DATA NETWORKING
SPEED, WIRELESS, BUSINESS, SPEED (AGAIN)

It may be time to start calling it higher speed data. As noted in our lead interview, Shaw CEO Peter Bissonnette points to certain consumers who “absolutely crave speed.” Meeting that demand for greater speeds is a work several years in progress.

Shaw launched its 25 Mbps “Nitro” service in late 2006. Cablevision had introduced a premium tier with speeds up to 30 Mbps a year earlier. At about the same time, however, a few international operators, such as Singapore’s StarHub, were launching pre-DOCSIS 3.0-based channel-bonding technologies that that were promising speeds of 100 Mbps.

Fast-forward two years. CableLabs has certified nearly a dozen DOCSIS 3.0 modems and EMTAs and qualified half again as many CMTSs. While pre-standard deployments have continued, most North American operators are prepping for bona fide DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts (Euro-DOCSIS deployments are already underway.)

Charter’s Matt Bell reminds us in these pages that DOCSIS 3.0 preparation typically translates into reclaiming spectrum for channel bonding and increasing upstream modulation orders. Reclamation ties into all-digital migration. As Bissonnette explains: “There’s a huge upside for us to really use that spectrum to bolster the speed of our Internet.”

Speed intersects with other trends in the data networking space, including broadband video, wireless transmission, business services and service velocity.

Google sites—namely You Tube—remain the dominant U.S. broadband video property. According to comScore, Google represented 44 percent of the online video market in July 2008. Faster Internet speeds are abetting the public’s appetite for these typically three-minute, user-generated clips, but operators

15 BELL, MATT

“The future of data, voice and video applications will increasingly become reliant on a tightly integrated delivery framework.”

16 GODAS, JOE

“The pent-up demand for a competitive static/persistent IP service has been a pleasant surprise.”

are trying to leverage their own ability to distribute longer-form, high-quality content, Comcast’s Fancast and StarHub’s Velocity site being two such examples.

Starhub’s planned upgrade of its 3.5G wireless network to evolved high-speed packet access (HSPA+) is another indicator of where data-networking technology is headed. Cablevision’s rollout of a large-scale WiFi network; ongoing WiMAX collaboration between Time Warner, Comcast, Advance Newhouse and others; Cox’s separate wireless build; the dust-settling following the spectrum auction in Canada. There is plenty of wireless activity to track.

Mobile TV’s buzz notwithstanding, the business application of wireless broadband looks especially promising. “With our upcoming enhancements, we expect even stronger interest from businesses as they ‘mobilize’ their workforce here to stay competitive and productive,” says Starhub’s Adit Harinasuta.

Other non-wireless data networking technologies applicable to business services include the SIP-based standards, mentioned by Cablevision’s Joe Godas, and once again, the promise of DOCSIS 3.0.

Two additional corollaries to speed are worth mentioning. First, high-speed data and slow-speed provisioning—of any service—are disconnects that MSO’s IT and backoffice teams have been busy addressing. Matt Bell’s comments on a reconstructed service delivery framework bear upon that point.

Finally, those subscribers “craving” faster speeds are the ones who will howl the loudest upon facing network management constraints that some MSOs are delicately attempting to impose. But that’s a sensitive, less-than-higher-speed topic for another day.

—CT

17 HARINASUTA, ADIT

“The Velocity concept is simple—to be a sort of online content aggregator in Singapore by providing end-to-end solutions to online service providers.”