Concurrent Computer Corporation (Nasdaq: CCUR), a provider of commercial Video-On-Demand (VOD) deployments, and Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq: HLIT), a Sunnyvale, CA-based provider of digital video, broadband optical networking and IP delivery systems, are offering Gigabit Ethernet VOD transport solutions to the cable industry.
The two companies say they have completed integration of Concurrent’s MediaHawk VOD Video Server with Harmonic’s Narrowcast Services Gateway (NSG). This integration allows multiple service operators to use any conditional access system, including currently deployed proprietary systems, to transport video streams through their plants more efficiently, via Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) technology.
This latest work confirms the interoperability between complementary GigE-based systems from Atlanta-based Concurrent and Harmonic, the companies say. GigE enables the incremental expansion of on-demand broadband services, such as VOD, subscription VOD and personal video recording…or Concurrent’s Personal Video Channel.
Harmonic’s NSG interfaces with Concurrent’s MediaHawk Video Server and acts as a gateway to the “last mile” coaxial plant, providing quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and upconversion between the digital and analog portions of the HFC network. In addition, the NSG can serve as a scrambling and multiplexing engine with input interface options, including ASI and Gigabit Ethernet.
For cable operators, GigE transport means that the video server no longer has to be located near the QAM, expanding architecture design choices and multiplying existing bandwidth. Because of its increased network transport density, GigE technology represents a cost savings to the operator for a wide range of “everything on demand” services.
