the process on the receiving end.

“One of the advantages of our approach is that we only need a

single detector to demultiplex all the spatial modes to recover

all the information,” said Rosales-Guzmán. “This is faster than

other approaches for increasing bandwidth that need multiple

detectors.”

As a next step, the researchers are partnering with experts

in free-space communication to adapt their technique for

practical applications.

“We are working with a company in South Africa that already

makes a device that has the ability to use different spatial

modes for free space communication,” said Rosales-Guzmán.

“We are interested in trying to increase the bandwidth of their

device to four times what it is capable of now.”

Innovative technique for shaping light could solve bandwidth crunch


industry news

A new Ovum report, jointly commissioned by nbn and BT, has

predicted that new ultra-fast copper technology, G.fast, will

be serving nearly 30 million subscriber homes and businesses

around the world by 2021. This is just four years after the first

commercial G.fast services are due to launch in 2017.

“In 2021, Ovum expects G.fast to be supporting nearly

29 million subscribers, representing 3% of the global fixed

broadband market,” said the Gigabit Networks' report. “As

an emerging technology, the growth in new G.fast subscribers

is expected to accelerate in each year, rising from 330,000 in

2017 to nearly 11.5 million in 2021.”

Nbn held its first G.fast trial in October 2015 and has been

conducting additional lab trials of XG.FAST in recent weeks.

It recently announced its intention to deploy Fibre-To-The-

Curb (FTTC) technology to approximately 700,000 premises

– a platform for potentially deploying both future G.fast and

XG.FAST services.

Ovum is forecasting particularly strong take-up of G.fast in

Europe, with operators including BT, Swisscom, Deutsche

Telekom, Telekom Austria and Proximus (Belgium) all planning

to deploy G.fast technology to deliver affordable ultrafast

connectivity quickly and cost-effectively.

“About 11% of broadband services in Western Europe may be

delivered via G.fast within five years, with a number of major

markets already including the technology in their upgrade

plans,” added the Gigabit Networks' report.

Openreach, BT’s local network division, is expected to be one

of the first operators in the world to launch commercial G.fast

services, with a launch expected during 2017. It is aiming to

make ultra-fast speeds available to 12 million premises in the

UK by the end of 2020 – using a mix of G.fast and Fibre-To-

The-Premises (FTTP) technologies.

Openreach is already working to conduct the largest G.fast

field trials in the world, delivering speeds of up to 330Mbps.

The company recently announced an extension to its pilot

which will see around 140,000 homes and businesses across

the country given access to G.fast by March 2017.

“Developed by Nokia Bell Labs, XG-FAST is targeting

throughput of up to 10Gbps over very short bonded copper

lines,” explained the report. ““This effectively positions XG-

FAST as a fibre extension solution that avoids the cost, and

often logistical challenges, of accessing the premises.”

Dennis Steiger, nbn's chief technology officer, said: “This

report shows the potential that G.fast has for delivering

ultra-fast broadband services in the global market. It is very

challenging to deliver fibre into every home. Having the option

to use G.fast in a Fibre-to-the-Building or Fibre-to-the-Curb

setting is a great option for any operator.”

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, added: “Our aim is to

make ultra-fast broadband available to 12 million homes

and businesses in the UK by the end of 2020, and we’re

embracing a mix of technologies with G.fast and FTTP to

achieve that. We have pioneered G.fast in our labs, driven

the global standards and have been working closely with our

communications provider customers on the trials, so we’re

very excited that it’s time to start rolling this technology out

nationwide. The great thing about G.fast is that allows us to

deliver affordable ultra-fast speeds to customers quickly and

at scale.”

G.fast set for nearly 30 million end users by 2021

Above: Clive Selley, CEO, BT Openreach

Above: Dennis Steiger, nbn's chief technology officer


industry news

FutureSource Consulting analyst, Michael Boreham, told

attendees at VRAR World in London recently that "we have

finally entered an age where VR can become a commercial

reality as the hardware and, more importantly, cost had

reached a tipping point".

However, Boreham told the audience in his session on’ Virtual

Reality – Niche or Reality’ that “content is a bit further away,

we are still in experimental mode”.

He said that, thanks to the recent launches in gaming

VR, “games are a bit closer than TV. But there is a lot of

experimentation in broadcast”.

Boreham explained that one of the major challenges to the true

uptake of VR was monetisation. “It is not cheap to produce this

content. Often content is quite short, so getting consumers

to pay is difficult. From a consumer point of view, it is more

accessible. The PS4 and others have helped here. There is a

lot to be done to raise awareness. But is there an appetite?

There is a challenge there in terms of raising appetite.”

Another factor, he told the audience, was awareness.

FutureSource research found that only 7% of UK consumers

had tried VR, compared with 5% and 4% respectively in

Germany and France. In the US, the figure stood at 8%.

“Many people, while aware of VR, haven’t experienced a truly

great VR experience yet,” he said. However, Boreham pointed

out that the number of 19 to 35-year-olds that had tried VR

was double the average.

“Retail channel is key here, to raise awareness,” he added,

especially with the number of consumer releases in gaming.

“The console space is beginning to get really interesting,” he

said.

FutureSource believes that, by 2020, total content revenue will

be in excess of US$ 6bn worldwide. This will be split 24% to

video and 76% to games. The gaming VR market, however,

at US$ 4.8bn is still only 2.5% of the overall gaming market.

Boreham believes that, in the shorter term, Pay-Per-View will

be the preferred way to monetise VR in sports, echoing the

early days of satellite TV. “In the short-term, it will be PPV

around key boxing matches or other sporting events that we

tap into on that basis”.

He also suggested that major TV or movie franchises might

also tap into VR. “This could include big studios or a tie-in to

gaming, as we’ve seen with Fantastic Beasts,” he explained.

“It might be bundled, so it might be a VR companion piece to

our BluRay of a film.”

The watershed for TV will be 2018, according to FutureSource,

when the technology and take-up will be large enough.

Virtual Reality in focus

Above: Michael Boreham at VRAR World


SCTE Benelux Gala Dinner 2 February 2017SCTE Spring Lecture, RCS, London22 March 2017SCTE Benelux Spring Lecture5 April 2017SCTE Annual Dinner17 June 2017

Dates for your Diary

Don’t forget these key SCTE dates for your diary.E-mail [email protected] for further details.

Visit www.thescte.eu/events/table-of-all-events/cat.listevents/2016/07/28/- for full details of events.

industry news

Viavi Solutions has announced that TDC Group, the largest

telecommunications and entertainment provider in Denmark,

has selected Viavi's OneExpert™ CATV signal analysis meter

as the core of the field test platform to support a nationwide

upgrade of its Hybrid-Fibre Coaxial (HFC) network.

TDC Group has committed to deploying DOCSIS 3.1 to deliver

advanced media and communication services. Befitting its

history of innovation, it is upgrading its entire HFC network

to support the new downstream extended frequency ranges

defined in the DOCSIS 3.1 specification.

“Working with its ecosystem, TDC Group has set an aggressive

schedule for the network upgrade through 2016 and 2017. To

maintain progress and minimise disruption to subscribers, it

has established a 'maximum disconnect window' to upgrade

the infrastructure and restore service. This plan requires a field-

test solution not only compliant with DOCSIS 3.1, including

the extended frequency ranges, but also fast, user-friendly

and reliable enough to keep technicians on a tight schedule.

Following a stringent process of investigation of solutions on

the market, TDC Group selected our OneExpert CATV signal

analysis meter,” Viavi told Broadband Journal.

DOCSIS 3.1 field test


http://www.thescte.eu/events/table-of-all-events/cat.listevents/2016/07/28/-


from the industry

Scotland’s largest city is on the cusp of a ‘tech

boom’ that could directly result in a £107.5 million

per annum boost to its economy, according

to one of the country’s leading network and

communications firms.

Commencing construction this year, the 40km

multi-million-pound pure fibre investment will

make Glasgow Scotland’s third Gigabit City, with

connections expected to go live in early 2017.

Ricky Nicol, Chief Executive of Commsworld,

who has had an office in Glasgow for more

than 20 years, said: “Glasgow has had a hugely

positive resurgence of late that has included a

Glasgow set for tech boom with pure fibre infrastructure

China Mobile Shanghai Branch and Huawei have jointly

deployed what they dub ‘the world's first wideband 3D

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) site’. This is another

key milestone, after the first 3D MIMO solution was launched

in Shanghai in September 2015.

“This achievement marks a great leap forward for large-scale

commercial 3D MIMO technology and is the beginning of a

planned series of events outlined in the timetable for large-

bandwidth 5G evolution. This solution has significantly

improved single site capability in the 4G era indicated by a

5-fold increase, achieving 5-6 Gigabit capability of a single

site,” said Huawei.

The 3D MIMO solution is the primary wireless innovation

project that China Mobile has predominantly focused upon in

2016. This solution can greatly improve 4G network spectral

efficiency and can help to effectively handle any capacity

challenges encountered during rapid mobile development.

The solution is designed for the enhancement of coverage

and interference mitigation capabilities to meet specialised

coverage requirements (such as coverage of high-rise

buildings).

A single module supports activation of three carriers on

2.6GHz. A distributed network supports smooth evolution

to CloudRAN architecture and ensures that hardware is

sufficiently prepared and ready for 5G evolution. The average

spectral efficiency of cells can be improved three-fold. Along

with the rapid development of video services, the spectral

efficiency can be increased more than five-fold. Huawei’s in-

house-developed chips, new materials and new techniques

are used to provide compact and lighter site equipment.

“The efficient and rapid delivery of this solution is guaranteed

as only one optical fibre and one power cable are required to

ensure smooth deployment from an engineering perspective.

The adoption of the latest chips helps to provide processing

capabilities that are four-fold higher than that of the industry

standard, clearly demonstrating the performance advantages

inherent to 3D MIMO,” said Huawei.

World's ‘first commercial wideband 3D MIMO’

For further details, see www.huawei.com

Above: Ricky Nicol, CEO, Commsworld

http://www.huawei.com/


from the industry

Vimond Media Solutions has announced that TV.AE is using

the Vimond Platform as its backbone, designed to deliver

content to the global Arabic-speaking audience. Vimond began

collaborating with TV.AE on this project in December 2015.

The goals of TV.AE in building out this Over-The-Top (OTT)

video service include tapping into four decades of archived

content, providing User-Generated Content (UGC) to a new

audience of cosmopolitan young adults, and nurturing Arab

talents by focusing on regional events and activities. By using

Vimond Control Center (as the CMS), Vimond Business

Centre (CRM and payment aggregator system) and the Ingest

Pipeline and Video engine, TV.AE was able to hit its aggressive

go-live date.

Going forward, Vimond will enable TV.AE to syndicate and

play-out its content across multiple platforms. There are also

plans for live coverage of other premium sport events, with

a strong viewership in the Middle East. Across its ambitious

agenda, TV.AE has relied heavily upon Vimond.

“The entire content that you see is completely managed

by VCC,” said Amjad Desai, Head of Technical Operations,

TV.AE. “It is the heart of our solution.”

OTT service for TV.AE

successful and widely praised 2014 Commonwealth Games

along with major redevelopment projects. The time has

certainly come for its digital infrastructure to undergo its own

revolution, preparing the city for future business growth and

supplying public services with much improved connections.”

Having worked closely with CityFibre on its successful

Aberdeen and Edinburgh Gigabit City projects, Commsworld

is now looking to Glasgow as it targets further new business.

Initial outlines indicate that the Glasgow project will provide

the capability of reaching more than 7,000 businesses and

public sector organisations as well as seven hospitals.

CityFibre and Commsworld have estimated that the first phase

of deployment will bring Gigabit speeds up to 100 times faster

than the UK’s average. Commsworld, founded in 1994, is

one of Scotland’s leading telecommunications network

provider, providing customers with a full range of integrated

communications solutions.

For further details, see www.vimond.com

Left: Giles Wright, Director of Technology, TV.AE

Right: Amjad Desai, Head of Technical Operations, TV.AE

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/

http://www.vimond.com/

http://tv.ae/

http://tv.ae/


from the industry

The 150th anniversary of the first communication cables to

be laid across the Atlantic Ocean, connecting Europe with

the US, is being celebrated between now and 22 January

2017 in a free exhibition entitled ‘Victorians Decoded: Art and

Telegraphy’ at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall Art

Gallery. Special curator talks on the exhibition will take place

on 15 December 2016 and 19 January 2017.

This exciting collaboration between Guildhall Art Gallery,

King’s College London, The Courtauld Institute of Art and

the Institute of Making at University College London explores

how the first telegraph cables connecting the continents

transformed communications with rare artefacts relating to

their use and manufacture.

This exhibition features four themed rooms (Distance,

Resistance, Transmission and Coding) featuring samples

of Victorian transatlantic cables, one-of-a-kind prototype

transmitters and devices developed by Victorian telegraphy

pioneer, Charles Wheatstone. ‘The Great Grammatizor’, a

special messaging machine to encourage the public to take

part in the exhibition, and paintings by prominent Victorian

artists will also be on display. The exhibition showcases

samples of cables used in early British and French transatlantic

telegraphs. These worked by sending electric signals down a

copper core formed of seven wires

It took nine years, four attempts and three cables until the

Victorians successfully installed two transatlantic telegraphs

from Valentia Island in Ireland to Newfoundland in Canada on

27 July 1866 and 7 September 1866.

The ability to send messages across continents in minutes

(approximately one minute for every eight words) for the first

time was a ‘moon landing moment’ for communications

and telegraphic engineering, and (similar to the internet in

recent decades) it sparked opportunities for businesses,

governments, military forces and the public that were

previously unimaginable.

“The cores of early submarine cables were too thin and

produced electrical effects that interfered with the sending

of signals. Charles Wheatstone and other scientists therefore

developed devices that amplified weak signals and improved

our understanding of how electricity behaves. On display at

the Guildhall Art Gallery is Wheatstone's own prototype of

the famous Wheatstone Bridge, a device used to discover an

unknown resistance from known ones, and a Resistance Box

that allowed engineers to create 'dummy' circuits of any length

and resistance for experimenting with and testing equipment,”

said the City of London Corporation.

Engineering laid bare

For further details, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/victoriansdecoded

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/victoriansdecoded


http://www.jonard.com/




Over the next five years, competition will intensify and new

strategic partnerships and business models will emerge, finds

Frost & Sullivan’s Digital Media team. The nascent Over-The-

Top (OTT) video market in India is growing as smartphone

penetration and 3G and 4G subscribers continue to increase

rapidly. The recent launch of Reliance Jio's affordable data

services and initiatives, such as Bharat Net, will continue to

drive down data service prices, boosting video consumption

over fixed and mobile broadband.

“It will be critical for market participants to gauge viewership

trends, price sensitivity and technical requirements while

offering their video services,” said Frost & Sullivan digital media

director, Vidya S Nath. “Pricing, data analytics, personalisation

and video quality will be crucial in defining the market leader in

the next five years.”

The ‘Over the Top (OTT) Video Market Update, India, 2016’

analysis is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Digital Media Growth

Partnership Service programme. India has over 300 million

Internet users and about a billion smartphone users. Millennials

and Gen Y comprise about a third of the population and are

driving viewership trends towards personalised content.

The country’s fragmented demography offers more than 20

types of audiences by major languages, creating tremendous

opportunity for content creators and producers.

The market is already crowded with about 25 market participants

that include telecom operators, Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV

providers, broadcasters and individual OTT providers. The

number of participants will grow further over the next two years.

“Even though the return on investment for OTT services providers is

slow and does not justify the business proposition in the short-

run, competition will spur all broadcasters to consider the OTT

business,” noted Research Analyst Aafia Bathool. “Exclusive

content at a competitive price with a sophisticated, user-friendly

interface is the way forward. To achieve this, the market will see

increasing strategic alliances among ecosystem players.”

OTT video set to energise and transform Indian television market

For further details, see www.frost.com

from the industry

As consumer need intensifies for access to faster Wi-Fi, an article

published in the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s

(IET) Electronics Letters journal reports how researchers from

Japan have increased the speed of Wi-Fi data transmission by

10 times the current rate, achieving a record 34Gbit/second at

a 500GHz range. This falls within the terahertz range, which is

approximately between 300GHz and 3THz.

Improving speed of wireless data transmission

http://www.frost.com/


For further details, see www.theiet.org/resources/journals/premium-awards.cfm

from the industry

The authors, from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, originally

published research exploring the direct intensity modulation

and wireless data transmission characteristics of terahertz-

oscillating resonant tunnelling (RTD) in 2012. The authors found

that while data transmission speeds were considerably faster

than the current Wi-Fi standard, the low cut-off frequency of the

modulation at just 1.5GHz meant that speed was limited to a

maximum 3Gbit/s.

Through continued research, the team has now reported that

speeds of up to 34Gbit/s can be achieved by reducing the

parasitic components of the RTD device which enabled a much

higher cut-off frequency of 15GHz. The team also improved

performance at room temperature and reduced the device's

size, meaning that using THz frequencies in small or mobile

devices is now a realistic option.

Commenting on the research, Naoto Oshimo, one of the authors

of the paper, said: “Using the improved device, an error-free

transmission up to a data rate of 22Gbit/s, and a transmission

with a bit error rate less than the forward error correction limit up

to 34Gbit/s, was achieved. The device performance is almost

sufficient for short-distance wireless communication such as

KIOSK downloads, which might be its first application.” Final

ranges will be up to 10 metres, allowing for use in home Wi-Fi.

The application of the terahertz range for wireless

communications has long been explored due to its potential

to provide significant bandwidth for very high data transfer.

Resonant-Tunnelling-Diodes (RTDs) are good candidates

for achieving these frequencies as they have the unusual

characteristic that the voltage across them can sometimes go

down as current is increased.

In a final comment, Oshima said: “Owing to the increase in data

traffic, the frequency used has been expanded for obtaining a

wider bandwidth. This, we hope, will lead to a proliferation in

THz wireless communication technology over the next decade.”

http://www.theiet.org/resources/journals/premium-awards.cfm

http://www.prem-link.com/



By Dave Hodges, MD, Blakeglow Systems Ltd.

What will be the impact of a UK exit from the EU on European and international standards?

updateStandards

Standards and Brexit

from the industry

David Hodges, MD of Blakeglow Systems

Ltd., was chairman of the CAI for 24 years

after joining the Board in 1980.

He was educated in Sevenoaks and at

South East London Technical College

where he gained a full Tech, and completed

his apprenticeship as a development

engineer with GEC Elliott Automation, working on power station

control and monitoring systems.

After a short period at the SIRA Institute as a research technologist,

he joined Chubb as a project engineer and became surveillance

divisional manager.

In 1976, he joined the SCTE and two years later joined as a CAI

member, becoming involved with the Confederation, joining the CAI

board and soon becoming MD of Blakeglow Ltd.

Over the past few years, he has been awarded an Honorary

Fellowship of the Society and presented with the Tom Hall award.

He has also been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the CAI and

been presented with the John Summerfield award by the CAI.

He is Principle Expert in BSI EPL100 and EPL100/4, CENELEC

CLC/TC209 and IEC TC100/TA5 and a member of Working Group 1,

2 and 3 Committees as well as being the Working Group 1 Convenor.

Dave Hodges, MD, Blakeglow Systems Ltd.

There is obvious current interest in how the UK will exit

the EU and the effect that this will have on the future

of the UK’s involvement in European and International

standards. The British Standards Institute (BSI) has

issued a statement for guidance and the following is a

précis of their views.

National level

BSI will continue to develop and publish British Standards.

No changes are anticipated to UK Committee activity in

this area.

European level

BSI maintains the UK membership of the three European

standardisation organisations: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.

Membership of these organisations should continue

as normal; it will hopefully be ‘business as usual’ in all

aspects of BSI standards-making and publishing activity.

It is BSI’s ambition, on behalf of UK stakeholders, for the

UK to continue to participate in the European standards

system as a full member of CEN and CENELEC post-

‘Brexit’


from the industry

It will hopefully be ‘business as usual’ in all aspects of BSI standards-making and publishing activity.

International level

UK membership of the two international standardisation

organisations, ISO and IEC, will be unaffected by an exit from

the EU. BSI is committed to representing the UK’s interests in

the creation of international standards that support innovation

and provide solutions to global challenges.

UK membership of CEN, CENELEC and ETSIMembership of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI has been essential

to the UK’s participation in international trade as a member of

the WTO and essential in fulfilling its obligations as a member

of the European Single Market.

UK membership and participation in ETSI should not change

significantly since ETSI membership is not limited to European

companies and organisations. However, on the UK leaving the

EU, there would be consequences for the UK’s eligibility to

participate in CEN and CENELEC. This impact will depend

on the political decisions made over future trade agreements.

A range of four options is considered below to illustrate the

impact:

1. The UK applies for membership of the European Free

Trade Association (EFTA) and then seeks to sign the

European Economic Area (EEA) agreement (like Norway

and Iceland)

or

2. The UK applies for membership of EFTA but remains

outside the EEA, negotiating bilateral trade agreements

with the EU (like Switzerland).

or

3. The UK relies on the World Trade Organisation Technical

Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT) Agreement to protect the UK

in international trade.

or

4. The UK negotiates bilateral trade agreements with the EU,

without being an EFTA member.

In the case of the first two options (1 and 2), it is anticipated that

BSI would retain membership of CEN and CENELEC without

challenge. BSI would meet both the membership requirements

of the CEN and CENELEC statutes and the criteria for

membership (ways of working). In these circumstances, the

impact would be minimal in terms of the UK’s membership

rights within CEN and CENELEC. However, there would be

impact in terms of relationships with partner countries and on

the ability of the UK’s NSB to influence regulatory policy at

European level

For options 3 and 4, BSI would need to argue for the

continuation of UK membership of CEN and CENELEC.

Continuing membership in these circumstances would

depend upon other CEN and CENELEC members agreeing

to change the statutes to create a category of membership

fitting the UK situation.

Arguments could include historical membership, economic

significance, commitment to and involvement in the system

and the difficulty of EU countries exporting to the UK having to

deal with a different standards regime in the UK. Acceptance

of these arguments would probably depend upon whether

the UK continued to commit to the adoption of all European

standards (on a voluntary basis as a non-member of the EU).

Summaryn BSI will continue to develop and publish British Standards.

n BSI’s membership of ETSI will not be affected as its rules

of membership are different from other EU standards

bodies.

n EU exit will not affect the UK’s membership of the two

main international standardisation organisations, ISO and

IEC.

n UK involvement in CEN and CENELEC may have to

change but it is BSI’s intention to maintain full participation

in European standards' development.


Cable operators have a growing opportunity to turn their strengths and advantages into new revenue streams.

Convert Speed,

The DOCSIS 3.1 era is in its early days, but the results so far

indicate that the new platform for hybrid fibre coax networks

is delivering on its promises, particularly when it comes

to producing Gigabit-class speeds alongside improved

bandwidth efficiency. This evolution to Gigabit-level broadband

speeds will eventually morph into new service options for

consumers and businesses.

Wireless operators are already investing heavily in 5G

networks, and this technology also presents an interesting

opportunity for the cable industry at both ends of the delivery

chain – either as a fronthaul to deliver service or as backhaul

that leverages the existing infrastructure. Cable operators will

have to decide how to proceed to find success.

from the industry

Virtualization and Efficiency into RevenueBy Paul Hughes, Director of Strategy, Netcracker Technology


from the industry

Monetising new business servicesCable operators have a growing opportunity to turn speed

into new revenue streams. The growth of 4K video and

High Dynamic Range (HDR) represent what’s next in video

quality and enable service options that should have higher

monetisable value, regardless of whether they are delivered

as part of a traditional cable bundle or as an Over-The-Top

service. MSOs believe that 4K and HDR support will be their

market advantages over competitors in attracting new higher-

end customers, so being able to deliver and monetise those

services should be a top priority.

The shift towards virtualization will bring new operational

efficiency advantages to MSOs, initially with the adoption of

virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) devices such

as set-top boxes that provide greater efficiency and cost

savings by shifting functionality from the box to the cloud. By

rendering the set-top box as more of an access point than

an intelligent device, MSOs can dramatically reduce the cost

of equipment in the home, in some cases by as much as 70-

per cent or more. Virtualization also shifts device management

to the cloud, allowing the MSO to manage devices remotely,

including troubleshooting, testing and remotely managing

problems, pushing software upgrades where necessary and

ultimately eliminating the need for costly truck rolls.

Virtual CPE (vCPE) benefits extend to the growing business

services market, especially for small and mid-sized

organisations. SMB-related business services, in particular,

represent a growing opportunity for most cable MSOs looking

to expand their customer base beyond the consumer market.

Comcast recently said that its business services unit was a

significant growth driver in 2015, with revenues increasing by

20 per cent compared to the previous year and an annual

revenue run rate of US$ 5 billion. The operator has also created

a new enterprise unit to focus on Fortune 1000 companies

and drive growth in this segment using targeted programmes

and offerings specific to these customers.

The operational benefits of vCPE are transformative, and

will greatly improve the way that MSOs manage both the

technology and the user. Virtualization will help to reduce

and simplify any customer interactions, reduce innovation

cycles for developing new services and reduce time to market

for new features and applications. Service interruptions or

problems can be addressed and corrected more proactively,

and cable customers will realize the benefits of new services

that are activated without the need for truck rolls or CPE

replacements. Simplifying these processes becomes almost a

guarantee for an improved customer experience

An evolutionary shift for cable MSOsVirtualization may be revolutionary to cable operators, but the

shift will be evolutionary. MSOs should build a business case

that highlights the operational cost and performance benefits

and amortizes the costs of shifting from the physical to virtual

infrastructure. They should see a rapid return on investment in

the elimination of truck rolls, reduction in home tech visits and

longer usage cycles of on-premises, upgradeable hardware

in the home or office. These changes to the operating model

for residential service delivery are the first step in laying the

foundation for a new kind of business.

Cable MSOs must also look for ways to improve the

customer experience through driving greater process

efficiencies. The elimination of unnecessary service costs

is of paramount importance to any MSO. Truck rolls for

cable service-related installs and repairs rank as one of the

most costly components of the cable service, and the timely

performance of a service appointment is intrinsically linked

to customer satisfaction. Appointment delays become a

source of frustration for customers, and sometimes simple

corrections or resets of customer premises equipment

become unnecessary high-cost components over the

lifetime of the customer relationship.

In an ideal scenario, technical support services would be

limited to initial installations, customer premises equipment

(i.e. set top box) failures or disconnects, and every other

Paul Hughes, Director of Strategy, Netcracker Technology


from the industry

interaction with the customer would be simple, seamless and

efficient.

As delivery technologies evolve, so must the MSOs’ order-

to-cash strategies. The industry has to navigate between the

legacy environment, in which it has poured billions of dollars,

and prepare itself for newer greenfield services.

As the majority of MSOs in the US outsource much of their

back-office processes to third-party technology suppliers,

now is the time to align expectations for new service revenues

with the needs and requirements in the back office. With the

increased adoption of virtualization at the CPE level, the core

service delivery functions of compute, storage, encryption

and packaging move to the cloud, giving significant flexibility

around service innovation and device lifecycle. MSOs must

map this flexibility to the abilities of back office systems to

manage:

n Provisioning and billing of traditional “legacy” video service

bundles and higher value 4K and HDR services when

available, on-demand video streaming and multi-device

business support models.

n Revenue settlement between MSO and OTT providers,

whereby the MSO provides instant access to the customer

and the OTT provider complements existing offerings with

unique and highly monetisable content or related services.

n Next-generation, non-traditional but data-intensive service

offerings that can generate new revenue streams such

as IoT, smart homes and automation, and B2B services.

A huge new revenue-generation opportunity exists for

the cable industry, but requires substantial upgrades of

existing back office systems and processes, including

identification, authentication, device onboarding and

management, data aggregation and normalization.

The cable advantageAs the industry adopts virtualization and looks to the future,

cable operators can take comfort in their huge advantage

with their local infrastructure. Virtualization and back-office

transformation are two significant technology shifts that

can help MSOs to capitalise on the growth in business

services. By embracing virtualization, cable operators have

more opportunities to deliver a variety of enterprise-specific

offerings, including cloud-based SMB apps stores, security

and data centre services.

However, telco service providers, with their deep pockets,

deep fibre and 5G, will be competitive too. First and foremost,

MSOs should ready themselves for more flexible monetisation,

but the initial focus should be on monetisation flexibility of

today’s available speeds. The evolution towards Gigabit levels

of bandwidth can only benefit an MSO if back-office processes

are first aligned around current services. So now is the time

to prepare and ensure that the technology roadmap is ready.

How Cable Order to Cash Processes Must EvolveEmpower enterprise customers and deliver superior experience for complex products


• High-performance and cost-effective solution for MDU environments.

• One Gbps actual throughputs (MoCA 2.0)

• Migration to 2.5 Gbps actual throughputs (MoCA 2.5)

• Converts coax into an IP-based network.

MoCA AccessTM


We review this year’s IBC conference and exhibition in Amsterdam and chronicle the reactions of SCTE’s IBC bursary winners.

An Eye on IBCBy Sara Waddington, Managing Editor, SCTE

from the industry

From a record attendance to the first standing ovation for an

award winner, IBC2016 in Amsterdam this September was

a great success. The headline attendance (not registration)

figure for IBC2016 was 55,796 people from over 160 countries

across the six days of the conference and exhibition.

IBC is a key annual event for professionals engaged in the

creation, management and delivery of entertainment and

news content worldwide. It combines a highly respected and

peer-reviewed conference with an exhibition that provides

more than 1,800 leading suppliers of the latest electronic

media technology with strong networking opportunities.

The exhibition featured over 1,800 exhibitors, including 249

companies at their first IBC. One important addition to the

feature areas in the exhibition was the IBC IP Interoperability

Zone, an initiative to push forward open standards in new

connectivity. Supported by AIMS and the IABM and working

with AES, AMWA, the EBU, SMPTE and VSF, IBC created

a dedicated exhibit which demonstrated verified technical

Above: In the halls at IBC Above: The IBC conference


from the industry

progress in IP interoperability and featured the award-

winning VRT-EBU LiveIP studio, which was used for IBCTV’s

production at this year’s show.

The conference in focusReflecting the state of the industry, the conference took

transformation as its theme. That was also reflected in the

IBC Leaders’ Summit, the behind-closed-doors programme

for 150 C-level Executives. The conference programme

was reorganised this year to provide a clearer, more readily

navigated structure and a focus on the content value chain.

Across the five days, 435 speakers took part in more than

100 sessions.

The IBC Best Conference Paper Award is presented to the

authors of the paper which presents important new research

in a clear and engaging way. This year, it went to Erik Stare

of Teracom in Stockholm, Dr. Jordi Giménez of Universitat

Politècnica de València in Spain and Dr. Peter Klenner of

Panasonic Europe, based in Frankfurt, for their paper ‘WIB – a

new system concept for digital terrestrial television’.

“Our choice this year was for a paper which tackles a subject

some may have thought close to end of life, but actually

revitalises the whole subject of terrestrial broadcasting,” said

Dr. Nick Lodge, Chair, IBC Technical Papers' Committee.

“What these researchers propose is a way to achieve higher

digital bandwidth, an incredibly efficient use of spectrum and

a huge reduction in power consumption. This is genuinely

ground-breaking work, turning conventional wisdom on its

head – a very exciting paper indeed.”

One of the most popular conference sessions featured Ang

Lee discussing, and demonstrating, how he has employed

remarkable technology to create a strong sense of engagement

in his new movie, 'Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk'. Specially

created for IBC, the clip from the forthcoming movie was

projected at 120 frames per second in 4K 3D, using Christie’s

6P laser projection and Dolby Atmos.

IBC awardsAng Lee was also the recipient this year of IBC’s highest

award, the International Honour for Excellence. The audience

also saw the most unusual acceptance speech yet at an IBC

Awards Ceremony. NASA received the Judges’ Prize, and

IBC was thanked in a special message from astronaut Kate

Rubins in the International Space Station.

The LiveIP Studio project took the award for content creation,

with trophies presented both to the EBU and the host of the

project, Flemish broadcaster VRT. The judges admired the

way the project had taken a practical approach to using IP

for live production, involving a large number of vendors and

solving the interoperability issues.

The exhibition featured over 1,800 exhibitors, including 249 companies at their first IBC.

Across the five days, 435 speakers took part in more than 100 sessions.


from the industry

Two of the entries in content management were around reality

television. Endemol Shine Germany took the trophy for its

production management on Wild Island, which split the post

between the location – two islands off the coast of central

America – and the company’s base in Cologne.

The trophy for content delivery was awarded to BT Sport. It

launched an Ultra HD channel last year, and the audience at

the IBC Awards ceremony was treated to some stunning 4k

sports footage on its screen.

The Auditorium was once again converted into the IBC Big

Screen and, as well as the awards and Ang Lee’s keynote

presentation, it was also the venue for two hugely popular

movie screenings, both using Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby

Atmos. These were The Jungle Book in 3D courtesy of the

Walt Disney Company and the harrowing 19th century saga,

The Revenant, provided by 20th Century Fox.

“The continuing success of IBC is down to the hard work of a

lot of people, staging an event that is relevant and engaging

across the whole of our transforming industry,” concluded

Michael Crimp, IBC CEO. “We continue to evolve, and I am

confident that next year’s IBC – our 50th anniversary edition

– will be even better. I look forward to welcoming you back to

Amsterdam from 14 to 19 September 2017.”

SCTE bursary winners at IBCThis year, four lucky SCTE members were the recipients of

SCTE’s IBC bursary (flights and hotel paid for by the SCTE and

Above: The IBC Awards ceremony

Above: Film director, Ang Lee, was the recipient this year of IBC’s highest award, the International Honour for Excellence


from the industry

conference entry provided by IBC). They outline their experiences

of IBC below and, if any SCTE members have not yet applied for

an SCTE bursary in 2017, then their thoughts and comments

may encourage other members to apply next year.

Sean GodfreyPrincipal Engineer, Access Engineering, Virgin Media, UK.

Reading last year’s bursary winner reports

in November’s issue of Broadband

Journal, I felt compelled to submit an

application to the SCTE for this year’s

IBC exhibition in Amsterdam. Thankfully,

I was one of the four lucky winners. Firstly, a big thanks to the

SCTE team for giving me the opportunity to attend the 5-day

event, arranging silver passes, lovely nearby accommodation

and for making us all most welcome throughout the event.

I’d last attended the event way back in the mid ‘90s and knew

a bit of pre-planning was in order. Once registered on the

IBC website, you can add exhibitors to your personal profile,

arrange meetings in advance and plan the presentations to

attend, rather than leaving everything until you turn up and

being somewhat overwhelmed. The personalised floor plan

download proved most useful.

An early Friday morning flight from Birmingham and a two-

stop train journey from Schiphol airport to the RAI Exhibition

centre were straightforward, as somehow I’d missed the

availability of the dedicated shuttle buses. After a few redirects

Above: To recognise the significance of a centenary, SMPTE was presented with an IBC Special Award

Left: SCTE Executive Committee members on the Partners Village booth at IBC


to the many busy Registration desks, I presented my QR

code and received a handy IBC bag and welcome pack,

plus an invitation to the IBC party on the first evening and a

complimentary Travelcard for buses and trams to use around

Amsterdam during my stay.

Now covering fourteen halls, plus further outdoor areas with

“the beach” and its busy bar alongside the canal and the

latest OB trucks out front, and with around 55,500 visitors

descending on the city, it was the sheer scale of the event that

struck me most. Bringing together the players in TV, Telcos, IT

and beyond, the event dictated that sturdy shoes and plenty

of walking were in order.

After meeting the SCTE team at the Partners Village booth,

I picked up a floorplan for when my Ipad battery ran out (tip:

don’t forget your travel adaptor). Day one was spent visiting

stands on my favourites’ list to get my bearings.

Halls are helpfully laid out by theme: Creation, Management

and Delivery. IBC is a great showcase for everything

‘broadcast’ and having previously worked in TV production

before my cable days, I found plenty to see and bring me

up to speed on, with the mass move to IP now for content/

production as well as distribution. Virtual Reality/AR was

evidently gaining momentum now with lots of companies,

and it was very interesting from a personal viewpoint to sit

in on a couple of demos by Adobe to understand a bit more

about how VR/360 videos are shot and edited by stitching

multiviews together, before being published for headset use

or on social media/YouTube etc.

It was quite an eye-opener visiting existing suppliers to our own

company to realise how much wider their range of products

and services span beyond those that we may just know as

engineers. There were other random stands where exhibitors

explained previous dealings or trials with our company that,

again, we’d never normally know about, and gave me some

new insights into my own company. By the time of the IBC

Olympics-themed party at 6:30pm, I was ready for a few

drinks and some welcome food with the SCTE team. A short

tram ride (remember: clock in and out) took us down to the

hotel for a much needed recharge of batteries.

On day two, I joined another VM colleague and bursary

winner, Steve. Saturday included a look around the latest

camera, lighting vision switching and data storage products

with tape long consigned to Sony’s museum-type displays.

Bridge Technologies demonstrated its latest add-ons for

VBC/probes, its impressive Remote Data Wall and SDI to IP

products, and kindly invited us to one of its evening canal tours

on the Sunday evening. Liberty Global’s stand was a chance

to see some of our partner companies’ customer offerings.

To break up the walking, there were some thought-provoking

talks in the Content Everywhere and Technology in Action

sections. One discussed the move of distribution and now

production to an IP base, speeding up the delivery of new

content and the need for traditional expertise to adapt to the

new skills now required. Issues over the aligning of standards

to deliver the envisaged interoperability are still being

addressed. Another talk on OTT niche sports for delivery gave

examples of obstacles encountered and changing business

models, depending upon target markets, and showed that

the ‘one size fits all’ approach no longer applies. Any talks

that were missed were able to be viewed on screens around

the halls or on the IBC website. The entire event was linked

with an on-site IP-based production centre, using separate IP

studio, control rooms etc. spread over the site, to show and

capture everything going on, on “IBCTV”.

An evening in the City hopping on the no.4 tram to experience

the sights, sounds and aromas of Amsterdam had to be

included as part of the overall IBC experience.

from the industry

You can add exhibitors to your personal profile, arrange meetings in advance and plan the presentations to attend.

Above: Technology in Action session


A later start on Sunday took us to Cisco’s impressive stand for

a Proactive Network Maintenance demo, and Tivo showed us

the next version of Hydra stb UI which got a big “thumbs up”.

The “Hackfest” competition was interesting to keep up with

over the weekend, with several teams having just 36 hours to

devise innovative ways of improving the future for either living

room entertainment, the education/classroom experience or

viewers engagement in sports, with the final big prize winners

using facial recognition to feedback to tutors in real-time

whether students are coping or struggling with topics being

taught.

On day four, I took in demos by Agama technologies on its

end-to-end monitoring and assurance solutions which was

the first opportunity I’d had to actually see it in action.

The SCTE Benelux lecture meeting in the Forum Lounge

Theatre covered interesting topics around The IP Invasion,

including Globtel discussing how it can extend access

networks wirelessly to rural areas. Axon’s CTO opined

on making the best moves from SDI to Ethernet from a

broadcaster’s requirements and evolving standards, and

LGI's Director of DOCSIS Engineering gave an insight into the

access network evolution strategy to 2020. The evening saw

the SCTE team and its bursary winners enjoy a fantastic meal

at The Oceania restaurant, close to the RAI.

Day five was a noticeably quieter last day and much easier to

get around to talk to people, taking the opportunity to discuss

PNM with Skyline and check out the latest in Dataminer’s

orchestration, dashboards and DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities. I took

a final look around the OB trucks outside with stunning 4K/

HDR rigs, and some very impressive slide-out workspaces,

before returning to SCTE base for lunch, thanks and goodbyes

to Bev and the team.

All in all, a great opportunity for me to attend IBC and I

would certainly recommend applying for an SCTE bursary, in

particular for anyone who normally wouldn’t get the chance

to go.

Xhevdet ShalaNetwork Planning Engineer, IPKO Telecommunications LLC, Kosovo

I was one of the winners of the SCTE

bursary programme for IBC 2016 in

Amsterdam. I would like to point out that

this was one of my best experiences.

IBC was very well organized and the

event was a tremendous opportunity for me to get in touch

with various people in industry as well as learn about the latest

trends in telecoms and video.

from the industry

Virtual Reality/AR was evidently gaining momentum now with lots of companies.

Halls are helpfully laid out by theme: Creation, Management and Delivery.

Above: Xhevdet Shala, IPKO


from the industry

The SCTE Benelux lecture meeting, with its theme of ‘The

IP Invasion Taking Over Our Distribution Networks?", was

really rich in terms of the content and subjects which were

discussed. It was interesting to uncover trends in next-

generation telecommunications platforms as well as Ethernet

taking over the future backbone on live broadcast industry

and ways to adapt to it.

In general, it was a great professional and social experience!

I would like to thank the SCTE for its bursary opportunity and

for hosting me at the bursary winner dinner in Amsterdam.

Dhurata PrapashticaTelecoms Engineer, IPKO Telecommunications, Kosovo

First of all, I would like to thank the SCTE

for choosing me as a bursary winner.

I really enjoyed IBC - it was a great

experience for me! It was also the first

time that I had ever attended an exhibition

and conference outside my country. I really appreciated the

chance to visit IBC 2016 and see the technology that I have

read about in action for the first time.

The 5-day exhibition was enough time for me to visit all the

halls and watch some of the conference sessions. There was

so much to see and to learn, getting in touch with vendors

and industry professionals as well as seeing the products

displayed. I found the Feature Areas, which tied into the IBC

conference running alongside the exhibition, very interesting.

The Future Zone was very popular when I explored the show

- exhibitors were displaying cutting-edge prototypes and

projects, 8KTV, fun VR headsets and holographic displays

which were stunning. I really enjoyed the time I spent at IBC.

It was a great experience for me - all moments for me were

“wow” moments. I would especially like to thank Beverley for

being so kind to us and taking care of us during the show.

Stephen HardingSenior Engineer, Virgin Media, UK

I work for Keith Holland in Virgin Media,

assisting him to type approve new test

equipment, maintain our existing test

equipment and keep in contact with

our suppliers. This year, I applied to the

SCTE for a bursary to enable me to

attend the IBC exhibition in Amsterdam. This covers all travel,

accommodation and entrance to the IBC exhibition/conference.

I spent some time planning before setting off on my trip as

there were over 1700 companies attending from around the

world across the various halls of the show. The IBC app was

an essential tool to help with keeping a log of who you wished

to visit and where you had already been. The map on the app

was also pretty handy for navigation.

I was interested to see the latest technology involved in

the creation and delivery of entertainment as well as the

technologies involved in monitoring the quality of streams.

Safe to say that I was not disappointed with the scale and

effort that the manufacturers who attend the IBC exhibition

put into their booths. You could try your hand at being a

cameraman with the latest 4k cameras - once everything was

recorded, you could visit the Adobe booth and see the many

techniques for video manipulation and some incredible effects

as well as seeing how the IKEA “Come Home to Play” advert

was created.

I attended many guest speaker sessions which were held on

various booths as you walked around. One of the hot topics

was the discussion around the transfer over to IP for the entire

broadcast path from video camera to customer premises

equipment. There were many demonstrations of the latest

technologies. When I visited the ARRIS booth, the E6000

CMTS was on show with a download speed via a cable

modem of 1500 Megabits/second and an upload of 314-

Megabits/second. The outdoor broadcasting HGVs, outdoor

broadcasting vans and an electric helicopter fitted with a 4K

camera were also on display.

Skyline Communications and Cisco spent time taking me

through Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) solutions.

These enable targeted fault resolution before any cable

customers see a degradation of services. Several booths

were targeting an improved WiFi experience inside the home

Above: IBC Future Zone


from the industry

as this is a common complaint from customers. Intel had an

interesting feature on its latest WiFi chip, WAV500, which

promises extended reach inside customer properties for an

improved customer experience.

The SCTE Benelux Lecture featured speakers discussing “The

IP invasion Taking Over Distribution Networks”. It looks like

an interesting few years in the cable industry as we make the

transition to a purely IP delivery of content.

IBC really was an amazing exhibition where I gained vast

amounts of knowledge on image recording, manipulation and

broadcasting. It certainly opened my eyes to the vast amount

of work and technology that goes on behind the scenes.

Thank you to the entire SCTE team for making me so welcome

and I would encourage everyone to apply for one of the many

bursaries available. They really are valuable experiences.

The IBC app was an essential tool to keep a log of who you wished to visit and where you had already been.

For more information, visit www.ibc.org. SCTE members can apply for an IBC bursary by emailing 300 words on why they

should receive the bursary to [email protected]

CONTACT

http://www.ibc.org/




This article provides a comprehensive overview of the history of objective video quality measurement, touching on the current methods used as well as new research into the HVS that enables operators to deliver more consistent, superior video quality.

Noam Koren is the Vice President of Advanced System Development at Harmonic. In this role, Noam, with his team, research and implement

innovative technologies and solutions with a focus on the needs of Harmonic’s customers. Noam and his team work directly with customers to identify issues and then work together on the solutions. Projects developed by Noam’s team won the CableLabs' innovation competition twice as “the product that is most likely to succeed” (2007, 2008), as well as the Emmy award in 2015. Noam has 24 years of experience in networking, video processing and compression and system architecture. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Israel Institute of Technology and is also the holder of seven U.S. patents.

Noam Koren Vice President of Advanced System Development, Harmonic

By Noam Koren, Vice President, Advanced System Development at Harmonicand How it is being Leveraged to Improve Video Quality Measurements

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An Update on the Human Visual System

According to the latest industry research1, online video will

be responsible for four-fifths of global internet traffic by 2019.

Faced with delivering an ever-increasing number of video

streams, Over the Top (OTT) content providers and Pay-TV

operators are finding it challenging to provide consistent, high-

quality video experiences on every device while keeping capital

and operational costs low. This is partly because traditional

approaches to assessing video quality in an objective manner

are limited.

Measuring the video quality of encoded content is a subject

that has been discussed by experts for decades without an

agreement being reached on the subject. Traditional methods

were based on mathematical calculation of the image

distortion. These methods were proved to be inaccurate.

Objective video quality measurement is complicated. Its

primary goal is to calculate video quality as it is seen by the

Human Visual System (HVS). However, everyone perceives

1 http://tubularinsights.com/2019-internet-video-traffic/

http://tubularinsights.com/2019-internet-video-traffic/


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video quality differently. The visual system is not the same for

each person, and our sensitivity level to different aspects of

the video is not identical. Moreover, the understanding of how

human beings perceive visual information is not complete.

This situation is further complicated by the multi-dimensional

complexity that is involved in video scenes.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the history

of objective video quality measurement, touching on the

current methods used as well as new research into the HVS

that enables operators to deliver more consistent, superior

video quality.

Common methods of video quality measurementFor many years, Picture Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) has

been the most common method to measure video quality,

despite the fact that many other new and improved methods

are available. PSNR is a method that mathematically calculates

the distortion of each pixel in the image. This method

completely ignores the impact of the surrounding pixels, the

complete image and the video scene information. We will

discuss, later in this article, the impact of the surrounding

pixels on the measured distortion as it appears to the HVS.

Since PSNR does not take into account any masking effects

imposed by the surrounding pixels, distortion is miscalculated

in different scenes. For example, PSNR overestimates

distortion when the surrounding area is spatially active and

underestimates distortion when the surrounding area has low

spatial activity. (See Figure 1 below.)

In Figure 1, images (a) and (b) have the same PSNR score.2

However, PSNR underestimates distortion in low spatial

activity areas; it calculates low distortion for the dotted area in

the sky, which is actually a very visible distortion.

In 2004, Structural Similarity (SSIM) was introduced, offering a

better video quality measurement than PSNR. A key element

of the HVS is to identify shapes and structures in the image.

The HVS is less sensitive to the details of image pixels and

more sensitive to the shapes of the objects and details of the

image.

Leveraging its higher sensitivity to structure, which in turn

relates to shapes, SSIM is able to achieve a more accurate

video quality measurement compared with PSNR. SSIM

independently measures structural and non-structural

distortion. While differently weighting the structural and non-

structural distortion, the correct balance can be achieved.

SSIM takes into account three elements of distortion: average

luminance, average contrast and structure/texture similarity.

Mathematically, the latter two components combined are

Online video will be responsible for four-fifths of global internet traffic by 2019.

2 Figure 1 reference: Video Quality Assessment Methods: A Bird’s-Eye View I P. M. Arun Kumar, S. Chandramathi

Figure 1: PSNR


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equal to the PSNR measurement, normalised by the amount

of activity in the picture or measured area. This normalisation

is what helps SSIM to be more accurate than PSNR, as higher

spatial activity increases the masking of the distortion.3

While SSIM is an improved video quality measurement

compared with PSNR, it still has many limitations, an example

of which is shown in Figure 2 above.

Next-generation video quality assessmentUltimately, none of the existing traditional techniques for video

quality assessment measure distortion accurately, limiting the

capabilities of modern day compression systems. In the past,

there have been trials to build a video encoder that utilises

the feedback of video quality measurement to improve the

encoding decisions. Those attempts have been relatively

unsuccessful. Effectively assessing video quality requires

going beyond distortion measurement and taking into account

the HVS.

While SSIM made progress on measuring video quality, it is still

merely a distortion measurement that utilises spatial activity,

masking what actually characterises the HVS. The advantage

of SSIM is its simplicity and low computation requirements,

but it falls short of achieving optimal compression.

Some of the properties of the HVS that are important for

creating an accurate video quality measurement model

include:

n Contrast Distortion: The HVS is more sensitive to changes

in contrast as opposed to luminance level. When measuring

distortion, this needs to be taken into consideration. The

light information entering the lens in our eyes is received by

an array of rods and cones that are laid along the retina. The

rods and cones measure light intensity in different visible

wavelength and transmit this measurement using neurons

to one or more ganglion cells.

In Figure 3, a model of a ganglion cell that creates

a Receptive Field (RF) is shown. The RF is fed by light

receptive information that is generated by a group of rods

and cones. The first type of RF, shown in Figure 3A, is

called “off centre”. Its highest response is when the

centre is not exposed to light and the surrounding area is

exposed to light. The other type of RF is called “on centre”

and is shown in Figure 3B. Its highest response is when

the centre is exposed to light and the surrounding area is

not exposed to light.

The mechanism that responds well to transitions between

lighted and non-lit areas is the main reason that our visual

system is sensitive to contrast and less sensitive to pure light.

Note: video compression standards are compressing the

light level (luminance) information and not the contrast level.

n Spatial Frequency: The HVS model uses spatial

frequencies to measure visual information. The receptive

fields shown in Figure 3 exist in a different physical

Figure 3.A: Off-centre receptive field

Figure 3.B: On-centre receptive field

3 https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1503/1503.06680.pdf

Figure 2 above shows an original image with a perfect SSIM score of 1. While image (d) has a better SSIM score than image (b), viewers would prefer the quality of image (b).

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1503/1503.06680.pdf


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dimension. Each physical dimension corresponds to a

specific spatial frequency. The plurality of receptive fields of a

certain dimension results in higher contrast sensitivity to the

related spatial frequency. There are many existing models

that explain the response of the HVS to the light spatial

frequencies. Figure 4 below shows the Barten model.

Figure 4 shows that HVS responds differently to each spatial

frequency. The highest sensitivity is to contrast information

at ~ 4 cpd. The diagram also depicts that sensitivity goes

down to zero very quickly for high frequency. Sensitivity

decreases for lower frequencies, but does not completely

disappear.

n Pixel Information: All of the pixel information in an image

creates different types of masking on each of the pixels

where distortion is measured. The plurality of certain

information in an image reduces the sensitivity to each

occurrence of the same information. Pixel information

is characterised by its contrast, orientation and spatial

frequency. Furthermore, the plurality of the total information

in an image reduces the ability to detect the distortion in

an image. It is a common practice of video encoders to

increase the level of compression in images that contain

more information.

n Sequence Change: Video is a sequence of images.

When the video is changing across the images that

compose the video scene, the sensitivity to the distortion

might increase or decrease depending upon the type

and amount of changes. Taking into account the spatio-

temporal Contrast Sensitivity Function (CSF), we can more

accurately present the sensitivity to each pixel distortion

by considering the amount of their changes over time.

By weighing the importance of these sensitivities against less

relevant elements in a video frame, it’s possible to measure

which distortion is visible to the visual system and which is not.

Correct measurement of visible distortion allows the encoder

to determine the highest level of compression of each pixel,

image and video scene to achieve the desired video quality.

This balance between video quality and bandwidth is beyond

the capabilities of competing encoding techniques, such as

CBR or CVBR encoding.

Harmonic has spent extensive R&D resources on this area

and reached the conclusion that taking into account the HVS

is not enough to achieve true constant quality. While science

has made great progress in understanding the HVS, there are

still some pieces that are not known. The challenge is building

a video quality optimisation model that is complete and

consistent enough to drive reliable video encoder decisions.

To use video quality measurement as a built-in feedback to

the encoding decisions, there cannot be any room for error.

After years of continuous testing with a group of ‘golden eyes’, we

have identified the places where the video quality measurement

model does not behave accurately during subjective testing.

Whenever the model is found to be inaccurate enough to

calculate the video quality of a specific scene, it is refined until

the accurate measurement is reached. The result of this long

and intensive effort is a highly intelligent and accurate algorithm

that understands how to measure video quality independent of

the scene type and the video details.

Applying accurate video quality measurement to compressionClearly, accuracy is key when it comes to objectively measuring

video quality. When the algorithm described here is applied to

video compression, content providers and Pay-TV operators

can deliver consistent, high-quality video experiences at low

bitrates. The workflow is described below:

n Step 1: The video encoder looks to achieve best

compression and maximise video quality based upon the

available bandwidth.

Figure 4. Barten model for contrast sensitivity as a function of spatial frequency

Clearly, accuracy is key when it comes to objectively measuring video quality


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n Step 2: The amount of the video compression is

determined by the rate controller based upon a model

that predicts the number of bits that the compression will

create, given the measured video characteristics.

n Step 3: How much video compression is applied is a

good predictor of the compressed video quality. However,

this prediction is inaccurate.

n Step 4: Adding a measurement for video quality accuracy

brings huge value to the equation. The video encoder is

tuned to avoid video quality problems. Without accurate

feedback, it must rely on safety margins to avoid generating

bad video quality. These margins are relatively large.

ConclusionIn recent years, video encoders have transitioned from hardware

to software due to the availability of high-performance CPUs

that enable more flexibility in algorithm development at a cost

of ownership which is lower than hardware-based solutions,

accelerating the rate of video compression improvement. The

use of advancements in HVS research described in this article

are a result of such a technology shift. It is now possible to

implement much more demanding video quality measurement

methods than SSIM with a fraction of the CPU power available.

At Harmonic, we’ve identified a new way to determine the

target video rates for the different video profiles in an ABR

deployment. Our video quality measurement approach can

also be applied to broadcast services. Extensive testing

shows that providing operators with a scalable real-time video

compression optimisation solution that leverages the HVS is

proved to boost compression efficiency by 50 per cent, while

preserving video quality targets.

When this video optimisation solution is used in the real world,

viewers can watch pristine video on their device of choice —

even over constrained OTT/ABR networks. As video quality

goes up, subscribers are happier and spend more time

watching, improving monetisation opportunities for content

providers and operators.



http://www.convergenceindia.org/

http://www.iotindiaexpo.com/



US Lessons Learned:By leveraging the network and user behaviour knowledge with cost-effective, cloud-based tools and solutions, European providers are in a unique position to not only provide an optimal user experience but actually monetise the market expansion.

By OpenVaultOTT, Data Usage Growth and Monetisation Results

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IntroductionIn the United States, demand for Over The Top (OTT) video is at

an all-time high with no signs of slowing down. In a culture that

values and expects the delivery of massive amounts of content

at anytime, anywhere and on any device, the demand for OTT

content will continue to expand for the foreseeable future. In

fact, industry experts predict that OTT video will and ultimately

become a mainstream method for viewing video content. The

“TV Anywhere” dynamic is a current expectation, regardless of

age or geography.

For example, in a recent study conducted by MTM, an

independent London-based research and strategy group,

domestic (US) premium OTT revenues are expected to grow

from US$ 4bn in 2014 to between US$ 8-12bn in 2018.

Niche services, complementing more generalist Pay-TV or

OTT offerings, are also expected to proliferate with up to 15-

20 new specialist OTT providers acquiring 100,000 or more

paying subscribers by 2018, with even more attracting smaller

numbers of subscribers.

Over the Top meets 4KAs OTT video consumption ramps up, consumer behaviour

and technology will continue to expand and evolve accordingly.

To keep pace with and, more importantly, optimise the ever-

expanding OTT universe, the industry must anticipate market

changes, overcome technical challenges and create flexible

business models that monetise new opportunities that assure

both a quality experience for the subscriber and profitability

for the operator.

As expected, the emergence of OTT in Europe is following

a similar path to the US experience and, despite regulatory

issues and technology challenges, the European OTT market

is also expected to grow exponentially and present great

business opportunities over the course of the next few years

in particular.


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However, for Europe to experience the same success as

the US OTT market, it is critical to understand subscribers’

high-speed data usage behaviours. As evidenced in the US,

a granular understanding will allow providers to make optimal

business decisions about their future broadband offerings.

The US experienceAccording to the MTM study, the US premium OTT market

has seen strong growth over the past years, largely driven

by Netflix, You Tube, Amazon and Hulu. In 2014, the market

was worth US$ 4bn, having grown at a CAGR of 36%

between 2011 and 2014. By the close of 2014, 40.3% of

US TV households were subscribing to at least one premium

OTT service. However, SVOD revenues, around US$ 4bn,

comprised only a relatively small share of the wider TV and

video market, estimated at approximately US$ 185bn in 2014.

The rapid growth of premium OTT services in the US market has

been due to a number of factors, including wide availability of

broadband infrastructure; consumer demand and willingness

to pay for content; scale and wealth of the US market; the fact

that the US is a leader in media, entertainment and technology

and Netflix’s domestic success, which stimulates overall

interest and investment in the OTT market.

Successful operators, programmers, service providers

and broadcasters in the United States who recognise the

revenue potential of these market changes and OTT growth

have adjusted their business models accordingly. However,

to monetise these new opportunities, several factors must

first be addressed to ensure this transformative success.

Firstly, consumers' new viewing habits and high-speed

data demands present not only technical issues, such as

network congestion, but also pricing/budget challenges

and customer satisfaction concerns. Therefore, many

independent broadband providers have begun offering cost-

effective solutions that respond to consumers’ evolving

streaming behaviours, offer friendly data usage plans and

…As of 2015, over 70% of Internet traffic in the US was streamed video and audio content…”


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flexible pricing models and yet do not require large capital

investment into the network infrastructure.

A US case study The challenge

In a recent industry study of the effect of live sports

streaming on High-Speed Data (HSD) networks, broadband

management company OpenVault reported that there was an

average increase of nearly 20% in data consumption across

its global customer base during a live stream of a Sunday NFL

game, compared to normal Sunday usage.

This finding supports the idea that as more events are

streamed live onto more household devices, subscribers will

need to upgrade their service/increase their speeds to support

the additional bandwidth requirements. For operators, this

data growth means a necessary evolution across the board,

including technical infrastructure to innovative product and

programming delivery.

To be successful during this industry revolution, operators

must make informed decisions and, to do so, they must first

understand subscriber HSD usage behaviours to develop

new product offerings.

In addition, operators must effectively communicate with

subscribers with targeted messaging to enhance their user

experience. Lastly, operators must consider aligning this

growing demand for data with growing revenues through

usage-based billing and/or a well-defined upgrade strategy.

To improve visibility into their networks and to automate

management functions to proactively handle congestion,

forecast network requirements and communicate with

subscribers, a US-based Tier Two provider deployed the multi-

purpose, cloud-based OpenVault platform that is designed to

bring network, data usage and marketing data together in a

way that has never been done before.

In this way, OpenVault collects data from multiple sources

and provides both dashboards and specific solutions, which

allows operators to easily see where improvements can be

made, and the impact of those decisions across multiple

disciplines. This powerful information, combined with deep

analytics and real solutions, helps the provider to not only

monetise the high-speed data usage on their networks but,

equally importantly, to better serve and enhance the user

experience through cost-effective integration of subscriber

communications, active policy-based network management,

billing systems and in-browser messaging systems.

Results

Through proper data collection, deep analytics and accurate

reporting, implementing monetisation levers and a subscriber

education and communication strategy, the provider

experienced a more than US$ 10 ARPU (Average Revenue

Per User) increase within

six months of deployment.

This positive result was

experienced with negligible

subscriber churn impacts.

This approach enables

operators to align the

growing demand for data

with growing, rather than

stagnant, revenues.

The European waveNot surprisingly, Europe is currently experiencing a similar

OTT explosion that appears to be a mirror image of the

growth experienced in the US market a few years ago. And

despite the Western challenges surrounding the mass market

with film and TV content, a recent industry study indicates

that, in addition to the subscription business model, there

are significant opportunities for European content providers


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to increase monetisation of video content, in the form of

transactional services, ad-supported offerings and hybrid

bundles. In addition, the research revealed that despite a

number of barriers to entry, industry participants expect

to see steady growth of premium OTT service in all major

European regions. In fact, most markets throughout Europe

are expected to conservatively double or triple their premium

OTT growth by 2017.

As broadband penetration levels rise, IoT devices proliferate

and favourable regulations are introduced, the OTT

environment will continue to expand throughout Europe.

In addition, as leading players, such as Netflix, continue to

emerge, as well as the competition and investment in premium

OTT business models, experts believe that the landscape will

mimic the US OTT experience with innovation and demand

evolving simultaneously. Therefore, it is critical for European

providers to understand the factors that have contributed to

OTT success in the US market and get ahead of the market

with optimisation opportunities.

US lessons learnedIn conclusion, European providers are currently at a great

advantage in that they can get ahead of, rather than simply

keep pace with, the OTT growth explosion by observing the

US evolution and incorporating strategies that have proved

successful.

Understanding subscribers’ high-speed data usage behaviours

at a granular level will allow providers to not only make optimal

business decisions, but also provide their subscribers with the

most innovative broadband experience possible. By leveraging

the network and user behaviour knowledge with cost-effective,

cloud-based tools and solutions, European providers are in a

unique position to not only provide an optimal user experience

but actually monetise the market expansion.




A Design Procedure The design of a physically small, equal phase and equal power 1-to-4 ultra-wideband Wilkinson power divider is presented. Initially, a 1-to-2 divider was designed and optimised for the 3.1GHz-to-10.6GHz range. The 1-to-4 divider was then built using three 1-to-2 dividers and further optimised for full-band insertion loss, return loss and isolation. The circuits were constructed using a 0.75mm thick Rogers RO3035 substrate, and experimentally validated.

By Ammar H. Ali, Professor Raed A. Abd-Alhameed, Yim Fun Hu, Mark B. Child and Costas Kyriacou

for a 1-to-4 Ultra-Wideband Wilkinson Power Divider

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IntroductionPower dividers are important for impedance matching in many

microwave and RF systems. In 1960, E.J. Wilkinson added an

isolation resistor to a T-junction power divider, making a quarter-

wave impedance transformer to enhance the return loss and

isolation between outputs [1]. This design has the disadvantage

of narrow operational frequency bandwidth.

Several methods have been adopted to increase the

bandwidth such as the introduction of additional sections

[2] or stabs to a section [3], combining these two previous

methods [4] or using a slotted ground technique [5]. Since

the commercial use of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology

started in 2002 [6], a large number of papers have been

published by researchers and industry especially for the

3.1-10.6GHz spectrum band. The UWB power divider must

satisfy bandwidth requirement, constant insertion loss and a

high degree of isolation between ports [7].

UWB power divider designThis article concerns the design and validation of a 1-to-

4 power divider. The first step is to design a 1-to-2 power

divider, afterwards combining three of them to make a two-

stage 1-to-4 divider.

Generally, a single section Wilkinson power divider consists of

two branches of 70.7Ω quarter-wave transformers terminated

with a 100Ω resistive load. However, such power dividers have

narrow bandwidths [8]. To increase this, additional sections of

quarter wave transformers could be added and also terminated

with resistive loads to increase output port isolation [9].

Examples of quarter-wave transformers and their resistive loads

can be found in several tables and charts [9-11].

Initial section impedances and load values for the single-stage

UWB power divider used in this work are shown in Table 1 -

the equations on page 58 allow the width and length of each

section to be calculated [12]:


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Ammar received the B.Eng. degree in Electronic and Communication engineering from the University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq in 2001 and an M.Sc. in Communication

Network Planning and Management from the University of Portsmouth, UK, in 2009. He has been a research student in the Antennas and Applied Electromagnetics research group within the Electronics, Communications and Information Systems Engineering (ECISE), University of Bradford since 2014. His research focuses on beam steering antenna design. He has worked in several telecommunication companies, which gave him practical experience besides his theoretical knowledge in the telecommunications field.

Raed is Professor of Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency Engineering at the University of Bradford. Currently, he is the leader of Radio Frequency and Computational Electromagnetics research Group and head of RF measurements,

in the School of Engineering and Informatics, Bradford University. He is Principal Investigator for several funded projects from EPSRC, EU, TSB, RDP, SIP and has led several successful Knowledge Transfer Programmes (KTPs) for Pace Plc, Yorkshire water Plc, Seven Technologies Group, WiMAC Ltd, ITEG Ltd. and Harvard Engineering Ltd. He has published over 400 academic journal and conference papers and is co-author of three books and several book chapters. Prof. Abd-Alhameed is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Senior Member of IEEE and a Chartered Engineer in the UK.

Ammar H. Ali Professor Raed A. Abd-Alhameed

Professor Yim Fun Hu is Professor of Wireless Communications Engineering at the University of Bradford since 2005. She is the leader of the Communications and Networks Research Unit and the head of the Future Ubiquitous Networks

Research Group in the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics of the same university. Prof. Hu has received considerable funding support through participation in and contributions to many flagship projects funded by the EU, European Space Agency, UK research funding councils, Innovate UK and industry. Her major research is in mobile, wireless and satellite communication networks and applications in vehicular communications networks (aircraft and trains), Internet of Things and digital health. Prof. Hu has published over 100 papers in scientific journals and international conferences, and co-authored one book, edited two books and contributed to five book chapters. Prof. Hu is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Professor Yim Fun Hu Costas Kyriacou graduated with an Honours degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Leeds Beckett (Metropolitan) University in 1995. In 1979, he joined British Telecom and gained an in-depth

knowledge of analogue and digital transmission equipment, which includes RF, optical and various multiplexing systems. In January 1997, he joined Yorkshire Cable Communications, where he was responsible for the testing/evaluation of a variety of RF and optical products and providing a support role for the network and the headend staff. Whilst at Telewest/ Virgin Media, as CPE Hardware Development Manager and Engineer, his responsibilities were for all aspects of testing, test development, product/system evaluation and design with recommendations, laboratory manager and principle authority in the RF, optical and CPE hardware discipline. This included a variety of hardware CPE, wireless gateway products and test developments. He now works for Thales as a hardware engineer.

Costas Kyriacou

Mark B. Child was born in Halifax, England, in 1967. He received a BSc (Hons) in Physics from Lancaster University in 1990 and an MSc in Radiation Physics from St. Andrew’s University in 1994. From 1998 to 2007,

he was a senior development engineer involved with

BTS filters and antennas at Filtronic plc. From 2008 to 2015, he was a research engineer and part-time lecturer with the electromagnetics and antennas group at Bradford University. His research interests include electromagnetism and microwave engineering, with reference to the theory, design and computer modelling of filters and small antennas.

Mark B. Child

http://m.sc/


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where (Z) is the microstrip impedance, (εe ) is the effective

permittivity, (W) is the microstrip width, (t) substrate thickness,

(L) is the microstrip length and (λe ) is the effective wave length.

(fo) is the central frequency, equal to 6.85GHz. The centre line

of ports and sections is taken to be the equivalent microstrip

length to simplify design and a 50% mitering method is used to

minimise the effect of reflections from microstrip bending [13].

I Z(i) / Ω R(i) / Ω W(i) / mm L(i) / mm

Input (port 1) 50 - 1.381 6.656

1 90.52 96.1 0.851 6.768

2 70.71 94.3 1.079 6.714

3 55.24 527 1.298 6.671

Output (ports 2 & 3) 50 - 1.381 6.656

Table 1: Geometry parameters for The UWB 1-to-2 power divider

The circuit was fabricated on a 0.75mm thick RO3035

substrate with permittivity (εr ) of 3.5. This substrate is chosen

in consideration of equation (2), showing that the line width is

directly related to the substrate thickness and inversely related

to the substrate permittivity. The resulting line width must

be thick enough to comply with fabrication tolerance [14].

Additionally, this substrate has a low tangent loss of 0.0015,

thus reducing insertion loss.

Simulation and optimisationThe simulation of the UWB power divider was performed using

CST microwave studio 2015. Initially, the return loss was below

12.5dB, the isolation was less than 14dB and the insertion loss

was between 3.2 and 3.8dB over the band. After optimising

widths, resistor values and ports and section lengths, a better

return loss and isolation were achieved (see the optimised

S-parameter values in Fig. 1 below).

Figure 1:

Power dividers are important for impedance matching in many microwave and RF systems.


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The final layout for the 1-to-2 UWB power divider is shown in

Fig. 2, with overall size of 12.52mm x 19.56mm. The proposed

power divider is one of the smallest size power dividers in

comparison with UWB power dividers from previous work, and

with very good performance as shown in Table 2 [3, 4, 15-17].

After optimisation, the return loss improved by 7.5dB, with a

1.5dB minimum improvement for isolation over the band. The

insertion loss did not change, as it is depends on the substrate

tangent loss and metal surface roughness [18] which were not

changed by the optimisation.

To construct the 1-to-4 power divider, three 1-to-2 power

dividers were used. The final structure has been optimised for

the best S-parameter values: optimised isolation, insertion and

return loss are shown in Fig. 3 below.

The output ports of the first stage, with impedance 50Ω, have

been stretched to connect to the second stage. The impedance

value was unchanged, as it depends upon the microstrip width

and substrate thickness as in Equation 2. There was a slight

effect on reducing the return loss, subsequently corrected by

optimisation.

Fig. 3 below shows that the achieved return loss is below 20dB

over the band for this small 1-to-4 power divider structure

(60.16mm x 19.94mm). The insertion loss is between 6.2 to

7.2dB, and the isolation between output ports is below 16dB

over the UWB band.

Fabrication and measurementsTo validate simulated results, the 1-to-4 power divider was

fabricated as above on RO3035 substrate dielectric, of 0.75mm

thickness, relative permittivity 3.5 and tangent loss of 0.0015.

Surface-mounted resistors were 100Ω for the first and second

sections and 432Ω for the third section. The resistors were

Table 2. Simulated parameters for power dividers in this and previous work

Reference No S11 S21 S32 Size

[3] >12dB >3.5dB >10dB 16mm x 18mm

[4] >13dB >3.5dB >10dB 16mm x 32mm

[15] >10dB >3.5dB >10dB 21mm x 34mm

[16] >17dB >3.5dB >6dB 15.5mm x 22mm

[17] >11dB >3.5dB >14dB 16mm x 17mm

Present work >20dB >3.5dB >17dB 12.6mm x 19.6mm

Figure 2:

Figure 3:


0402 imperial size (1mm x 0.5mm) to ensure a 0.5mm gap

between the two branches of the power divider. The fabricated

power divider is shown in Fig. 4 above.

An Agilent N5242A network analyser was used to measure

S-parameters for the 1-to-4 power divider, shown in Fig. 5. The

return loss is below 13dB over the band, with isolation below

14dB, while the insertion loss is between 6dB and 8dB.

The experimental and simulated results largely agree. Small

differences could be due to several reasons, such as resistor

positioning and soldering. Experiments do show that the return

loss changes when the resistors are shifted, and also that the

amount of solder used with the connector affects the results.

On top of that, fabrication tolerance also has its impact on

results.

ConclusionThis article has presented a small size UWB 1-to-4 power

divider. A multiple section method has been used to achieve

UWB operation (3.1GHz-10.6GHz).

The small size designs for both 1-to-2 and 1-to-4 dividers make

them suitable for applications where size and performance are

critical, such as in antenna array applications. The simulation

and experimental results largely agree, which validates the

design approach.

AcknowledgmentsThis work was supported by the Higher Committee for Higher

Education Development in Iraq (HCED) and the Yorkshire

Innovation Fund, Research Development Project (RDP) Ref:

RY0042 including the TSB grant application through Knowledge

Transfer Programme KTP008734.

technicaltechnical

Figure 4:

Figure 5:


References[1] E. J. Wilkinson, “An N Way Hybrid Power Divider”, IRE

Transition Microwave Theory Techniques, vol. 8, pp. 116-118, 1960.

[2] B. Mishra, A. Rahman, S. Shaw, M. Mohd, S. Mondal, and P. P. Sarkar, “Design of an ultra-wideband Wilkinson power divider”, in Automation, Control, Energy and Systems (ACES), 2014 First International Conference on, 2014, pp. 1-4.

[3] Z. Bo, W. Hao, and S. Weixing, “A novel UWB Wilkinson power divider”, in Information Science and Engineering (ICISE), 2010 2nd International Conference on, 2010, pp. 1763-1765.

[4] O. Xing-Ping and C. Qing-Xin, “A modified two-section UWB Wilkinson power divider”, in Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology, 2008. ICMMT 2008. International Conference on, 2008, pp. 1258-1260.

[5] A. M. Abbosh, “Planar Ultra Wide Inphase Power Divider”, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 51, pp. 1185-1188, 2009.

[6] F. C. Commission, “Revision of Part 15 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Ultra-Wideband Transmission Systems”, First Report and Order, FCC 02-48, 2002.

[7] M. B. S. T.C. Edwards, Foundation of Interconnect and Microstrip Design, Third Edition, 2000.

[8] H. H. Howe, Stripline circuit design: Artech House Dedham, MA, 1974.

[9] S. B. Cohn, “A Class of Broadband Three-Port TEM-Mode Hybrids”, Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 16, pp. 110-116, 1968.

[10] H. Howe, “Stripline Circuit Design, Artech House”, Inc. Norwood, MA, 1974.

[11] L. Y. George L. Matthavei, E. M. Lones Microwave Filters, Impedance Matching Networks and Coupling Structures, Artech House, 1980.

[12] M. Zolog, D. Pitica, and L. Man, “Evaluation of the characteristic impedance of microstrip interconnect lines on printed-circuit-boards”, in Design and Technology of Electronics Packages, (SIITME) 2009 15th International Symposium for, 2009, pp. 167-172.

[13] H. J. Visser, “Equivalent Length Design Equations for Right-Angled Microstrip Bends”, in Antennas and Propagation, 2007, EuCAP 2007. The Second European Conference on, 2007, pp. 1-6.

[14] L. G. Maloratsky, “Reviewing the basics of microstrip”, Microwaves RF, vol. 39, pp. 79-88, 2000.

[15] N. S. A. Arshad, S. Z. Ibrahim, M. S. Razalli, and M. N. A. Karim, “Investigation of wideband Wilkinson power divider using multi-section approach”, in Research and Development (SCOReD), 2013 IEEE Student Conference on, 2013, pp. 361-364.

[16] H. P. L. Xiao, T. Yang, “The Design of a Novel Compact Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Power Divider”, Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, vol. 44, pp. 43-46, 2014.

[17] Y. Lin and C. Qing-Xin, “Design of a compact UWB Wilkinson power divider”, in Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology, 2008. ICMMT 2008. International Conference on, 2008, pp. 360-362.

[18] C. A. Balanis, Modern Antenna Handbook, 2008, Wiley.

technical

After 70 years of existence, the Society has accumulated a

tremendous amount of information and data, not only about

the Society itself but also about the industry in general. Of

course, until the ‘90s most of this information was in paper

form with the earliest material somewhat yellowing with age.

Over the last 12 years I have scanned, OCR'd and edited all

our CTE and Broadband Journals and made them available as

downloadable PDF files.

The result is a complete archive of the Society’s Journal from

1946 to date, all available to members as a download from the

website at http://www.thescte.eu/downloads. Over the last

few years, we have also provided an interactive page-turning

version of each issue which is also available online. We intend

to progressively make the complete archive available as page-

turning versions.

On the website, you will also find some fascinating documents

from 1945 showing how the Society was first set up together

with copies of every Annual General Meeting up to the current

day. We also have copies of ‘Crosstalk’ which was aimed at

technicians and produced from 1998 to 2002.

Also available online is an interesting archive of CableVision

News. This was originally published by the Cable Television

Association (CTA) starting in 1973 and provides an interesting

insight into cable at a business level before the introduction of

the new cable franchises in 1983/4.

With such a valuable and fascinating collection of information

from the past, we would encourage all our members to take a

peek into the archives.

To give you a taste of what’s on offer, we have decided to

re-publish a selection of papers from the past. On the next

page, you can read 'Passive Components for Cable Television

Systems - Part 2' by Chris Swires and edited by Ray Seacombe,

published in Vol.11 No.7 of CTE. We have tried to keep the

original format and apologise that the resolution of some of the

figures are not to our usual standard.

This provides an interesting 'compare and contrast' to the

preceding article on the design of a modern Ultra-Wideband

power divider.

Dr. Roger Blakeway

CEO, SCTE

from the archive

From the Archivesby Dr. Roger Blakeway

http://www.thescte.eu/downloads


from the archive

3. Spur or Splitter UnitsThe spur or splitter is used to divide the signal into a number of

paths or lines.

The splitter is either an equal split, dividing power equally between two or more lines, or a non-symmetrical split used to tap off a small portion of the power on a through line.

The theoretical minimum loss when dividing signal two ways is 3dB in a matched system. The simplest form of splitter uses a resistive star network to divide power into two output lines. (Fig.13).

Looking into the input, the impedance is that of R2 + RL in parallel with R3 + RL plus the resistance of R1.

where R1 = R2 = R3 this can be simplified to:

It can be seen therefore that any variation in R1, will seriously affect the impedance of both ports of the splitter.

It can also be shown that the power absorbed by the resistors in the splitter is the same as that delivered to the load. This means that the total loss to each port is 6dB as opposed to a theoretical minimum loss of 3dB. This loss means that although the resistive splitter is low in cost and can be made to operate over a very wide bandwidth, half of the power entering the unit is lost.

The availability of modern low loss ferrites has made possible the design of transformer splitter units with very low inherent losses.

By carefully matching the impedances in these ferrite splitters, the signal losses to the output ports can approach the theoretical minimum. The equal splitter gives a loss of about 3.5dB to each of two lines and is almost universally configured, as shown in Fig. 14.

The input transformer is used to transfer the impedance from 75 ohm to 37.5 ohm. This is achieved by a √2:1 turns ratio. The output cables effectively appear in parallel at the centre of T2 (i.e. 2 x 75 ohm in parallel gives an impedance of 37.5 ohm) with the two output signals in phase.

The output transformer T2 is used to provide isolation between the two output ports. A signal applied at output 1 appears in antiphase at output 2 and no current flows in R.

In the event of any imbalance between the two outputs, a current flows in R and the unbalanced power is absorbed.

In an extreme case when one output line is short-circuited, output is still maintained on the other output port. Although some loss is incurred in R, this is only of the order of 1dB on a practical unit.

In Part 1 of this article, published in Vol. 11 No. 4 (February 1979) of Cable Television Engineering, the author dealt with the design considerations and system applications of attenuators and equalisers, with particular emphasis on the importance of good impedance matching.

In Part 2 he deals with the important parameters of the other passives for cable distribution systems. He discusses the design and operation of splitters, subscriber's taps, and system outlets.

by Chris Swires (Fellow) Swires Research & Development, Hornchurch, Essex.

Passive Componentsfor Cable Television SystemsPart 2

A series of articles, edited by R. J. Seacombe, dealing with the general principles of Cable TV systems.THE BASICS OF CABLE TV ENGINEERING 8


from the archive

The capacitor C, is used to compensate for the inductive reactance of the transformers at high frequencies. Other impedance correction capacitors may be added across the input and output ports.

Non-Symmetrical SplittersThis is the type of splitter with typical side losses of 6 to 15dB

and through losses of the order of 2 to 0.5dB respectively.

The non-symmetrical splitter is normally designed using the principle of directional coupling. The easiest form of coupler to understand simply uses the electromagnetic coupling between two cables as shown in Fig.15.

The signal flowing in the main cable induces a signal into the adjacent cable and the signal flows in the same direction as the main signal. A 75 ohm load is placed at the end of the secondary cable and this acts as a load. The load also absorbs any signal attempting to pass down the coupled cable in the reverse direction; this gives a simple directional tap-off unit. Unfortunately, the amount of coupling is dependent upon the signal frequency and the device cannot be designed for a flat frequency response over a wide bandwidth. Some ‘spur end’ tap-off units have been constructed using this principle and the lowest side loss is designed to be at the highest system frequency. The earlier types employed coils of special cable but later designs used printed circuit lines.

The use of ferrite transformer techniques to form directional couplers enables uniform coupling to be achieved over the full television bands.

A typical hybrid directional coupler is shown in Fig. 16.

The operation of this type of coupler is as follows:

When a signal enters the input it passes into T1, and in the secondary of T1, a signal is induced in antiphase. The signals are represented by the broad arrows (in Fig.16).

The signal entering from the input also induces a signal in the secondary of T1, in antiphase. These two signals add together at the tap to form the output signal.

If a signal attempts to enter from the output of the directional coupler the action is shown in Fig. 17.

Signal entering from the output cable again induces a secondary current in T2 as shown by the dotted arrow. The current induced in T1 is also shown in the diagram.

It will be noted that the current in T1 is in the same direction as before. However, the direction of current in T2 has reversed and cancellation occurs at the output tap.

The amount of power available at the tap is determined by the ratios of T1 and T2. These transformers are made such that voltages across the two secondaries are as near identical as possible to ensure good cancellation of the reverse signal and therefore good directional properties.

The 75 ohm resistor is used to provide back matching for the unit. If a signal enters from the tap the majority of this is absorbed across the 75 ohm load, the remainder being transferred to the input terminal.

The loss from tap to input is the same as that from input to tap. This makes the unit suitable as a signal combiner. A signal entering at either output of the device and flowing out of the input has the same loss as a signal entering the input and passing out via that output.

Both variations on the basic circuit are to be found but all operate on the same principles.

Better symmetry and impedance matching can be obtained from the circuit shown in Fig. 18. Practical considerations, however, make this circuit difficult to construct at UHF.

SummaryThe way in which a directional splitter is defined is as follows:

(a) Through loss - this is the loss on the main line between the input and output or output and input of the splitter.

(b) Side loss - this is the loss between the input terminal and the tap-off or vice versa.

(c) Reverse loss or directivity - this is the loss between the tap or spur output and the output terminal.


from the archive

In addition to the components shown, most spur units contain extra components. These are the various capacitors used for RLR correction and balancing of the transformer reactances and also line power routing components. The line power components usually take the form of chokes from input to outputs combined with suitable blocking capacitors. These circuits form low pass filters which route the 50Hz line power to the appropriate point. It is not possible to pass high AC currents through the ferrite-cored components used in the RF splitters as saturation of the magnetic material can occur. This will result in amplitude modulation of the RF envelope at twice the supply frequency (hum modulation).

4. The Tap-Off or Tee unitThe tee unit has the same basic purpose as the splitter units.

However, the side losses are normally greater (between 12 and 40dB).

One of the most important requirements in a cable system is to provide adequate isolation between adjacent receivers. This isolation is required to prevent oscillator signals from one receiver passing to other receivers via the relay network.

For this reason, isolation is normally a regulated system parameter. A typical isolation figure for a relay network would be 33dB between any two outlets.

If non-directional tees are used, then the lowest loss tee which could be employed would be 33/2 dB i.e. 16.5dB.

This value may be reduced by the use of directional tee units based on the principle outlined earlier for spur units.

Using the directional technique, the lowest tap value which can be used is that recorded when the reverse loss of the first tee plus the forward loss of the following tee is 33dB (see Fig.19).

The design employed for higher value tee units can be made less complex than that required at low values.

The simplest technique is the use of a simple resistor tapped onto the centre conductor of the through cable (see Fig. 20).

The main disadvantage of this simple tap is that the unit does not present the correct impedance to the television receiver input. If all television receivers were well matched then no reflections would be set up. Most receivers are matched for best noise figures and not best impedance and their input return loss ratio is very poor.

The net result is that standing waves can be set up which may cause a severe ripple in the frequency response of the signal at the receiver input.

The resistive tee may be improved by adding a resistor as in Fig. 21.

The extra resistor provides good back matching and reduces the standing wave problem, but adding the resistor reduces the signal level by 6dB. This in turn means that the series resistor ‘R’ must be reduced to overcome the extra loss and the through loss of the tap is consequently increased. Even so, the resistive tee unit is widely used because of its low cost.

The transformer tap-off is used mainly for frequencies up to VHF.

A typical circuit is shown in Fig. 22.

This tap is an auto-transformer with the side loss determined by the tapping point on the transformer, together with the loss incurred in the series resistor “R”.

This resistor is included to maintain a good back match at the tap which otherwise would be of very low impedance.

This type of tee is suitable for all values from 18-40dB. The shunt resistance of the transformer has so far precluded the use of this type of transformer tap at UHF.

5. The Mechanical Aspects of Equalisers, Spurs and Tee Units

Robust, reliable housings must be provided for tee units. The choice of casing seems to narrow to either a die-cast case or sheet steel can be suitably plated and provided with a plastic weatherproof housing. The design requirements for the housing are made more difficult when it is understood that the unit must accommodate a large variety of cable sizes.

Indeed, the specification for a tee or spur unit which is presented to the design engineer usually takes the following form:

1) Size - must be small enough to fit into the smallest conduit box that the main contractor can get away with...

2) Weatherproofing and rust proofing - must withstand salt spray, acid, wind, rain, hosepipes and dogs.

3) Mounting - must be possible to mount in ten seconds by an engineer perched on a 100-foot ladder in a Force 9 gale.


from the archive

4) Cables - must take every cable from a main trunk to a job lot of downlead cable (or even wet string).

5) Terminals - easily secured by an engineer with bananas for fingers.

6) Return loss - infinity.

7) Through loss - zero.

8) Price - about half that of the very best unit on the market!

Needless to say we haven’t yet reached the point where we can meet all these requirements simultaneously.

6. System OutletsTwo basic types of outlets are available for use on VHF/UHF.

These are for loop wiring, where the distribution cable passes through the outlet system and for tee wiring where a single cable comes into the outlet plate from the tee or tap-off unit. The loop wired outlet plate, incorporates the tap-off unit within the outlet plate.

Whilst there is no theoretical disadvantage in the loop wired type of outlet plate it suffers from a serious practical disadvantage. Because the distribution cable must pass into the subscribers home, any disturbance to the outlet can cause the failure of all outputs on that distribution line.

Access to the cable in a subscriber’s home is frequently difficult and if the subscriber is out, faults are difficult to rectify. It is not unknown for a subscriber on a distribution line to “improve” his own signal by removing the tee resistor thus raising his signal level by about 30dB! For this reason, the use of loop wired units is not recommended currently although in some situations the conduit layout leaves no alternative.

The normal outlet used for tee wired systems consists of a socket isolated from the input cable by two or more capacitors (Fig. 23). These capacitors provide safety isolation of the receiver from the cable system and thus other connected receivers. Current regulations for VHF/UHF systems dictate that the isolation components of the outlet plate must withstand a DC flash test of 3KV for one minute without breakdown.

In addition to this flash test, certain clearances must be maintained in the design of the outlet. From a mechanical standpoint, the plate must be robust and is normally made to match the electrical fittings in the dwelling. Where TV and FM outputs are required, a simple diplexing circuit is built into the outlet plate.

On low cost units, the diplexer may simply be an extra resistance in series with the FM output so that the greater power goes to the TV outlet.

Performance requirements for passive network accessories

The choice of good quality network accessories can considerably enhance the performance and reliability of a cable network. Unfortunately, as accessories are required in large quantities there is a temptation for system installers to choose on the basis of cost rather than performance.

If expensive failures are to be avoided, the life of low-cost housings must be studied in relation to the projected life of the network. The electrical performance of the accessories should be carefully examined. A higher-cost passive unit may have lower through loss and where a large number are cascaded, the cumulative reduction in loss can be very significant. It may even allow the use of fewer amplifiers or lower-cost amplifiers, thus more than paying for the higher cost of the passive accessories. As in all calculations of this nature, it is the cost-effectiveness of the components which must be studied. Some network accessories are easier to install than others and there can be considerable cost savings during installation. A five-hundred point system may well have over a thousand network accessories, but only fifteen amplifiers. It is not difficult to see that the right choice of passive accessory is of fundamental importance to the performance of the cable network.


Broadband Training from the SCTETM

n Introduction to Broadband (half-day course)

n Installers Course

n Service Technicians Course

n Network Technicians Course

n Network Architecture and Design Course

n Fibre Optic Transmission Course

n Co-Axial Network Design Course (instructor-led)

n Business Data Solutions Course

These courses have comprehensive instruction manuals which can be used for home study or instructor-assisted learning.

Online exams may be taken and successful students receive official

SCTE accredited certificates.

Visit the SCTE website for detailed information on these courses.

SCTETM - The Society for Broadband ProfessionalsCommunications House, 41a Market Street, Watford, Herts WD18 0PN, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1923 815500 Fax: +44 (0) 1923 803203 Email: [email protected] Website: www.theSCTE.eu

Eight courses are now available




http://www.angacom.de/




ANGA COM 2017, from 30 May to 1 June 2017, will move into two new exhibition halls in Cologne.

By ANGA Association of German Cable OperatorsExhibitor Registration Opens for New Halls

In 2017, ANGA COM, one of Europe’s leading exhibitions

for broadband, cable and satellite, will move into two new

exhibition halls and a modern conference centre at the

Cologne fairgrounds. The two halls are adjacent to one

another, do not have pillars and feature high ceilings with

daylight. Registration for exhibitors, as well as a preview video

and further information about the new venue, are available at

www.angacom.de. The next show will be held from 30 May

- 1 June 2017.

Key topics for the exhibition and conference are Gigabit

Networks, the Internet of Things, Personalised TV, TV

Everywhere, Multiscreen, All over IP and WiFi. Like no other

event and in line with its slogan ‘Where Broadband meets

Content‘, ANGA COM stands for the successful combination

of broadband and media – practical, technology-neutral and

international.

Dr. Peter Charissé, managing director

of ANGA COM (pictured on the right),

commented: “With new halls, modern

logistics and a brilliant appearance,

ANGA COM will reach new heights.

Already, the feedback we are receiving

from our exhibitors is fantastic.”

Reasons to attend in 2017Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO, Vodafone Germany/Member

of the Vodafone Group Executive Committee, added: “For

Vodafone, ANGA COM is one of the top trade shows of

w w w . a n g a c o m . d e

ANGA

ANGA COM 2017




ANGA

ANGA COM provides a broadband and audiovisual media-focused marketplace for network operators, vendors and content providers all over Europe.

the year. This is where the content and broadband industry

meet. Here, we discuss content and infrastructure with other

specialists, outlining the future map of the media landscape

in Germany at the same time. As a Gigabit company and

Europe’s largest cable provider, we not only contribute to the

discussion in this way but also to continuous innovation in the

German cable and broadband market and pursuing the clear

goal of being the first to take Germany towards the Gigabit

society.”

Lutz Schüler, CEO, Unitymedia, had this to say: “This year

again, ANGA COM was the meeting place for digital thought-

leaders, lateral thinkers, sceptics and visionaries, young

talents and seasoned business professionals. A colourful,

inspiring mix which is fun – that’s why we from Unitymedia

simply belong….”

Andre Prahl, Head, Programme Distribution Division,

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, commended ANGA COM

as a networking event: “Whether linear on the TV screen or

on-demand on all screens, for us as a group for moving image

and video content, TV has long since stood for ‘total video’ in

all its facets. ANGA COM has increasingly established itself as

the central European industry event where we, as a content

provider, can engage with our infrastructure partners at the

best levels.”

“I continue to be amazed at the level and quality of participation

at ANGA COM, it is truly a world class show. The results of this

year’s exhibition exceeded our expectations. We had great

quality time with our international key customers to present

ARRIS’ newest solutions and strengthen our partnerships. We

are excited to join ANGA COM next year in a new hall and

with refreshed and innovative thought leadership content in

the congress,” added Bruce McClelland, CEO, ARRIS Group.

Paul Broadhurst, CEO, Technetix was also happy with the

event: “ANGA COM is the major European event for Technetix

to showcase its latest technological innovations and products.

We also get the opportunity to have meaningful conversations

with customers and industry contacts. Some quality leads

were generated in 2016 and we are looking forward to 2017

in the new location.”

Yves Padrines, Vice President, Global Service Provider EMEA,

Cisco, emphasised the event’s importance: “ANGA COM is

a key event for Cisco. The quality and diversity of the visitors

make it a very interactive show – both from a business and

a networking perspective. This is the perfect size platform to

meet our customers and partners and to take time to learn

about the latest and future trends covered in the congress

sessions. We‘re looking forward to the new 2017 set up!”



ANGA

In 2016, ANGA COM attracted 450 exhibitors and 18,000

participants from 76 countries. The event attracted a 52 per-

cent share of international visitors as well as a visitor increase

of 6 per cent on the previous year. ANGA COM provides a

broadband and audiovisual media-focused marketplace for

network operators, vendors and content providers all over

Europe.

ANGA COM is organised by the Association of German

Cable Operators (ANGA). The association represents the

interests of the German cable industry and its work focuses

on the improvement of competition conditions for this sector.

Amongst the 200 member companies are Astra; Eutelsat;

Media Broadcast; Telekom Deutschland; Unitymedia and

Vodafone. Further members are leading system providers such

as ARRIS; Astro Strobel; Cisco; Kathrein; Nagra; Nokia; Teleste;

Triax and Wisi. ANGA’s network operators supply almost 18

million households with TV signals. Approximately 6.6 million

households use their cable connection for broadband Internet

and 6.3 million households use it for telephony.

SCTE and ANGA bursary programmeThe SCTETM (Society for Broadband Professionals) and ANGA

(The Association of German Cable Operators) sent twenty

lucky winners of the SCTE/ANGA bursaries to this year’s

ANGA COM conference and exhibition. SCTE members have

the opportunity to apply again for bursaries to ANGA COM in

2017.

The bursary winners were mainly chosen from various

international cable operators (such as Virgin Media, IPKO and

others). They each received a package that included pre-paid

flights and hotel accommodation for three nights (courtesy

of the SCTE) and entrance to the full conference offering

(courtesy of ANGA). Bursary winners must be members of the

SCTE. The SCTE held a party for all bursary winners, SCTE

Below: ANGA party night during the show

Above: The ANGA COM conference




ANGA

members and supporters on 8 June 2016 on its booth G39

during ANGA COM.

The SCTETM (Society for Broadband Professionals) and

ANGA have a long history of cooperation. They have worked

together for many years on conference sessions at ANGA

COM and ANGA has a regular editorial slot in SCTE’s quarterly

international magazine, Broadband Journal.

“I would like to highlight our successful and long-term

cooperation with the SCTE (Society for Broadband

Professionals),” commented Thomas Braun, President of

ANGA. “For many years, we have developed congress

panels together and cooperated on editorial and bursary

programmes.”

The SCTE was a very visible participant at the ANGA

COM event, as it has been in previous years. Its quarterly

Broadband Journal was distributed throughout the exhibition

and in all the delegate bags. Its President, Mike Thornton

FSCTE, also chaired a panel session during the ANGA COM

conference on “RDK, Advanced Video and Virtual CPE

Solutions” on 7 June 2016.

The next ANGA COM will take place from 30 May - 1 June

2017 in Cologne (Germany). The registration for exhibitors and

more information is available on www.angacom.de.

SCTE members can apply for bursaries for ANGA COM 2017 by emailing [email protected]. Each bursary package

includes pre-paid flights and hotel accommodation for three nights (courtesy of the SCTE) and entrance to the full conference

offering (courtesy of ANGA).

EDITOR’S NOTE

Above: In the halls at ANGA COM





MakingProducts that allow visibility into sophisticated network infrastructures can solve one of the biggest issues for those trying to diagnose and fix complex network issues in a timely fashion.

By Simen K. Frostad, Chairman, Bridge Technologiesthe Complex Simple

You probably saw the news in June: a federal court in the USA

ruled that high speed internet access should be defined as a

utility – affirming the US government’s view that broadband is

as essential to people’s lives as power, water, telephony and

so on.

That ruling will have many implications in terms of regulation –

but just as importantly for us at Bridge Technologies, it confirms

that ours is a vital business to be in. Our business is all about

empowering operators and assuring network reliability and

quality.

We provide the tools that enable network managers and

technicians to understand what’s going on. They fall – broadly

– into two categories. Tools for analysing the network and tools

for making sense of that analysis. Two of those tools recently

won prestigious awards. The first was from the IABM, where

the VB440-V virtual probe won in the “Test, Quality Control &

Monitoring” category.

products

Simen Frostad (above left) receives the IABM Award at IBC


products

Solving one of the big issuesWhat was it about the VB440-V that caught the judges’

eyes? “This product allows visibility into sophisticated network

infrastructure, thereby solving one of the biggest issues for

those trying to diagnose and fix complex network issues in a

timely fashion,” they said.

And that, in a nutshell, is precisely what it does. The VB440-V

monitors high density data traffic in core networks, enabling

users to quickly rectify problems affecting quality. It is the first

product of its type to become available that addresses two

issues of significant concern to broadcasters. The first of these

is the transition to higher network speeds: it supports dual

40 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. The second is that it supports

SDIoIP – a key feature for broadcasters who are making the

sometimes painful transition from SDI to IP. It is also the first

product to feature SMPTE2022.7 dual redundant stream

analysis.

It can be installed almost instantly on any standard high-

performance server blade to allow rapid scaling of capacity. But

the real revolution is the absolute precision with which the VB-

440V can monitor data flows.

It’s all very well being able to monitor a network and gather

huge amounts of data, as the VB440-V does. But for that data

to be useful, it needs to be turned, in real-time, into actionable

information.

At Bridge Technologies, we live by the philosophy that we’re

in the business of making complex things simple – and that’s

where our second award-winning product comes in. ‘Highly

commended’ in the ‘Best monitoring or network management

solution’ category of the CSI Awards at a presentation at IBC

this year, and winner of the Broadcast Beat ‘Innovation in

Content Delivery’ award, also at IBC, the Remote Data Wall

(RDW) allows those responsible for network monitoring and

management to quickly and easily create a visual representation

of network activity, enabling potential problems to be rapidly

identified and appropriate corrective action to be taken.

Our business is all about empowering operators and assuring network reliability and quality.


products

In common with many of the solutions we’ve developed in

the last few years, RDW acknowledges that, with the rapid

expansion in networks, not everyone who is responsible for

them has yet achieved the high level of experience and expertise

which characterised network operations management when it

was a much smaller industry. In industries such as broadcast, for

example, the transition to IP is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Making sense of dataRDW makes sense of the data. It does this in several ways.

Below: The dual 40 Gigabit probe for monitoring high density IP networks

Remote Data Wall on show


products

Firstly, although RDW can comprise a number of screens in

a video wall-type configuration, it doesn’t need video wall

specialist hardware or skills to install and configure it.

Secondly, because it’s HTML5/browser-based, it can be viewed

from anywhere. The user doesn’t need to be in the data centre -

he/she could be looking from home or a hotel room.

And thirdly, it provides a graphical representation of whatever

data the user wants to see. A graphical representation is, of

course, far more intuitive than plain text, for example, and can

immediately highlight issues or potential problems, enabling

corrective action to be taken faster.

RDW allows the inclusion of data from a wide variety of sources -

from third-party systems, for example, and external information

sources such as weather stations, personnel management

systems and so on. Any relevant information that may impact

how the network is managed can be displayed.

It seems strange to think that, not so many years ago, a

28.8kbit/s dial-up connection was, for many, an unaffordable

luxury. Now, we take speeds of 10Mbit/s and upwards for

granted – just like we take it for granted that water will flow

from the tap, or electricity will come from the socket. At Bridge

Technologies, we believe that these award-winning products

are playing a key role in enabling the same reliability in our

networks that we expect from our water or power supplies.

For that data to be useful, it needs to be turned, in real-time, into actionable information.

At IBC 2016, Bridge Technologies launched NOMAD for those tasked with managing, supporting and optimising IP

networks and hybrid networks with RF signals. Designed as a portable, self-contained and versatile network probe,

NOMAD covers the monitoring requirements of hybrid IP multicast, OTT and RF networks, and provides interfaces

for media signal monitoring and analysis with Gigabit Ethernet, ASI In/Out, DVB-C QAM cable, DVB-T/T2 COFDM

terrestrial and DVB-S/S2 satellite signals with advanced external 1PPS GPS time-reference. For more information, see

www.bridgetech.tv or telephone +47 22 38 51 00.

EDITOR’S NOTE

http://www.bridgetech.tv/



The Customer

In a competitive environment in which access to market and capturing customers is key, reliability and speed are critical. The modularity and simplicity of the hardened connector in a pre-terminated fibre cabling distribution system can accelerate customer coverage with minimal capital investment.

By Vincent Goleret, Senior Product Line Specialist Multiports and Drops, Corning Optical Communications

Connection

Today’s broadband is a life-changing catalyst and compelling business

enabler – increasing prosperity, spurring growth and improving services

from education to healthcare. Our increasing consumption of media-

rich content, often through streaming and downloading video to multiple

devices in the home, effectively drives the demand for higher bandwidth

and super-fast fibre-based broadband access.

Just how widespread is the trend towards streamed content over the

internet? Take a look at Netflix: as of October 2016, the service boasted

86 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 47 million in the

United States.1 This figure is significantly higher than cable and satellite

television network giant HBO’s 32 million U.S. subscribers.2

products

Vincent Goleret holds a Master’s degree in economics

with a specialisation in “Design and Quality” from IAE Nancy. Before working as a senior product line specialist for FTTH pre-connectorised multiports and drop solutions, he was senior product line specialist, fibre optic joining point.

Goleret leads product developments for FTTH ranging from field-installable connectors for emerging markets to pre-connectorised solutions for major telcos.

Vincent Goleret, Senior Product Line Specialist Multiports and Drops, Corning Optical Communications

1 17 October 2016, Netflix, Q316 Letter to share holders, http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/NFLX/2992434071x0x912075/700E14FD-12BE-4C3A-9283-9A975C7FE549/FINAL_Q3_Letter.pdf

2 13 August 2016, Business Insider, Here's what Time Warner's CEO thinks about Netflix, HBO, and the future of cable TV http://uk.businessinsider.com/time-warners-ceo-netflix-hbo-the-future-of-cable-tv-2016-8

http://files.shareholder/

http://uk.businessinsider.com/


products

Telecommunications service providers are responding to the

trend by acquiring streamable content to attract the growing

base of online viewers. We are also seeing increased mergers,

acquisitions and deals with media companies in an effort

to capture market share. BT and AT&T are two marquee

examples of companies shifting from connectivity provider to

digital entertainment provider.

In a record-breaking deal last year, BT bought the rights to

screen a portion of Premier League football games in the

United Kingdom.3 And more recently, one of the biggest

acquisitions of all time was just announced in the United

States with AT&T acquiring Time Warner – including all of its

well-known brands such as HBO, CNN and Warner Bros.4 In

France, SFR purchased NextRadioTV, which includes brands

such as BFMTV and RMC, to gain access to content and to

capture new customers through the established programmes.5

Many other companies across other countries have followed suit

by making moves into the media world.

Recipe for successWith all this competition in a new digital arena, an operator’s

success relies on its ability to attract new customers,

reduce customer churn and increase Average Revenue Per

User (ARPU). In an effort to differentiate themselves, many

operators are offering bundled services that include faster

upload capabilities and better-quality content.

With incumbent service providers delivering Fibre-To-The-

Home (FTTH) services complete with entertainment bundles,

Multiple Service Operators (MSOs) and cable operators need

to continuously provide customers with the most advanced

services and remain competitive. Multi-channel TV, broadband

and telecommunications services are already delivered to

customers over Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks.

Network upgrades are needed to meet customer demand

for the latest interactive cable television, advanced voice

services and super-fast broadband internet access. MSOs

need to provide new services as efficiently as possible with

the highest reliability and minimum disruption to customers.

Many therefore look to migrate their networks from HFC or

Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) to

FTTH and Gigabit passive optical networks.

What’s clear from a government policy perspective is that there’s

a push for service providers to build faster broadband networks

to replace older infrastructure. The latest strategy adopted by

the European Union sets an objective for an internet download

speed of at least 100 Megabits per second for all households by

2025 with a call for funding to build these faster networks.6 To

meet this target, governments across the European Union will

be working over the next decade to increase internet connection

speeds and to address under-served areas with low population

densities that have slow (or non-existent) internet access today.

3 10 February 2015, BBC News, Premier League in record £5.14bn TV rights deal, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31379128

4 25 October 2016, The Guardian, What will AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner mean for customers? https://www.theguardian.com/busi-ness/2016/oct/25/att-time-warner-acquisition-customer-service-impact

5 27 April 2016, SFR, SFR becomes France’s leading content operator, http://www.sfr.com/nous-connaitre/discover-sfr/press-releases/sfr-press-release/04272016-0821-sfr-becomes-frances-leading-content-operator

6 18 July 2016, Financial Times, Brussels to propose 100 Mbps broadband access across EU https://www.ft.com/content/268f85da-4ce7-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31379128

https://www.theguardian.com/busi-

http://www.sfr.com/nous-connaitre/discover-sfr/press-releases/sfr-

https://www.ft.com/content/268f85da-


products

FTTH for bandwidth demandsTo meet the unprecedented demand for high-performance

services and to ease the competitive pressure in today’s

market, a Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) deployment is the

solution for operators who want virtually unlimited bandwidth,

flexibility, scalability, ease of deployment and reliability in their

access network infrastructures.

Every component in an FTTH deployment is critical, but

none more so than the customer connection. The optical

fibre connector is what links a customer to the life-enhancing

benefits of fibre to the home, so access to the entire network

is dependent on the reliability of a single connection point.

Operators used to deploy FTTH with standard SC or LC

pigtails spliced in conventional closures at Network Access

Points (NAPs) and/or distribution points. These closures had

to be opened each time a new customer was connected,

but repeated re-entry into the closure introduced risk of

damage to the active fibre connections, causing failures and

rework. Re-opening closures also increased the potential

for contaminated grommets and silicone sealing, preventing

closures from protecting fibres from water and dust.

This risk of damage and contamination is heightened when

connections are performed by the customer connection team

lacking the same level of installation experience as the network

build staff. When a network is installed poorly, an accumulation

of faults naturally occurs over time. One operator reported that

he had to rework 12 per cent of the network’s active FTTH

connections each year, mostly due to issues caused by re-entry.

Innovative FTTH solution What the industry needed was a more reliable FTTH

connectivity – a new approach designed for the outside plant

to reduce complexity, increase the speed of deployment and

solve the reliability issues of closure re-entry.

A closure’s function is to provide protection against the

elements, including temperature extremes, moisture, humidity

and other harsh conditions. Any mechanism intended to

replace a closure in a FTTH deployment had to perform that

function, meaning the solution had to be rated IP68 for water

ingress and dust protection.

The solution is a hardened connector that itself is rated IP68,

Above: Hardened connector ready for connection Above: Multiport terminals for distribution points

Above: Multiport terminal and splice closure Above: Multiport terminal stubbed


products

instead of relying on a closure around the connectivity point to

provide environmental protection. Drop cables in a variety of

lengths are pre-connectorised with the hardened connector,

and they plug into IP68-rated terminals at the distribution point

or NAP to enable easy incremental connection of subscribers.

Even inexperienced installers can complete an installation

without any risk of fibre damage or contamination in a fraction

of the time it used to take experienced technicians to enter

a closure, splice a fibre and re-seal the closure. The result is

increased operational efficiency and significant cost savings

as the customer uptake of FTTH service grows.

Let’s take a closer look at hardened connector technology. The

body features two keys to guide it into the terminal port and

protects the polished connector ferrule end face by protruding

beyond the ferrule. If a connector is banged against a hard

or dirty surface, the end face is protected from damage and

contamination.

These connectors interface with a wide range of terminals

designed for an array of NAP deployment scenarios, including

various sizes, optical splitter capabilities and the option to

cascade multiport terminals so they feed another along a

network route.

The innovation of the hardened connector for FTTH customer

drops has reduced activation times by 40 minutes or more

per subscriber through the elimination of time-consuming

tasks such as: cable set-up, cable access (opening closures),

splicing and easy routing in customer homes through the use

of an indoor/outdoor cable (outdoor cable with indoor 3mm

jacketing).

An innovative pre-connectorised cabling solution is a

cost-effective way to deploy optical fibre in outside plant

distribution networks up to five times faster than traditional

field installations. The pre-connectorised cables and NAPs are

factory tested and available to ship as a complete distribution

cable/terminal system.

The increased speed of network deployment, along with

the reliability of factory testing, offers reduced installation

complexity/need for rework and makes testing easier with

connector access points along the network.

Accelerated FTTH deployments for the futureThe modularity and simplicity of the hardened connector in a

pre-terminated fibre cabling distribution system can accelerate

customer coverage with minimal capital investment. Hardened

connector technology has decreased the need for costly,

high-demand skilled labour, and by installing a 100 per cent

factory-tested plug-and-play solution, has also reduced risk

during installation.

Specifically, it allows capital expenditure (CAPEX) deferment in

relation to service take-up so that operators can adopt a “pay-

as-you-grow” business model for service delivery.

In a competitive environment, in which access to market and

capturing customers is key, reliability and speed are critical.

With these industry developments, operators can respond to

tomorrow’s changing application and bandwidth requirements

more quickly and efficiently – enabling faster service roll-out,

shorter lead times for customer connection and faster time to

revenue.

An operator’s success relies on its ability to attract new customers, reduce customer churn and increase Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

Every component in an FTTH deployment is critical, but none more so than the customer connection.


products

At the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Philadelphia this September,

ATX Networks featured its newly expanded MAXNET II and

SignalOn 1.218GHz bandwidth RF management platforms.

Both modular platforms have been expanded to 1.218GHz

bandwidth to support the complete frequency range of

DOCSIS 3.1 specifications.

MAXNET II is an ultra-dense, MCX/F connector-based RF

solution with SNMP/web remote control/monitoring. New to

the line are high output GaN driver amplifiers and broadcast/

narrowcast combiner passives. SignalOn is a high density,

F/BNC connector-based RF/L-Band solution. It also offers

patented Make-Before-Break (MBB) JXP pad sockets so that

the RF path is never interrupted. ATX also offers its MAXNET

original F/BNC connector-based fully integrated 5-1002MHz

RF signal management platform. Active products in all three

series include amplifiers, power supplies, RF detector A/B

switches and analogue return optical receivers.

ATX also showcased next-generation gateways and a

monitoring server at the exhibition in the form of its latest

UCrypt IP to Analogue (IP2A) gateway, QAM to Analogue

(Q2A) gateway and gateway monitoring server. On its booth

at the exhibition, the company also presented its VidiPlay

middleware as part of its complete end-to-end enterprise IPTV

solutions for local or private IP networks. The system includes

UCrypt® gateways, DigiVu® II encoders, VersAtive®Pro

transcoders and VidiPlay middleware.

ATX innovations

For more information, see www.atxnetworks.com

Fibre optic broadcast cable is often subject to harsh field

deployment conditions or high-efficiency broadcast installation

requirements. Sporting events are among broadcast's

toughest venues, requiring the rapid pulling of miles of field-

deployable fibre optic cable across fences, through water,

around rough-hewn rodeo arenas and along frozen ski slopes

or blazing racetracks. Remote broadcasts demand the brisk

deployment of dozens of strands of cable to

cameras that fly over football fields, hang from

cranes and are then re-gathered and thrown into

crates to be shipped to the next venue.

Remote broadcasting specialists, such as IMS

Productions, are involved with such rigorous field

environments throughout the year. The cable

that it uses for all the field events that it covers is

deployable broadcast-quality fibre manufactured

by Optical Cable Corporation (OCC). The

broadcast quality of this fibre cable is high enough

to meet the 4K ultra-high-definition broadcasting

standard that IMS Productions is currently field-

testing with Time Warner Cable Sports.

“Our installations range from extremely hot

to extremely cold temperatures,” IMS Productions told

Broadband Journal. “For example, this year we covered the

Alberta Alpine Ski event in Calgary, Canada. At that venue,

we trenched down into the snow with a chain saw to bury

the cable so that groomers could pack snow over the top to

help protect the cable. In total, we laid about 50,000 ft. of fibre

running all the way up the side of the mountain.”

Tough cable for harsh environments

For more information, see www.occfiber.com

http://www.atxnetworks.com/

http://www.occfiber.com/


http://www.cai.org.uk/

http://www.cai.org.uk/training


products

Anritsu Company has introduced the Power Master

MA24507A, a portable, millimetre wave (mmWave) power

analyser that enables simple, numeric, frequency-based

measurement of RF power from 9KHz to 70GHz. Unlike

many other power measurement instruments, no reference

calibration is required. The power analyser can stay connected

to a test system constantly, eliminating the need to disconnect

and reconnect it between test procedures.

“The world’s first frequency selectable RF power analyser,

the Power Master MA24507A, leverages our patented

Shockline technology to address the growing number of

test requirements in mmWave applications, including test of

802.11ad, Wireless HD and E-band products, at every stage

of the product lifecycle,” Anritsu told Broadband Journal.

As signal frequency increases, attenuation due to the air

or cabling grows, which can make power measurements

particularly difficult at mmWave frequencies. The Power

Master MA24507A’s portable size overcomes this challenge

by enabling users to place it directly at the signal source,

including on-wafer measurements.

When system losses are unavoidable, the MA24507A can

make measurements as low as -90dBm at 70GHz, making

it more convenient than large benchtop instruments which

can be unwieldy in the field. USB-powered, the Power Master

MA24507A measures approximately 6×3×1 (inches) and

weighs less than 15oz. – slightly bigger than a smartphone. It

can, for example, be used to make measurements on antenna

towers or with an extension pole to measure small cell signals

from the ground.

“Because the Power Master MA24507A enables frequency-

selective power measurements, users can differentiate

intended signals from unintended signals for the first time. With

spans from 1KHz to full span over the entire frequency range,

it can zero in on a signal of interest in harsh environments,

including those with unintended signals that can impact power

readings. This enables measurements such as channel power

and adjacent channel power to be made, while avoiding spurs

and harmonics,” concluded Anritsu.

Frequency selectable RF power sensor

For more information, see www.anritsu.com

ABOX42 GmbH (www.abox42.com), a leading supplier

of IPTV, OTT and Hybrid-DVB set-top box platforms, has

announced its new Smart Home solution ABOX42.IO for

international operators to enter the Smart Home market.

“ABOX42.IO contains all essential cloud, mobile and hardware

components to offer a compelling end-user service. Operators

have the opportunity to combine their TV offering based on

the ABOX42 Smart STB platform with the new ABOX42.IO

Smart Home services. With the ABOX42.IO Smart Home

services, operators are able to quickly roll out a new Smart

Home Service to extend their service offerings and bundles.

Smart home solution

http://www.anritsu.com/

http://www.abox42.com/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/


products

For more information, see http://abox42.io

Operators can generate new revenues streams within their

existing customer base, acquire new subscribers and reduce

churn,” said the German manufacturer.

All ABOX42.IO services and components are fully integrated.

The core components of the ABOX42.IO service are the

ABOX42.IO M30 Smart Home Gateway; the ABOX42.IO Life

Cycle Management for the Gateway; ABOX42.IO certified

sensors; ABOX42.IO BigData and ABOX42.IO Mobile

Applications for Android & IPhone.

WISI Communications GmbH & Co. KG presented various

extended systems and solutions at IBC in Amsterdam for the

implementation and extension of next-generation networks.

With its Inca 5420 and Inca 4400 platforms, WISI showcased a

comprehensive solution for OTT and multiscreen applications for

providers of IPTV and Pay-TV services as well as cable and IP

network operators.

“The flexible Inca 4400 platform for linear and multi-bitrate

transcoding allows network operators to optimise transport

streams, manage bandwidth efficiently and monitor their

TV and video offers. It supports all operators who wish to

extend their offers towards multiscreen applications. They can

optimise the formats, resolution and bitrate of large numbers

of live satellite, IP and off-air digital sources for delivery to

set-top boxes or multiscreen end devices. Options include

modular platforms with up to three bays that can transcode,

trans-rate or downscale up to 36 HD or 90 SD programmes

to MPEG-4, in just one rack unit of space, with integrated

grooming and monitoring of all streams,” said WISI.

New at IBC were features such as service fail-over and high

density (up to 128 Audio PIDS) multilingual audio transcode

for both ABR and linear applications.

WISI’s VidiOS supports the intelligent

monitoring and visualisation of

transport streams at each step of the

flow. It also monitors streams that are

generated by other equipment and

supports extensive statistical analysis

as well as providing the operator with

an instant overview if a transport stream is available in his

network.

The WISI Inca Multiscreen Package and Origin 5420 is a carrier-

grade live streaming packager and origin server for high-value

Internet video services. It segments and packages multiple

streams into the most popular adaptive bitrate protocols. The

platform supports HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), HTTP

Live Streaming (HLS) and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over

HTTP (DASH) and comes with an ABR Packager and Origin

Server. New at IBC, the WISI Inca 5420 was the first WISI

product to be enhanced by software from WISI’s Katamaran

multiscreen and OTT solution, more than tripling the 5420’s

performance from previous benchmarks.

WISI’s monitoring solution, the “All Seeing Eye”, targets

cable network operators, city carriers and telcos. A major

new feature of the “All Seeing Eye” at IBC was the new email

alert feature, providing real-time email alerts about video

impairments to operations staff. The platform facilitates the

management and monitoring of all TV channels with video and

audio content offered in one network

WISI extends Inca platforms

For more information, see www.wisi.de

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://abox42.io/

http://www.wisi.de/


products

TeraVolt and 3 Screen Solutions (3SS) have confirmed their

selection to design, engineer, develop and integrate apps

and management systems for bobbles.tv, the new pan-

European video entertainment platform recently launched

via DTH satellite broadcasting and OTT. TeraVolt specialises

in the strategy and design of next-generation TV products.

3 Screen Solutions is a leading provider of customised

software solutions and services to the multiscreen digital

entertainment industry.

Commissioned by MX1, media services subsidiary of global

satellite leader SES, TeraVolt provided bobbles’ design,

including an innovative user front-end that enables subscribers

to seamlessly navigate, on a range of devices, the platform’s

numerous linear channels and libraries.

3SS developed engaging bespoke bobbles apps for web,

iOS and Android, delivering tailored front-ends, including

custom user interfaces. 3SS also successfully carried out

comprehensive integration with key back-end functions of

MX1, including DRM, content and language management,

payment platform and overall user management via interfaces

with BSS/CRM, and design and delivery of user onboarding

processes. 3SS provided development and support in HTML,

JavaScript, Objective C and the increasingly important

industry format, TypeScript.

Integrated management solutions

Technetix has announced the shipment of the two hundred

thousandth DBx modular access platform unit. Since its

introduction in 2013, the DBx platform has been successfully

deployed to twenty-five countries worldwide. The product is

available with both RF and optical modules in a wide range

of cabinet and strand-mount style housings to cater for

customer needs.

“The DBx with its modularity gives flexibility, power-

efficiency and RF performance, allowing operators to

run DOCSIS 3.1 4K QAM broadband, even in networks

with long cascades of RF multi-taps. The platform

also enables operators to make full use of their

existing investment in DBx equipment in the future

by evolving into MDR (Multi-Diode Receiver) and

remote PHY applications. The DBx has a 1.2GHz RF

downstream forward path and 200MHz upstream

return path transmission bandwidth using GAN-2.5

(second generation Gallium Nitride) technology for

exceptionally high reliability and power efficiency,”

commented Technetix.

Jürgen Hatheier, Business Unit Director, Headend &

Access, added, “What was launched principally as

an RF amplifier in 2013, has evolved to full DOCSIS

3.1 compatibility and the ability to transform

into a fully segmentable optical fibre node was

recently added. The roadmap for the DBx series

incorporates exciting developments such as the addition of

MDR technology, as well as remote PHY.”

Jan Ariesen, CTO, Technetix recently presented a golden amplifier

to John Louwerse of Ziggo, and representative of the Liberty

Global HFC Leader standardisation programme, in appreciation

of his support and contribution to the DBx platform.

Delivery milestone for Technetix DBX platform

For more information, see www.technetix.com

Above: (from left to right) John Louwerse (Ziggo), Abbe van Osnabrugge (Technetix) and Jan Ariesen (Technetix)

http://bobbles.tv/

http://www.technetix.com/


products

For more information, see www.mx1.com, www.teravolt.tv and www.3ss.tv

Delivery milestone for Technetix DBX platform

Skyline Communications, a specialist in end-to-end multi-

vendor network management and OSS software solutions

for the broadcast, satellite, cable, IPTV and mobile industries,

showcased the new 9.5 release of its flagship DataMiner

network management and OSS platform during IBC 2016.

“Today, everything revolves around owning the user experience

in a rapidly evolving market with ever more complex technology.

To achieve this goal and run a successful operation, end-to-

end network management is increasingly instrumental,” said

Ben Vandenberghe, CEO, Skyline Communications. “Tapping

into your entire operation end-to-end, across any vendor and

technology boundaries, being able to accurately measure

and track both the user experience that you deliver and

your high-level business objectives, and easily and efficiently

orchestrating your technology assets accordingly, these are

undeniable prerequisites to being successful these days.”

Visitors at IBC 2016 saw the latest innovations introduced in

DataMiner 9.5, such as the DataMiner Virtualization Engine

which provides vendor-agnostic virtualization of system

resources; the DataMiner Service & Resource Manager for

easy and intuitive deployment of complex services end-

to-end across vendor and technology boundaries; the new

DataMiner Cloud Platform; the DataMiner OSS Gateway;

DataMiner Advanced Analytics; the DataMiner KQI (Key

Quality Index) Manager, the new next-generation DataMiner

Reports & Dashboards solutions and more.

For the third consecutive year, the company has been ranked

in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50. This widely recognized

competition puts the spotlight on the fastest-growing

technology companies, based on the percentage of growth in

their turnover during the last four years.

New 9.5 release of DataMiner

For more information, see www.skyline.be

bobbles.tv offers international communities a convenient way

to watch their favourite TV channels anywhere in Europe, live

or on catch-up. Subscribers only pay for the programming

in which they are interested. A single subscription enables

viewers to access the most popular channels from their home

country. Features enabled by TeraVolt and 3SS innovations

include linear TV and catch-up TV, search and backwards

EPG so that a subscriber can access a programme, even if

they missed it.

http://www.mx1.com/

http://www.teravolt.tv/

http://www.3ss.tv/

http://www.skyline.be/

http://bobbles.tv/


products

DVEO®, a supplier to leading telco TV/OTT and cable

operators around the world, demonstrated its latest video

streaming and ad insertion solutions at Streaming Media West

2016 in California from 1-2 November 2016.

Laszlo Zoltan, Vice President of DVEO, explained: "Our

products range from telco quality 200 channel transcoders

to easy-to-use single channel encoders, and everything

in between. We are honoured to be re-selected for the

Streaming Media 100, Streaming Media magazine's annual

list of the ‘100 Companies that Matter Most in Online Video’,

for the fourth year in a row."

DVEO’s ARQ error correction-enabled H.264 encoder and

decoder (ARQ Link HD IP) is designed for telcos and multi-

screen operators who deploy IPTV and OTT. The ARQ Link

HD IP combines encoding, decoding and IP networking

with DVEO's patented DOZER™ ARQ Automated Packet

Recovery, ensuring packet loss-free, real-time video delivery

over IP networks including wireless and the Internet. H.265 is

offered as an option.

The ARQ Link encoder features 3G-SDI, HD-SDI or SDI input

and IP output. The matching decoder supports UDP input

and converts the compressed digital video and audio into

HD-SDI or SDI, or optional HDMI or ASI, output. Encoding/

decoding latency is 1.5 seconds. The remotely manageable

system supports resolutions of up to 1080p50/60. It also

performs AES-128 encryption between units.

The DVEO Atlas Media Server Family is designed as a cost-

efficient way for smaller telcos and cable operators to deliver

live and on-demand multi-bitrate IPTV and OTT services. The

multichannel systems ingest H.265 or H.264 live streams over

IP, then "groom" the streams by adding wrappers such as

MPEG-DASH, HLS or RTMP, plus subtitles for closed captions

or multiple languages. Atlas Media Servers are available in

three different configurations.

The Conf Box IP/DOZER is a tiny real-time video conferencing

appliance designed for cost-effective video communications

over poor or congested public or private internet connections.

Thanks to DOZER™ ARQ Automated Packet Recovery, this

encoder/decoder unit will work over unconditioned lines such

as the public internet.

The AD SPOTTER is DVEO's new multi-criteria advertising

platform that uses content and viewer information to make

decisions about the actual ads played out to all viewers,

to dynamically select ads to maximise revenue. The AD

SPOTTER generates SCTE-35 and cue tones with content

type information, interprets SCTE-35 information and the

viewer's receiver data, and then inserts user-targeted ads into

live or stored transport streams. The system can also trigger

"ad starts" via IP messaging, scheduled or manual triggering.

The AD SPOTTER can also insert ads inside, overlaid or

around the video content via slices, overlays, crawl messages,

alert bugs and video squeezes.

The Spark-E II is a portable, compact (5.9 inches) single

channel Linux®-based H.264 encoder, live streamer designed

for encoding 3G-SDI/HD-SDI, analogue or HDMI input from

cameras, or video content from analogue sources. It encodes

this content to one H.264 standard stream, records it and

outputs it to an IP network.

DVEO also demonstrated its latest ad insertion and broadcast

playout server solutions at Broadcast India in Mumbai this October.

DVEO launches new products

For more information, see www.dveo.com

http://www.dveo.com/


products

Huawei demonstrated the OPEN-O Sun, which it dubbed the

‘world’s first Open Source SDN and NFV Orchestrator’, at the

Operations Transformation Forum 2016 in Wuzhen, China.

The forum brought together industry leaders from around

the world to discuss the transformation of digital operations

and share best practices. Helen Chen, leader of the OPEN-O

Integration Project, noted that the OPEN-O Orchestrator will

soon be commercially available.

OPEN-O enables operators’ end-to-end service orchestration

over Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) infrastructure, along

with Software Defined Networks (SDN) and legacy networks.

"The OPEN-O Sun is the first open source orchestration

platform to facilitate service delivery across NFV, SD and

legacy networks,” said Chen. “It supports both family and

enterprise environments. Involving seven projects, its main

code comes from six companies, including China Mobile and

Huawei."

The OPEN-O Sun adopts the mainstream TOSCA and YANG

models and an open architecture. In addition to OpenStack

and other open source components, it integrates components

in the OPEN-O integration lab from multiple vendors, including

Canonical, Raisecom, Red Hat and Huawei.

The OPEN-O community, supported by carriers, vendors and

the Linux Foundation, plans to continue developing open-

source technologies and ecosystems. OPEN-O, said Huawei,

allows carriers to integrate products from different vendors,

innovate quickly and operate with agility.

Open source network platform

http://www.wisi.de/


products

Wazee Digital has more than 10 million video assets under

secure management for major studios, governmental

departments, broadcasters, sports federations, news archives

and a range of other content owners and rights holders.

For many of those organisations, asset management is just

the beginning. They also use Wazee Digital for a variety of

related services that help to make those assets searchable,

accessible and, in many cases, monetisable.

“What makes it all possible is Wazee Digital Core, our cloud-

native media asset management system.

Core is at the heart of all Wazee Digital

services. It was built from the ground-up to

operate in the cloud, which brings all sorts of

advantages when it comes to finding, sharing

and monetising content. Core powers

access to transcripts and interviews and

includes advanced metadata-enrichment

capabilities, all of which help people to

quickly find specific moments within a show.

Core also drives the underlying search

experience, which enables online search

portals with granular layers of access.

Once people find what they want, Core can

transcode and package the content as needed for a given

request,” explained the company.

Core embodies Wazee Digital’s years of experience in

monetisation and rights management and allows content

owners to create content once and then use and re-use it

in countless ways, anywhere, in any format. Its media-

management tools underpin various business models for any

organisation that owns video.

Cloud-native digital asset management

For more information, see www.wazeedigital.com

It is now possible to perform 4K baseband SDI recording

using standard and affordable PC hardware. Village Island and

DekTec have jointly announced VF-REC v3, a new version of

the VF-REC application widely used for recording of transport

streams and SDI signals using DekTec’s range of video I/O

adapters. With this release, VF-REC receives a major GUI

overhaul and introduces the “J2K” option for JPEG 2000

compression.

"Recording/playout of an uncompressed 4K video stream

in a PC is extremely challenging because of its high bitrate

(12Gbps) and requires a special and expensive hard-disk sub-

system. Without considerable integration effort, it is practically

impossible to record or playout 4K signals with a standard PC

set-up. VF REC v3 overcomes this problem by incorporating

JPEG 2000 compression technology from Comprimato. It

applies real-time visually loss-less compression of 4K video,

reducing the data rate sufficiently to use a PC with a standard

hard-disk set-up. Comprimato’s JPEG 2000 compression

technology leverages the GPU resources from graphics

boards provided by companies such as NVIDIA and AMD,"

said DekTec.

VF-REC stores the JPEG 2000 compressed 4K signal as an

MXF-file (OP1a), which means the recorded files can be used

by any tool supporting the OP1a MXF-file format. Version 3 also

includes functionality for playing back the recorded 4K files.

“While 4K is gaining more and more momentum, broadcast

engineers need concrete and practical solutions to archive

4K while preserving excellent video quality,” said Bernie

Rietkerken, Director of Marketing and Sales, DekTec. “We

are glad that, with this software application from our long-

4K baseband SDI recording

http://www.wazeedigital.com/


products

For more information, see www.dektec.com

Kathrein Smart Monitoring is a new kind of monitoring system

for transmitters that creates transparency. The system,

the result of cooperation between Kathrein and the Swiss

company, DAC System SA, uses special sensors to record

important operating parameters in the transmitter components

in real-time and compares them with target values from regular

operation. All deviations are consistently logged to provide

early indication of a potential disturbance.

Transmitter operators can comfortably view the measurements

via network access. If there are any critical changes in status

or if threshold values are exceeded, an alarm is triggered and

signalled via app, SMS message or e-mail.

"This system considerably reduces the time and costs incurred

in monitoring transmitters, because transmitters normally

require regular routine controls," explained Jörg Lippert, head

of sales at Kathrein in the radio antenna division. The Kathrein

Smart Monitoring system can be employed with new antenna

system installations and can also be integrated into existing

systems.

Kathrein has also launched another new development in

broadcasting antennas in the form of the UHF Cavity Slot

series. These models combine uncomplicated connection

and commissioning (Plug & Play) with high broadband

flexibility. The antenna family consists of various types of low-,

medium- and high-power transmitters and displays a low level

of reflectance values.

"Broadcasters benefit from an efficient and cost-effective

broadband antenna solution for the transmission of digital

television channels in the UHF frequency range between

470 and 790MHz,” said Lippert. The first antennas of this

new model series will be delivered to customers in the fourth

quarter of this year.

Smart monitoring saves time and money

For more information, see www.kathrein.com

time partner Village Island and high-performance video

compression technology from Comprimato, we can bring an

affordable solution to this problem.”

The recording and playout of UHD requires the usage of a

4K-capable DekTec adapter. DekTec’s current flagship 4K

product is the DTA-2174 (Quad 3G-SDI/ASI Input/Output

adapter), with multiple new 4K products on the roadmap. As

they appear, support for these cards will be added to VF-REC.

http://www.dektec.com/

http://www.kathrein.com/


products

Sagemcom Broadband SAS, a specialist in broadband and

residential terminals and digital set-top boxes, and Plume

Design, Inc., the creator of Adaptive Wi-Fi™, have confirmed

that the Plume Adaptive Wi-Fi™ solution, including the Pods,

are now available as a fully integrated part of Sagemcom’s Wi-

Fi-enabled FTTH, DOCSIS and DSL gateway portfolio.

“Pioneered by Plume Design, Inc., Adaptive Wi-Fi™ is a

deeply distributed Wi-Fi solution that dynamically responds

to varying Wi-Fi conditions throughout the whole home, and

across multiple apartments in a Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU)

environment. It includes a set of Pods designed to plug directly

into sockets around the home. Directed by the Plume Cloud,

the Pods offer coverage, speed and reliability far beyond any

other solution using a Software Defined Networking (SDN)

framework and Plume’s novel Auto-Channel-Hop Wi-Fi

backhaul technology,” explained the manufacturers.

“Integrated into various Sagemcom gateway platforms, the

Plume gateway agent enables seamless wireless connectivity

between the gateway and the Pods. The entire home network

and the devices connected to it are actively monitored by the

Plume Cloud for the highest performance wireless broadband

experience throughout the home.”

The joint solution makes both reactive and pre-emptive

decisions which improve signal, speed and resiliency such as

allowing mobile devices to seamlessly roam around the home,

balancing network loads and mitigating interference. As a core

element of the solution, the Network Operations Centre (NoC)

software provides detailed insights and intelligence on the

health, performance and history of the home Wi-Fi network.

For more information, see www.sagemcom.com

Yokogawa’s compact AQ1300 series 1G/10G Ethernet multi-

field tester unit now features ITU-T Y.1564-compliant test

functionality.

“This rugged handheld device provides

comprehensive test functionality in

the smallest and lightest format of any

10GbE test device on the market, and

the addition of ITU-T Y.1564 functionality

complements the existing RFC2544

compatible network performance tests,”

said the manufacturer.

ITU-T Y.1564 mandates that standard

tests such as throughput, frame loss,

latency and packet jitter are executed

simultaneously, with multiple services

running at the same time. This allows the

measurement of the influence between

services, which can affect the network’s ability to maintain

Service Level Agreement (SLA) conformance, as well as

reducing the time taken to test an Ethernet service.

AQ1300 series gains ITU-T Y.1564 support

Home Wi-Fi solution for broadband service providers

http://www.sagemcom.com/


products

For more information, see http://tmi.yokogawa.com/products/portable-ethernet-testers/

All well-known multimode and single-mode QSFP applications,

such as SR4, PSM4, PLR4 and FCp, can be converted to

four duplex channels using the new FO-DCS speed converter

plug-in modules from Datwyler. The connectivity of these plug-

in modules splits each of the three incoming parallel optic links

into four duplex links.

40G and 100G applications are now a reality in the data

centre environment, and higher transmission rates will soon

follow. High-speed fibre optic links connect the switches to

each other as well as to today’s 10G servers and future server

generations (25G and 50G). To aggregate such links cost-

effectively at switch level, they have to be split into several

duplex links. This requirement can be met with Datwyler’s new

plug-in modules.

At the rear, the speed converter plug-in modules available

for OM3, OM4 and OS2 have two 12-fibre MTP couplers

and route these 24 fibres using integrated fanouts to 3 x

four duplex ports on the front panel. In combination with a

converter plug-in module at the other end of a 24-fibre link, for

example, three 100G transceivers can be connected simply

and securely to 3 x four 25G transceivers.

The speed converter plug-in modules are designed for use

in FO-DCS panels and sub-racks. Packing densities of up to

288 fibres can be achieved on 3U with this type of module.

They comprise a robust polycarbonate housing (PC) with

press-fit side panels and a 3U/7TE front panel in PC (black) or

aluminium. The PC version has two integrated labelling strips

for customer-specific printing.

Aggregation of high speed links

For more information, see www.cabling.datwyler.com

Two different kinds of test are available to the AQ1300 series

testers with ITU-T Y.1564 functionality: a configuration test mode

for examining the speed and burst size per contracted service and

performance test mode for measuring guaranteed bandwidth of

multiple services.

In configuration test mode, the AQ1300 performs either

a ‘Ramp Test’, whereby the device outputs a gradually

increasing volume of signals (ramp) and measures the

guaranteed rate and the securing rate, or a ‘Burst size’ test

(in which the device outputs burst of frame signals at regular

intervals and measures the burst bandwidth guaranteed size

and the burst bandwidth securing size). The AQ1300 provides

PASS/FAIL judgement according to specified thresholds of the

Information Rate (IR), Frame Loss (FL), Frame Transfer Delay

(FTD) and Frame Delay Variation (FDV)

In performance test mode, the AQ1300 sends frames within

the Committed Information Rate (CIR) of selected services at

the same time to confirm whether all traffic is sent without

being discarded. The test can evaluate the traffic quality for

the same period for up to eight services.

http://tmi.yokogawa.com/products/portable-ethernet-testers/

http://www.cabling.datwyler.com/


202 Communications869 East 4500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84117, USATel: +1 801 266 0077Email: [email protected]: www.202comms.comContact: Mr Neil Howman

A J Sheriff Electrical Ltd Suite 14, Block 5, Watergardens, GibraltarTel: +350 200 61561 Fax: +350 200 40585Email: [email protected]: www.ajsheriffelectrical.comContact: Mr A Sheriff

ABOX42Amalienbadstr 41, Karlsruhe 76227, GermanyTel: +49 721 754 05440Email: [email protected]: www.abox42.comContact: Mr Akim Benamara

Active Video Networks BV Joop van den Endeplein 1, 1217 WJ Hilversum, The NetherlandsTel: +31 35 677 4131 Fax: +31 35 677 4133Email: [email protected]: www.avnetworks.comContact: Mr R Brockmann

Agama Technologies Kungsgatan 28, Linkoping, Ostergotland 58218, SwedenTel: +46 733 254 903 Fax: +46 1324 0331Email: [email protected] Website: www.agama.tvContact: Ms Anna Amnell

Alcadis ISP SolutionsVleugelboot 8, 3991 CL HOUTEN, The NetherlandsTel: +31 30 65 85 125 Fax: +31 30 66 20 758Email: [email protected]: www.alcadisispsolutions.nlContact: Mr H Van Elsen

Alpha Technologies Europe Ltd Twyford House, Thorley, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM22 7PA, UKTel: +44 (0) 1279 501110 Fax: +44 (0) 1279 659870Email: [email protected]: www.alpha.comContact: Mr M Smith

AND Solution GmbH Karl-Schmid-Straße 14 / 81829 München, GermanyTel: +49 (0) 89/74 35 33 911 Fax: +49 (0) 89/74 35 33 999Email: [email protected]: www.and-solution.comContact: Mr D Kelly

Antiference LtdUnit 100 Fradley Distribution Park, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, Staffordshire, WS13 8NE, UKTel: +44 (0)1675 465487 Fax: +44 (0)1675 463478Email: [email protected]: www.antiference.co.ukContact: Mr Martin Jackson

Appear TV ASLilleakerveien 2b, PO Box 8, Lilleaker, NO-0216 Oslo, NorwayTel: +47 24 11 90 20 Fax: +47 24 11 90 21Email: [email protected]: www.appeartv.comContact: Mr C W Holst

Arcom Digital LLC185 Ainsley Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, USATel: +1 315 426 1455 Fax: +1 315 422 2963Email: [email protected]: www.arcomdigital.comContact: Mr B Dillon-Malone

ARRIS Group BV Atlas Arena Building Asia, Hoogoorddreef 5, 1101 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tel: +31 20 311 2514 Fax: +31 20 311 2501Email: [email protected] Website: www.arrisi.comContact: Mr A Swan

ARRIS Solutions UK Ltd710 Wharfedale Road, IQ Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 5TP, UKTel: +44 (0)118 921 5500Email: [email protected]: www.arrisi.comContact: Mr S McCaffery

Artel Video Systems5B Lyberty Way, Westford, MA 03054, USATel: +1 978 795 4585Email: [email protected]: www.artel.comContact: Mr Rafael Fonseca

ASTRA (GB) Ltd 8th Floor, 3 Dorset Rise, LONDON, EC4Y 8EN, UKTel: +44 (0) 207 632 7920 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7632 7921Email: [email protected]: www.ses-astra.comContact: Mr M Chandler

Astral Communications & Electronics Ltd Astral House, 15 Wellington Street, Alverthorpe, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF2 9AA, UKTel: +44 (0) 1924 366888 Fax: +44 (0) 1924 383337Email: [email protected]: www.astralcom.co.ukContact: Mr S Atherton

ATEME6 Rue Dewoitine, Velizy-Villacoublayy 78140, FranceTel: +33 169 358 988Email: [email protected]: www.ateme.comContact: Mrs Dorota Bouskela

Aurora Networks Inc c/o Emmanuel Vella, Senior Vice President of Sales Europe, Pace plc, Victoria Road, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, BD18 3LF, UKTel: +44 (0)1274 532000Fax: +44 (0)1274 532010Website: www.aurora.comContact: Mr E. Vella

Brass Trading Ltd28 Westwood Drive, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6RJ, UKTel: +44 (0)1494 766265 Fax: +44 (0)1494 763116Email: [email protected]: www.merlinis.comContact: Ms S Waddington

Bridge Technologies Co AS Bentsebrugata 20, NO-0476 Oslo, NorwayTel: +47 22 38 51 00 Mobile: +47 90 04 34 45Email: [email protected]: www.bridgetech.tvContact: Ms H Andersen

Broadband Training LtdCommunications House, 41a Market Street, Watford, Herts WD18 0PN UKTel: +44 (0) 1923 815500 Fax: +44 (0) 1923 803203Email: [email protected] Website: www.broadbandtraining.euContact: Mr P Humphries

Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL) Head Office 14-B, Ring Road, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi 110 002, IndiaTel: +91 120 4332970 Fax: +91 120 4332979Email: [email protected]: www.becil.comContact: Mr Y K Sharma

Cable Television Services Ltd Unit 1, The Links Business Park, Raynham Road,Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 5NZ, UKTel: +44 (0) 1279 656480 Fax: +44 (0) 1279 501637 Email: [email protected]: www.cabletvservices.co.ukContact: Mr J Knight

Cablecom Investments Ltd The Coach House, Bill Hill Park, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 5QT, UK Tel: +44 (0) 118 979 2076 Fax: +44 (0) 118 978 5199Email: [email protected]: www.cablecom.co.ukContact: Mr A Noonan

Calix1 Lyric Square, London, W6 0NB, UKTel: +44 (0)203 427 3090Email: [email protected]: www.calix.comContact: Mr Craig Thomas

Comflex Networks ApS Sundvej 12D, 4600 Køge, DenmarkTel: +45 43 997102 Fax: +45 43 993077Email: [email protected]: www.comflex.dkContact: Mr F Lindau

The Service Finder is designed to give rapid access to information about the companies servicing the industry. SCTE Corporate Members enjoy a free listing. Corporate Membership is open to any organisation engaged in or associated with cable. It is regarded by local authorities and others as an indication of professional competence and, for this reason, it is an entrance requirement that the principal or at least one employee must be a Member or a Fellow of the Society.

Service FinderTo advertise in the Service Finder, contact Sara Waddington on tel: +44 (0) 7773 488 771

Boxed entries denote advertisers.

service finder

DRIVING INNOVATION- Digital Video Solutions- RF Management Solutions

ATX NetworksCorneliusstrasse 2260325 Frankfurt am Main, GermanyTel: +49 171 998 3676Email: [email protected]: www.atxnetworks.com

Tel: +1 801 266 0077


http://www.202comms.com/


http://www.ajsheriffelectrical.com/


http://www.abox42.com/

Tel: +31 35 677 4131

+31 35 677 4133


http://www.avnetworks.com/

Tel: +46 733 254 903


http://www.agama.tv/

Tel: +31 30 65 85 125

+31 30 66 20 758


http://www.alcadisispsolutions.nl/


http://www.alpha.com/

Tel: +49 (0) 89/74 35 33

+49 (0) 89/74 35 33


http://www.and-solution.com/


http://www.antiference.co.uk/


http://www.appeartv.com/

Tel: +1 315 426 1455

+1 315 422 2963


http://www.arcomdigital.com/

Tel: +31 20 311 2514

+31 20 311 2501


http://www.arrisi.com/


http://www.arrisi.com/

Tel: +1 978 795 4585


http://www.artel.com/


http://www.ses-astra.com/


http://www.astralcom.co.uk/

Tel: +33 169 358 988


http://www.ateme.com/

http://www.aurora.com/


http://www.merlinis.com/


http://www.bridgetech.tv/


http://www.broadbandtraining.eu/

Tel: +91 120 4332970

+91 120 4332979


http://www.becil.com/


http://www.cabletvservices.co.uk/


http://www.cablecom.co.uk/


http://www.calix.com/


http://www.comflex.dk/

+49 171 998 3676


http://www.atxnetworks.com/


CommScope 1100 CommScope Place SE, Hickory, NC 28602, USATel: +1 828 324 2200 Fax: +1 800 982 1708Email: [email protected]: www.commscope.comContact: Mr J Hughes

Comtec Cable Accessories LtdCardinal Distribution Park, Cardinal Way, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 2XN, UKTel: +44 (0) 1480 415415Email: [email protected]: www.comtecdirect.co.ukContact: Mr Steve Doddington

Comtech Communication Technology Ltd H-9028 Gyor, Torok, Ignac, U.66, HungaryTel: +36-96-412-299 Fax: +36-96-511-200Email: [email protected]: www.comtech.co.huContact: Mr C Csutortoki

Confederation of Aerial Industries Ltd Communications House, 41a Market Street,Watford, Hertfordshire WD18 0PN, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1923 803030 Fax: +44 (0) 1923 803203Email: [email protected]: www.cai.org.ukContact: Mrs B Walker

Corning Optical Communications GmbH & Co KG Leipziger Strasse 121, 10117 Berlin, GermanyTel: +49 30 5303 2100 Fax: +49 30 5303 2172Email: [email protected]: www.corning.com/opcomm/emea/ en/index.aspxContact: Ms K Forbes

Cotswold Communications Ltd Unit 20, Kings Park, Primrose Hill, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire WD4 8ST, UK Tel: +44 (0) 8452 307030 Fax: +44 (0) 1923 274554Email: [email protected]: www.cotswold-comms.co.ukContact: Mr S Flanagan

Deluxe Delivery Services2400 W.Empire Avenue, Suite 200, Burbank, CA 91504, USATel: +1 805 453 3165Email: [email protected]: www.bydeluxe.comContact: Ms Kelly Delany

DCT-Delta GmbH Bodanrückstraße 1, D-78351 Bodman, Germany Tel: +49 7773 929258 Fax: +49 7773 929259Email: [email protected]: www.dct-delta.deContact: Mr M Beck

Digisoft.tvBuilding 4200, Cork Airport Business Centre, Kinsdale Road, Cork, IrelandTel: +353 214 917 272 Fax: +353 214 917 271Email: [email protected]: www.digisoft.tvContact: Ms Fiona Hourihane

Edgeware AB Master Samuelsgatan 42, 11th Floor, SE-111 57 Stockholm, SwedenTel: +46 73 612 6840 Fax: +46 8 500 080 03Email: [email protected]: www.edgeware.tvContact: Ms M Leding

Elemental Technologies225 SW Broadway, Suite 600, Portland, OR 97205, USATel: +1 503 222 3212 Fax: +1 503 914 0322Email: [email protected]: www.elementaltechnologies.comContact: Mr Keith Wymbs

Entry Access Systems Ltd 10 Tithe Barn Close, Raunds, Northamptonshire NN9 6RY, UKTel: +44 (0) 845 017 9750 Fax: +44 (0) 1933 389286Email: [email protected]: www.entryaccess.co.ukContact: Mrs E Cammidge

EricssonEricssonstraat, 5121 ML Rijen, The NetherlandsTel: +32 473 867 435Website: www.ericsson.comEmail: [email protected]: Mr Everth Flores

Flomatik Network Services Ltd1 Gloster Court, Whittle Avenue, Segensworth West, Fareham, Hampshire PO15 5SH, UKTel: +44 (0) 1489 604068Email: [email protected] Website: www.flomatik.co.uk Contact: Mr B Allwright

Friend MTS LimitedEleven Brindley Place, 2 Brunswick Square, Birmingham, West Midlands, B1 2LP, UKTel: +44 (0) 121 633 2000Email: [email protected]: Mr Paul Hastings

Global Invacom Ltd Winterdale Manor, Southminster Road, Althorne, Essex CM3 6BX, UK Tel: +44 (0)1621 743440 Fax: +44 (0)1621 743676Email: [email protected]: www.globalinvacom.com Contact: Mr L Allen

Greenlee CommunicationsBrecon House, William Brown Close, Cwmbran, Gwent, NP44 3AB, WalesTel: +44 (0) 1633 627710Email: [email protected]: www.greenleecommunications.comContact: Ms Lisa Grant

Harmonic (UK) Ltd IQ Farnborough, Ground Floor, 250 Fowler AvenueFarnborough, Hampshire GU14 7JP, UKTel: +1 408 490 7021Email: [email protected]: www.harmonicinc.comContact: Ms Crystele Trevisan

HGAB Klaproos 6, 3903 GX Veenendaal, The NetherlandsTel: +31 318 552101 Fax: +31 318 519362Email: [email protected]: Mr H Boers

Hitron Technologies No. 1-8, Li-Hsin 1st Road, Hsinchu Science Park Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, Republic of China Tel: +886 3 578 6658 ext. 3695Fax: +886 3 577 8856Email: [email protected]: www.hitron.comContact: Mr J Kao

Hypex Ltd Unit 7, Manor House Business Park, 97 Manor Farm Road, Wembley, Middlesex HA0 1BN, UKTel: +44 (0)20 8810 5885 Fax: +44 (0)20 8810 8184Email: [email protected]: www.hypexuk.comContact: Mr N Kumar

Imagine Communications (RGB Networks) Ferry Works, Summer Road, THAMES DITTON, KT7 0QJ, UKTel: +44 208 339 1800Email: [email protected]: www.imaginecommunications.comContact: Ms S Kuhl

IneoQuest Technologies Ltd The Magdalen Centre, Robert Robinson Avenue, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX4 4GA, UKTel: +44 (0) 1865 784 322 Fax: +44 (0) 1865 784 325Email: [email protected]: www.ineoquest.comContact: Ms M Dickinson

Intraway Corporation SRLCampillo 2541, Buenos Aires, C1427DCC, ArgentinaTel: +44 (0)7980 840828Email: [email protected]: www.intraway.comContact: Mr Sami Gharres

IPKO TelecommunicationsLagija Ulpiana, Rr “Zija Shemsiu”, Nr. 34, Prishtine 10000, KOSOVOTel: +381 (0) 38 700 606Email: [email protected]: www.ipko.comContact: Mr Jakup Ratkoceri

service finder

Tel: +1 828 324 2200

+1 800 982 1708


http://www.commscope.com/


http://www.comtecdirect.co.uk/


http://www.comtech.co.hu/


http://www.cai.org.uk/

Tel: +49 30 5303 2100

+49 30 5303 2172


http://www.corning.com/opcomm/emea/


http://www.cotswold-comms.co.uk/

Tel: +1 805 453 3165


http://www.bydeluxe.com/

Tel: +49 7773 929258

+49 7773 929259


http://www.dct-delta.de/

http://digisoft.tv/

Tel: +353 214 917 272

+353 214 917 271


http://www.digisoft.tv/

Tel: +46 73 612 6840

+46 8 500 080 03


http://www.edgeware.tv/

Tel: +1 503 222 3212

+1 503 914 0322


http://www.elementaltechnologies.com/


http://www.entryaccess.co.uk/

+32 473 867 435

http://www.ericsson.com/



http://www.flomatik.co.uk/



http://www.globalinvacom.com/


http://www.greenleecommunications.com/

Tel: +1 408 490 7021


http://www.harmonicinc.com/

Tel: +31 318 552101

+31 318 519362



http://www.hitron.com/


http://www.hypexuk.com/

Tel: +44 208 339 1800


http://www.imaginecommunications.com/


http://www.ineoquest.com/


http://www.intraway.com/

Tel: +381 (0) 38 700 606


http://www.ipko.com/


Metro Digital TV Ltd The Coach House, Bill Hill Park, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 5QT, UKTel: +44 (0) 118 974 0873 Fax: +44 (0) 118 977 0455Email: [email protected]: www.mdtv.co.ukContact: Mr A Noonan

Mills Ltd13 Fairway Drive, Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 8PW, UKTel: +44 (0) 208 833 2626Email: [email protected]: www.millsltd.comContact: Mr Pete Rothy

MOCA, Multimedia Over Coax Alliance2400 Camino Ramon, Ste 375, San Ramon, CA 94583, USATel: +1 925 275 6606 Fax: +1 925 886 3618Web: www.mocalliance.orgEmail: [email protected]: Mr R Gelphman

Momentum Telecom222 Chastain Meadows Ct., Suite 100, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USATel: +1 678 399 9496 Fax: +1 678 298 7497Email: [email protected]: www.ibbs.comContact: Mr C Scott

Murata Power Solutions (CELAB) Ltd25 Woolmer Way, Bordon, Hampshire GU35 9QE, UKTel: +44 (0) 1420 477011 Fax: +44 (0) 1420 472034 Email: [email protected]: www.celab.co.ukContact: Mr J Wood

Net InsightVastberga Alle 9, 126 14 Stockholm, SwedenTel: +46 8689 0606Email: [email protected]: www.netinsight.netContact: Ms Anna Karin Verneholt

Ofcom Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road,London SE1 9HA, UKTel: +44 (0) 207 981 3000 Fax: +44 (0)207 981 3333Email: Mr David HarrisonWebsite: www.ofcom.org.uk Contact: [email protected]

OpenVault1501 Hamburg Turnpike, Suite 419, Wayne, NJ 07470, USATel: +1 201 677 8480Email: [email protected]: www.openvault.comContact: Mr Rich Evans

Pacific Broadband Networks BV Argonweg 15, 1362AA Almere, The NetherlandsTel: +61 3 9780 5100 Fax: +61 3 9763 5522Email: [email protected]: www.pbnglobal.comContact: Mr L Chu

PCT International Inc.2260 West Broadway Road, Mesa, Arizona, 85202-1898, USATel: +44 (0) 1403 782727Email: [email protected]: www.pctintl.comContact: Mr Ricky Nye

Pico Digital8880 Rehco Road, San Diego, CA 92121, USATel: +1 (858) 546-5050Email: [email protected]: www.picodigital.comContact: Mr A Isherwood

PPC Vaerkstedsvej 14, 4720 Praesto, DenmarkTel: +45 55 99 17 22 Fax: +45 55 99 27 22Email: [email protected]: www.ppc-online.comContact: Mr A Basham

RF-DesignTechnisches Buro Mayr, Marienburger Strasse 3, 64653 Lorsch, GERMANYTel: +49 (0) 6251 938985Website: www.re-design-online.deEmail: [email protected]: Mr Ralf Mayr

Rincon Technology Inc.810 E. Montecito Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93103, USATel: +1 805 684 8100Email: [email protected]: www.rincontechnology.comContact: Ms Sandie Brodier

Robert Oliver TV Aerials & Satellite Systems 14a Clonavon Avenue, Portadown, Couny Armagh, Northern Ireland BT62 3AETel: +44 (0) 28 3833 8700 Fax: +44 (0) 28 3839 1747Email: [email protected]: www.robertoliverni.comContact: Mr R Oliver

SCCI Alphatrack LtdPiper House, 14 West Place, West Road, Harlow, Essex, CM20 2GY, UKTel: +44 (0) 1279 630400 Fax: + 44 (0) 1279 630500Email: [email protected]: www.sccialphatrack.co.ukContact: Mr R Wickings

SeaChange Interactive Solutions B.V. P.O. Box 7111, 5605 JC Eindhoven, The NetherlandsTel: +31 (0)40 248 8176 Mob: +31 (0)6 1653 5537Email: [email protected]: www.schange.comContact: Ms M Mulkens

Skyline Communications Ambachtenstraat 33, B-9970 Izegem, Belgium Tel: +32 51313569 Fax: +32 51310129Email: [email protected]: www.skyline.beContact: Mr B Vandenberghe

Stanley Security Solutions Stanley House, Bramble Road, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 8ER, UKTel: +44 (0) 1793 692401 Fax: +44 (0) 1793 615848Email: [email protected]: www.stanleysecuritysolutions.co.ukContact: Ms Alison Thomason

Tel Aer Holdings Ltd10 Prospect Way, Beechwood Park, Brighouse,West Yorkshire, HD6 4FF, UKTel: +44 (0) 1484 402172Email: [email protected]: www.tel-aer.comContact: Mr S Howard

Teldis, (a Division of Megalith) Ltd Teldis House, 29A Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8AA, UKTel: +44 (0) 1892 511411 Fax: +44 (0) 1892 515118Email: [email protected]: www.teldis.comContact: Mr D S Walker

Teleste Ltd Unit A, Chiltern Commerce Centre, Asheridge Road, Chesham, Buckinghamshire HP5 2PY, UKTel: +44 (0) 1494 794770 Fax: +44 (0) 1494 794772Email: [email protected]: www.ashcomms.comContact: Mr J Rigby

Teleste UK Ltd 1 Gloster Court, Whittle Avenue, Segensworth West, Fareham, Hampshire PO15 5SH, UKTel: +44 (0) 1489 604060 Fax: +44 (0) 1489 604065Email: [email protected]: www.teleste.comContact: Mr K Barrie

Televes UK Ltd Unit 11, Hill Street Industrial Estate, Cwmbran, Gwent, Wales NP44 7PG, UKTel: +44 (0) 1633 875821 Fax: +44 (0) 1633 866311Email: [email protected]: www.televes.comContact: Mr G Fernandez

The Cable Center 2000 Buchtel Boulevard, Denver, CO 80210, USATel: +1 303 871 4885 Fax: +1 303 871 4514Email: [email protected]: www.cablecenter.orgContact: Ms J L Henthorn

Intelligent, customised

solutions for broadband cable

network operators.

Technetix Ltd, Innovation House, Technetix Business Park Albourne, West Sussex, BN6 9EB, UKTel: +44 (0)1444 251245Email: [email protected]

www.technetix.com

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CM

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Segnet 57 x 57 mm | 4c | February 8, 2010

WWW.SEGNET.CO.UK

Segnet Ltd

Wickford Business Park

Essex, SS11 8YB, UK

E [email protected]

T +44 1268 7646 64

NETWORK PRODUCTS & DESIGNS

service finder


http://www.mdtv.co.uk/


http://www.millsltd.com/

Tel: +1 925 275 6606

+1 925 886 3618

http://www.mocalliance.org/


Tel: +1 678 399 9496

+1 678 298 7497


http://www.ibbs.com/


http://www.celab.co.uk/


http://www.netinsight.net/

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/


+1 201 677 8480


http://www.openvault.com/

Tel: +61 3 9780 5100

+61 3 9763 5522


http://www.pbnglobal.com/


http://www.pctintl.com/

Tel: +1 (858) 546-5050


http://www.picodigital.com/


http://www.ppc-online.com/

http://www.re-design-online.de/


Tel: +1 805 684 8100


http://www.rincontechnology.com/


http://www.robertoliverni.com/


http://www.sccialphatrack.co.uk/

Tel: +31 (0)40 248 8176

+31 (0)6 1653 5537


http://www.schange.com/


http://www.skyline.be/


http://www.stanleysecuritysolutions.co.uk/


http://www.tel-aer.com/


http://www.teldis.com/


http://www.ashcomms.com/


http://www.teleste.com/


http://www.televes.com/

Tel: +1 303 871 4885

+1 303 871 4514


http://www.cablecenter.org/



http://www.segnet.co.uk/


+44 1268 7646 64


The IMC Group Ltd Unit 8-9 Jubilee Trade Centre, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, SG6 1SP, UKTel: +44 (0) 1279 417005Email: [email protected]: www.horizonhge.comContact: Mr Kiran Patel

TFC AmphenolHoofdveste 19, 3992 DH Houten, Utrecht, The NetherlandsTel: +31 306 358 000Email: [email protected]: www.timesfiber.comContact: Mr Stefan Hoogendoorn

TNO Information and Communication TechnologyAnna van Buerenplein 1, 2595 DA Den Haag, The NetherlandsTel: +31 15 285 7000 Fax: +31 15 285 7057Email: [email protected]: www.tno.nlContact: Mr J de Nijs

Triax UK LtdAbergorki Industrial Estate, Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taff, South Wales, CF42 6DL, UKTel: +44 (0)845 601 0578 Fax: +44 (0)845 601 1023Email: [email protected]: www.triax.co.ukContact: Mr G Vaughan

Virgin Media Media House, Bartley Wood Business Park, Bartley Way, Hook, Hampshire RG27 9UP, UKTel: +44 (0) 1256 752000 Fax: +44 (0) 1256 754100Website: www.virginmedia.comContact: Mr R Evans

Webro Cables & Connectors Vision House, Meadow Brooks Business Park, Meadow Lane, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG10 2GD, UKTel: +44 (0) 115 972 4483 Fax: +44 (0) 115 946 1230Email: [email protected]: www.webro.comContact: Mr R F Webster

WISI Communications GmbH & Co KGWilhelm-Sihn-Strasse 5-7, D-75223 Niefern-Oschelbronn, GermanyTel: +49 7233 660 Fax: +49 7233 66 320Email: [email protected]: www.wisi.deContact: Mr A Sihn

Worldwide Supply LLCZekeringstraat 17A, 1014 BM Amsterdam, The NetherlandsTel: +31 (0)7680 080280Email: [email protected] Website: www.worldwidesupply.netContact: Mr Marald van den Berg

XPresso CommunicationsWillem van Otterloostraat 62353 KR Leiderdorp, Zuid-HollandThe NetherlandsTel: +31 715 238 210 Email: [email protected]: www.xpressocommunications.comContact: Mrs Fiorenza Mella

service finder

SCTE WEBSITETake a look at SCTE’s website -

www.theSCTE.eu for all the latest industry news, technical specifications and networking opportunities. Members can contact each other through the website and download archive issues of Broadband Journal, as well as lecture presentations given at SCTE meetings over the years.

Get the best from the SCTE website by visiting the website video presentation at www.thescte.eu/using-this-site


http://www.horizonhge.com/

Tel: +31 306 358 000


http://www.timesfiber.com/

Tel: +31 15 285 7000

+31 15 285 7057


http://www.tno.nl/


http://www.triax.co.uk/

http://www.virginmedia.com/


http://www.webro.com/

+49 7233 66 320


http://www.wisi.de/


http://www.worldwidesupply.net/

Tel: +31 715 238 210


http://www.xpressocommunications.com/


http://www.thescte.eu/using-this-site


diary dates

Convergence India 20178-10 February 2017New Delhi, Indiawww.convergenceindia.org

SCTE Benelux Gala Dinner2 February 2017Utrecht, The Netherlandswww.thescte.eu

FTTH Conference 201716-18 February 2017Marseille, Francewww.ftthconference.eu/

Cable Congress 20178-10 March 2017Brussels, Belgiumhttps://tmt.knect365.com/cable-congress

DVB World 13-15 March 2017Vienna, Austriahttp://www.dvbworld.org/

SCTE Spring Lecture22 March 2017RCS, London, UKwww.thescte.eu

TV Connect28-30 March 2017London, UKhttps://tmt.knect365.com/tv-connect/

SCTE Benelux Spring Lecture5 April 2017Venue TBCwww.thescte.eu

NAB Show22-27 April 2017Las Vegas, USAwww.nabshow.com/attend/show-overview

ANGA COM30 May - 1 June 2017Cologne, Germanywww.angacom.de

SCTE Annual Dinner and Awards17 June 2017Draper’s Hall, Londonwww.thescte.eu

IBC 201714-18 September 2017Amsterdam, The Netherlandswww.ibc.org

SCTE Autumn Lecture4 October 2017One Great George Street, London, UKwww.thescte.eu

SCTE Cable-Tec Expo17-20 October 2017Denver (CO), USAhttp://expo.scte.org/

Broadband World Forum26-28 October 2017Berlin, Germanyhttps://tmt.knect365.com/bbwf/

diary dates 2017

To order any of these itemsBy Mail: please send a cheque (made payable to SCTE) to SCTE,

Communications House, 41a Market Street, Watford,

Herts WD18 0PN, UK

By Telephone: call +44 (0) 1923 815500

Or visit the webshop at www.theSCTE.eu

Visa, Mastercard & Visa Delta Credit cards accepted.

PayPal can also be used.

BookshopSCTE Members’ Handbook 2016/17 and 2014/15 £4.95

IBC 2002/2015 £50 each (2 or more 20% discount)

Digital Cable Networks Bookshop Price £39 Members £31.00

Practical IP and Telecom Bookshop price £34.95 Members £29.75

Broadcast Engineer’s Bookshop price £100Reference Book Members £85.00

Understanding MPEG-4 Bookshop price £24.99 Members £21.25

The MPEG Handbook Bookshop price £39.99 Members £33.99

Raman Amplification in Fiber Optical Bookshop price £44.99Communication Systems Members £38.25

‘Video over IP’– A Practical Guide to Bookshop price £34.99Technology and Application Members £29.75

The Useful Book of Gadgets, Gizmos and Apps £9.99



http://www.ftthconference.eu/

https://tmt.knect365.com/cable-congress



https://tmt.knect365.com/tv-connect/


http://www.nabshow.com/attend/show-overview



http://www.ibc.org/


http://expo.scte.org/

https://tmt.knect365.com/bbwf/



Broadband Training from the SCTETM

n Introduction to Broadband (half-day course)

n Installers Course

n Service Technicians Course

n Network Technicians Course

n Network Architecture and Design Course

n Fibre Optic Transmission Course

n Co-Axial Network Design Course (instructor-led)

n Business Data Solutions Course

These courses have comprehensive instruction manuals which can be used for home study or instructor-assisted learning.

Online exams may be taken and successful students receive official

SCTE accredited certificates.

Visit the SCTE website for detailed information on these courses.

SCTETM - The Society for Broadband ProfessionalsCommunications House, 41a Market Street, Watford, Herts WD18 0PN, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1923 815500 Fax: +44 (0) 1923 803203 Email: [email protected] Website: www.theSCTE.eu

Eight courses are now available



Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue - SCTE - Society for ...

Documents

Transcript of Vol. 38 No. 4 - November 2016 Issue - SCTE - Society for ...