Chinese Developing Network Technology to Connect Residences to MDU’s Broadband

From The Online Reporter   

China is developing its own technology called HiNOC for using coax to connect each individual residence within an MDU to the MDU’s fiber broadband. We call that a broadband extender because it extends the reach of the fiber broadband and connects the residence to the Web.

It extends broadband’s reach within the MDU but not within the residence where traditional home networking connect the household’s devices to each other and to the extender. Entropic, Broadcom and Qualcomm Atheros are already selling to Chinese cablecos, via network gear makers, Ethernet-over-Coax (EoC) extender chips called c.LINK, CDOCSIS and HomePlug EoC respectively.  

However, China is developing its own EoC technology because:
- It has a bigger need for that than the rest of the world combined.
- The three technologies offered by American-chip makers are not industry standards but are modifications of other standard:
-CDOCSIS from Broadcom is a variation of the DOCSIS standard
-c.LINK from Entropic is a variation of MoCA
-HomePlug EoC from Qualcomm Atheros is a variation of HomePlug.

- Because they aren’t industry standards and, so far as we know, the chips for each of them come from only their originators: Broadcom, Entropic or Qualcomm Atheros. That means a single source for each, something companies and countries try to avoid so as to encourage downward pressure on prices and to encourage innovations and discourage potential monopoly abuses. 

- China has long wanted to develop its own technology standards such as it did with its own version of Blu-ray.  
Some time ago Chinese companies embarked on developing an extender standard called HiNOC (High Performance Network Over Coax). 

Several major Chinese companies are backing HiNOC including chipmaker HiSilicon, previously Huawei chip design operations, and the CE giant Haier, which has entered the US market with a line of TV sets, appliances and other CE gear. Haier says Euromonitor International 2011 ranked it as the world’s number one brand in appliances. It has more than 80,000 employees, distributes products in more than 100 countries and its total revenue exceeded $23 billion in 2011.  

A new version called HiNOC 2 is being developed even though most of the network gear currently being sold has chips for HomePlug EoC, CDOCSIS or c.LINK.  

HiNOC 2 is said to be much faster with speeds at the head end up to 1 Gbps, which will connect to HiNOC modems that have about 100 Mbps. A technology that’s called orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) will be an important element of HiNOC just as it will be in the cablecos upcoming DOCSIS 3.1.  

Entropic thinks it has a long term advantage. Its c.LINK technology, like HiNOC, uses high spectrum instead of the low and noisy bands that CDOCSIS and HomePlug EoC use.  

The first version of HiNOC is still in the prototype and test phase. Entropic was not involved in its development.  
Entropic has said clearly that it is supporting SARFT in the development of the spec for HiNOC 2. Entropic says its high spectrum technology would fit well in what the Chinese companies want to have. 

However, it takes a long time to go from developing a standard to shipping products. We estimate that the earliest HiNOC 2 products will be on the market is probably 2015. We think Entropic will be one of the first to produce HiNOC 2 chips.  

In the meantime, Entropic is not sitting on the sidelines. It is deeply involved in selling its c.LINK technology to cablecos that are in the process of selecting products from various equipment makers. Entropic’s c.LINK 1.1 chips are in equipment that several Chinese cablecos have announced that they are using:
- Chengdu MSO, which offers services to about four million residences
- Tianjin Broadcast and TV Network, which has about three million pay TV subscribers  
Ben Chan, Entropic’s director of marketing for its access product line, says Entropic-based gear has other wins but they are not yet announced.  ....

For the complete article go to www.onlinereporter.com

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‘The Fight for Consumer Broadband Supremacy: How Telcos Are Getting Their Broadband Mojo Back’

From The Online Reporter   

A seemingly insatiable demand for streaming and data is putting more strain on broadband suppliers than ever before. It is not inconceivable for a modern home to require speeds of 50Mbps in order to fully experience the range of simultaneous HD video and data streaming on multiple devices such as smart TVs, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, tablets, smartphones, etc.

Meanwhile, advances in such fields as home health, premises monitoring, remote education and 4K Ultra HD TV could easily see a household needing 100Mbps in the not too distant future.  

 

For telcos, getting past the magic 25-40 Mbps speed barrier has been expensive and difficult. Heavy reliance on copper networks has meant going down the costly route of building all new fiber networks.

Cablecos and their suppliers of DOCSIS are already providing these speeds. They are confidently offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps over original networks simply by making network gear changes in distribution offices and by installing new modems in homes.

‘The Fight for Consumer Broadband Supremacy: How Telcos Are Getting Their Broadband Mojo Back’ analyzes trends affecting the battle to gain lucrative broadband subscriptions. The 57-page report argues that the ‘miracles’ occurring in twisted pair copper wire technology are tipping the balance of power in favor of telephone companies.

VDSL2 Vectoring

The report explains important developments in such technologies as VDSL2 Vectoring, DSM, G.Fast, FTTdp and DSL Rings. These recent advances now allow the world's telcos to offer DOCSIS- and fiber-like speeds over their existing copper wire connections, thus saving billions in fiber deployment costs.

The report is structured around the following sections:

OVERVIEW

TELCO’S BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES

WHAT TELCOS ARE DOING

CABLECOS’ DOCSIS BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES

WHAT CABLECOS ARE DOING

A SOFTWARE SOLUTION

VECTORING

FTTdp

DSL RINGS

NEW GEAR FOR THE HOME

G.FAST

FIBER

Inside, the ‘The Fight for Consumer Broadband Supremacy: How Telcos Are Getting Their Broadband Mojo Back’ report:

1)    Uses plain language to describe these latest broadband technologies and explains their significance for the rest of the digital media industry.
2)    Details recent implementations at such companies as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Verizon, BT, Belgacom, KPN, etc.
3)    Provides a complete explanation of the ‘miracle of VDSL2 Vectoring’, its importance to telcos and the products and alliances that are being offered by chip makers, broadband, vendors, STB manufacturers and software developers (such as Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom, ASSIA, Lantiq, ZTE and MediaTek).
4)    Shows how home networks and digital media devices like STBs and modems are being adapted to conform to new exterior broadband standards.

Who should read this report? Telephone companies, cable companies, broadband suppliers, equipment and software vendors to these companies, pay TV operators, IPTV companies, TV and device manufacturers, makers of set-top boxes, chipset makers and the infrastructure that delivers video to the home, financial analysts and industry consultants and observers.

Find out how more about this titanic fight for broadband supremacy.

The pricing for ‘The Fight for Consumer Broadband Supremacy: How Telcos Are Getting Their Broadband Mojo Back’ report is as follows:

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- - Subscribers to “The Online Reporter” are entitled to a 40% discount.

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Also available at:

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For more information, see extracts of the report.

 or call Simon Thompson, Tel: +44 (0)1280 820560 

simon@riderresearch.com

 

About Rider Research Inc.

Rider Research (www.riderresearch.com) publishes specialist bulletins, newsletters and reports about digital content, online entertainment services, broadband and home networks. It follows these businesses on a weekly basis through the strategy bulletin, “The Online Reporter”.

Methodology

The report from recent issues of “The Online Reporter”. Most are based on interviews with management at the companies that are involved in the development of the new technologies: VDSL2 Vectoring, DSM, FTTdp and DSL Rings. Subsequent reports on the matter that appear in The Online Reporter will be sent monthly to purchasers of this report at no additional cost for one year.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW

How Much Broadband Speed Do Homes Need?

Telcos’ Broadband Technologies

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES

- Current Broadband Technology Overview

   Cablecos: DOCSIS 3.0

   Telcos

   FTTH

  G.Fast

Binders Are the Telcos’ Broadband Problem

Telcos Have More Affordable Choices Than All-Fiber Networks

Actelis Doubles DSL Speeds in Rural Areas

OTT’s Deep, Dark Secret: It Needs Lots of Bandwidth

WHAT THE TELCOS ARE DOING

CenturyLink Bulking up Network

AT&T Commits to Expand & Upgrade Wireline Broadband Network

Verizon Won’t Build New FiOS After 2014

Vectored DSL (Not Fiber) Is Sweeping Europe

BT Doubles Broadband Speeds at Same Monthly Cost

UK Doles out £114m ($185m) to Cities to Build Broadband Networks

CABLECOS’ DOCSIS BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES

DOCSIS 3.0 Reigns Supreme in Broadband

Intel Shows 1 Gbps DOCSIS 3.0 Chips

DOCSIS Revs up to Almost 1 Gbps

Cablecos Developing Next-Generation 3.1 Version of DOCSIS

Cablecos Not Waiting for Telcos to Catch up

WHAT THE CABLECOS ARE DOING

Cablecos Increasing Broadband Subs, Losing Pay TV Subs

Time Warner Cable Increasing Broadband Speeds by up to 50%

Charter Upgrading Infrastructure to Offer Faster Broadband & IPTV

Virgin Media Uses Superfast Broadbandand TiVo to Add Subscribers

A Software Solution

ASSIA Software Makes xDSL Operate More Efficiently

Lantiq & ASSIA Partner to Push the VDSL2 Envelope

VECTORING

VDSL2 Vectoring Enables 100+ Mbps Over Telcos’ Copper Wires

Alcatel-Lucent Technology Makes Deploying VDSL2 Vectoring Less Expensive

Alca-Lu Takes the Lead in Vectoring

First G.Vector Plugfest

ADTRAN’s Vectoring Offers Speeds up to 200 Mbps...

Not Lantiq’s FTTdp

ZTE’s VDSL2 Vectoring Gear Ready to Ship

A Few Pictures Are Worth...

Broadcom’s Take on Vectoring

ASSIA Launches DSLAM-Neutral Version of Vectoring

Alcatel, ADTRAN, ASSIA, Broadcom, Lantiq Bring out Vectoring Guns

Ikanos Says Its Node Scale Vectoring Provides 200 Mbps over Existing Copper

FTTdp

Lantiq’s FTTdp Technology Does 250 Mbps over Existing Copper

Low-Cost, Low-Power Mini Cabinets withLantiq Chips Can Be Mounted Anywhere

FTTdp’s Impact on Telcos Could Be Significant

DSL RINGS

Startup Genesis Technical Launches 400 Mbps Broadband over Copper Wires

DSL Rings Compared to VDSL2 Vectoring

Compared to G.Fast

NEW EQUIPMENT IN THE HOME

Home Network Speeds Keeping up with Broadband

Lantiq, Qualcomm Atheros Produce xDSL/11ac Gateway Design

Broadcom Launches New Gateway Chips for Telcos

Sagemcom Launches Gateway with Vectoring

G.FAST

The G.Fast Connection

G.Fast Provides 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps to theHome over Telcos’ Existing Copper

Sckipio Makes Its Debut with G.Fast

FIBER

Is Fiber to the Home Dead?

We All Agree on the Need to Go To Fiber. Right? Well Don’t We?

Broadcom Chips Increase Speeds to Coax & Copper Wire Cabinets…

BT to Offer 300 Mbps in 2013

Tiny All-Fiber Networks Popping Up Throughout the States

ADTRAN Helps Tiny Ohio Telco Go All Fiber

Telcos Suddenly Have More Choices for Higher Speed Broadband - VDSL2 Vectoring

From The Online Reporter   - the No. 1 source for strategic intelligence about broadband and home networks

 
In Addition to All Fiber Networks 

Just as the telcos seemed about to let their copper wire networks drag them to the bottom in broadband performance, new copper wire technologies have 
emerged. It’s no wonder that telcos such as Verizon have ended their efforts to build all fiber networks. 

The Miracles Occurring in  
Twisted Pair Copper Wire Technology  

The technology for carrying audio to and from phones over a twisted pair of copper wires was invented back in the 1880s, over 130 years ago. Most homes in first- and second-world countries have at least one pair connecting them to telephone networks, far more than cablecos can ever hope to connect. However, as recently as ten years ago, broadband speeds over those wires were, at best, 1 Mbps and much less than that, if at all, in sparsely settled areas.

Technology	Speeds Up to
VDSL2	40 to 50 Mbps
VDSL2 Vectoring	100 Mbps
Reverse powered FTTdp	100 Mbps
DSL Rings	400 Mbps
G.Fast	500 Mbps to 1 Gbps

Telcos, their suppliers, chipmakers and software services have sped that up to 40-50 Mbps in many areas with technology called VDSL2. They are now launching affordable copper wire broadband technology called VDSL2 Vectoring that will provide speeds in the 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps range, which will be available in months. They are well underway in developing a technology called G.Fast that is purported to have 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps over those same existing pair of twisted copper wires.

This photograph shows 600 pairs of twisted copper wires. Each pair will soon be capable of broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps for up to 600 residences. 

The only changes to the telcos’ network has been to bring fiber closer to the home where it terminates in a distribution point (cabinet), new gear in the cabinet and a new modem in the home — but those wires are the same ones from the 1880s.

A few years ago it looked as if the telcos would have to build all fiber networks to the home in order to a) compete with the cablecos, b) satisfy politicians and regulators for higher and higher speeds and c) fulfill consumers’ increasing demand for video streams to TVs, tablets and smartphones. Now they seem to have or will have several choices in using their existing fiber/copper networks with no new wires to install:
Cablecos are offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps over their existing networks by changing the network gear in the distribution office and installing a new modem in the subscriber’s home. They and their suppliers are confident that in time they can offer speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

Alcatel-Lucent, a main pusher of VDSL2 Vectoring, has knocked down a major cost barrier to its deployment with technology called Zero Touch that eliminates the need to upgrade every modem on the network.

Chipmaker Lantiq and telecom gear maker Aethra Telecommunications have developed broadband technology that will allow telcos to offer speeds of up to 250 Mbps over 200 meter (yards) long twisted-pair copper.

A Canadian startup called Genesis Technical Systems is about to unveil a copper wire technology called DSL Rings that can support up to 400 Mbps over existing telcos’ networks.

The telcos and their vendors are jointly developing an ITU technology standard called G.Fast whose goal is to provide speeds of up to 1 Gbps over existing copper wire as long as the distribution point (where the fiber is) is within 200 yards of the residence.

Please don’t ask why anyone needs those speeds like that telco executive who asked a short 10 years ago, “Why would anyone need 1 Mbps at home?” There’s a long list of applications that might need the higher speeds — although 1 Gbps seems excessive. We do know this: without secure and high-speed broadband and home networking, there is no OTT industry or vibrant Internet.

Alca-Lu Technology Makes Deploying VDSL2 Vectoring Less Expensive

- “Zero Touch Vectoring” Eliminates Need to Upgrade Every Modem
- Governments, Cablecos, Consumers Pushing Telcos for Higher Speeds 

The year-or-so old VDSL2 Vectoring technology provides the telcos the best near-term solution for increasing broadband speeds up to 100 Mbps without having to build all-fiber networks. However, the biggest barrier to widespread deployment of VDSL2 Vectoring has been that it required telcos to replace every modem in existing subscribers’ homes. 

Network gear maker Alcatel-Lucent has developed what it calls “a major new innovation” for VDSL2 Vectoring called “Zero Touch Vectoring” that eliminates the need to update the firmware on every DSL modem in the VDSL2 network. That will save the telcos substantial dollars and reduce the time and complexity of providing VDSL2 Vectoring speeds that are up to 100 Mbps on existing networks. 

Alca-Lu said sophisticated signal processing is used to ensure that existing VDSL2 modems can continue to run at full speed without reducing the service quality for subscribers that have the higher-speed VDSL2 Vectoring modems. 

The telcos are faced with two challenges in their broadband efforts:
 - Government regulators and politicians want every home to have access to ultra-high broadband, generally defined as speeds in the 40 to 100 Mbps range.
 - Cable TV operators are the ones pushing broadband speeds with DOCSIS 3.0 technology that allows them rather inexpensively and easily to offer speeds of up to 100 Mbps, and higher speeds are expected for DOCSIS 3.0 in 2013. To upgrade to the higher speeds, the cablecos need only upgrade the gear in the central office and the subscriber’s modem, for which some of them have begun charging extra. 

Until VDSL2 Vectoring became available, the telcos’ only alternative was to build fiber networks all the way to the home, a complex and costly venture. Telcos, like the cablecos, have to run fiber to near the home to used VDSL2 Vectoring, which removes interference between copper wires from the fiber to the home, which allows them to offer fiber-like 100 Mbps speeds without a full fiber deployment. 

Alca-Lu launched VDSL2 Vectoring commercially in September 2011, but deployment on a wide scale was limited by the need to replace every modem on the network, which it says “Zero Touch Vectoring” now solves. 

It has also enhanced its VDSL2 Vectoring technology with the ability to support up to 384 copper lines in high-density areas and has developed troubleshooting technology called Motive Network Analyzer to maximize network performance.

Dave Geary, chief of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireline activities, said, “Trials with leading service providers have shown that VDSL2 Vectoring can effectively deliver the kinds of speeds it promised, and we are now starting to engage in mass-market deployments. With our Zero-Touch Vectoring and other innovations we are eliminating the final barriers that service providers around the world have faced — enabling them to deliver higher bandwidths to more subscribers, now.”

The key word is “now” because governments and competition from cablecos are pushing telcos to increase their broadband performance. So are consumers with their seemingly insatiable demand for OTT streaming. 

To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about internet-delivered content services and broadband networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php  

Research & Analysis: "How Second Screen Apps, Tablets & OTT Are Changing TV Viewing Habits; The Coming Demise of the EPG and the Remote"

October 2012

The rise of over-the-top (OTT) TV combined with the proliferation of smart devices in the living room has produced a demonstrable effect on two long-standing pillars of TV discovery and navigation: the electronic page guide (EPG) and the remote control. 

The year 2012 has seen the digital era viewer mature into someone who is more likely to connect to the internet than pick up the remote control to watch a video.

A new 22-page report from Rider Research called "How Second Screen Apps, Tablets & OTT Are Changing TV Viewing Habits; The Coming Demise of the EPG and the Remote" examines how recent trends in the changing nature of TV search and discovery are threatening to drive EPGs and remote controls the way of the dinosaur.

A new non-linear, OTT world has arrived where viewers can choose from among tens of thousands of shows that are always available and on every device they own.

This report is based on recent articles taken from the digital media strategy bulletin, “The Online Reporter” and on new reports, summaries and conclusions.

Amongst other features, “How Second Screen Apps, Tablets & OTT Are Changing TV Viewing Habits” report:

* Explains how enhancements in the use of metadata are increasing the effectiveness of search and discovery.

* Introduces metadata search and recommendation engines companies and their products.

* Examines “Second Screen” devices, services and trends.

* Provides a listing of companies with second screen EPG apps offerings.

* Makes an exploration of “Neo EPG” second screen apps and “Neo Remotes”, a pairing of OTT content sources with the proliferation of internet connected-touchscreen smartphones and tablets.

* Speculates the near-future as content providers and consumers respond to these new “smarter” TV tools.
* Survey of such players as Fanhattan, Yap.TV, Miso, BuddyTV, Dijit, Peel, etc.

 

Who should read this report?  This is essential research for content and rights owners in entertainment and media; Consumer Electronics device, semiconductor and component vendors; broadband carriers and service providers; apps and software developers; strategy formulators and buyers; consultants; financial analysts and any company with an interest in the future of digital media.

------------------------------------

Second Screen services, Neo EPGs and remotes are affecting your business right now.

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About Rider Research Inc.

Rider Research (www.riderresearch.com) publishes specialist bulletins, newsletters and reports about digital content, online entertainment services, broadband and home networks. It follows these businesses on a weekly basis through the strategy bulletin, 'The Online Reporter'.

Table of Contents for

"How Second Screen Apps, Tablets & OTT Are Changing TV Viewing Habits; The Coming Demise of the EPG and the Remote"

Introduction

The Consumer Demands Control

- Binge Viewing

- News Organizations Find Online Platform

- Glossary of Terms

Metadata and the Search and Recommendation Revolution

- Metadata Makers

- ‘Smart’ Search and Recommendation

- The Art of Recommendation: Engines Look at Meta, Contextual & Social Network Data

The Second Screen in the Room

- The Neo EPG

- Second Screen App Spectrum

- Third Party EPG App Providers

- 5 Needs of a Second Screen App

OTT Killing The Remote

Conclusion

- Pay-TV companies now developing OTT-like UIs and second screen apps