Dane DeValcourt

What does the future hold for cable providers?  I don’t know, but I do have some ideas.  I don’t claim to be an expert on any thing related to cable companies and I am not speaking for any one provider in particular.

I am personally very new to the cable industry, especially compared to just about everyone I have met since going to work for a provider.  However I am not new to technology and keeping up with the latest and greatest in tech trends.  One thing I have noticed over the years is the often we ‘geeks’ are lucky in that we often get a glimpse into the future without always knowing it.

What do I mean by that?  Well basically we tend to get our hands on or read about the latest technologies before they ever go mainstream.  And during this time its sort of like a glimpse into the future when you consider how few overall know about or have experience with these things.

Cable providers in general have sort of had it made in the past.  Competition was weak at best and cable for the longest time was the future.  So much has been done and so much remains to be done over that single piece of coax, but I think everyone can agree that its future is limited in the traditional sense.  How far out is a question that is highly debateable and I surely don’t want to get into.

Locally people are going to associate what I am saying with fiber, but thats not at all where I want to go with this.   Nope I am thinking a little broader in scope to be honest.  Why?  Because I am not concerned with the physical layer of things.  I know the physical layer can and will likely change over time.   And regardless of the physical layer cable providers still have to some how differentiate themselves and the services they offer.

The physical layer is not where one makes money.  Anyone can provide that.  Where you make money is in how you use that physical layer and what services are offered over it.

I think everyone can agree that the future boils down to two letters.  IP

Everything you can do over the traditional cable plant can be done over any type of physical layer as long as IP is involved.

What I find to be the most significant point about all of this is the fact that you can do this technically with no regard to whose providing the physical layer which also means you can provide your service to those outside of the typical cable providers physical plant.

The cable industry is always looking for ways to reach more homes, and always talk about “homes passed” and “RGU – revenue generating unit”. 

I am very surprised that the cable providers aren’t pushing themselves a little harder to become more of a “service provider” rather then just a “cable provider”.  Seems the focus should be on transitioning their services to be more IP based with the goal of providing the service to anyone who wishes to subscribe regardless of where or with whom the customer gets their physical connectivity with.

The cable industry more so then any other should be able to do this quickly and effectively.  Most have the backbone and pipes to provide this sort of service.  They already have the headends and MTC’s for obtaining the content from the content providers.  They have been working with and dealing with the hassle of negotiating contracts for content for years.  They typically have data engineers and experience on that side of things, including knowledge of switched digital or IPTV.  They have all these building blocks or pieces of the puzzle but they just don’t seem to be putting it together with the same end goal.

They seem to focus on doing all of this but stuck on doing it over their physical plant.  I personally think this might have a lot to do with the fact the industry is aging, including all of the experts and leadership.  What I love the most about the industry (the fact that their are so many people who have been in it longer than I have been alive) I fear is also what holds it back often.

A couple of years ago I shared with some friends my idea that I eventually blogged about as well regarding the creation of a media device that was easily configured to the individual users IP services (VoIP, Video and so on) that would not care about who provide the data pipe.  I liken it to a cross between your current cable box, Xbox or Apple TV, SIP phone and so on.  You can read a little about that here:  http://bit.ly/19WjKZ

This idea falls right into line with what I am talking about now and where I think the cable providers need to focus on heading to sooner then later. 

Here is a quick recap and what I personally think should be happening:

1. Become an IPTV provider.  Example is to partner with someone like Microsoft where users can subscribe to an IPTV service through their XBox or PC.
2. Become a VoIP provider.  Look at Vonage as example.  Offer a SIP service offering where anyone can signup to get a local phone number and VoIP service which could be tied to a SIP phone of SIP softphone client.
3. Keep improving your customers data side.  DOCSIS 3 sooner than later.  Realize that this (big bandwidth) is the future and the foundation for which all things will be based on including your own service offerings (see items #1 and #2 above).
4. Let go of these “walled gardens”.  Mr. Cable Provider, tear down this wall!  Seriously, its time to let go.  You have the potential to be so much more and your “homes passed” can become anyone with high speed internet and not just those directly connected to your plant.
5. Push the device manufactures and the CableLabs to start working on that dream device I mentioned.  It needs to be something based on a standard (like SIP).  See my post here for more details:  http://bit.ly/19WjKZ

Sorry for the long dissertation.  I write too much I know in my poor attempt at trying to get these ideas out of my head in a way for anyone to understand.  I am not talking about anything new here or revolutionary, but as many would say this is all evolutionary.

I hope in a few years I can look back on this and know that others in the industry were way ahead of what I give them credit for and already were working on all these things.

I happen to be reading the latest “Independent” today and came across an article about the whole LUS fiber project.  LUS is still being very silent about the whole architecture and service offerings and what not.  I have to admit this is a bit upsetting to me as a geek and a citizen.  I hate when government hides stuff from the people and isn’t transparent about things.  Apparently they get to do this some how because of some stupid law that excludes them for some reason.

Anyway, the article sums it all up and is a decent read if you have any interest in this project at all.  I warn you though its going to leave you wanting more and so I started looking for more based on the little bit we know about the project.

First here is the link to the article - http://www.theind.com/content/view/3592/1/

Ok, so we know LUS is using an Alcatel-Lucent solution.  I have already posted a few things about that and what I suspect they will be using.  We also know they plan to have the “triple play” as every service provider wants to call it these days.  We also know that the box that will be in the subscribers home will have the ability to surf the internet on the TV, and that caller ID will be able to show up on the TV.

So, I started googling and checking out the Alcatel-Lucent site to see what I could find.  It’s important to note that this is purely done in my own interest to better understand what LUS has cookin.  I am fascinated with all things related to networking and particularly this project since its happening in my backyard and affects me as does everyone else in Lafayette.  Also, I do not know with any certainty any actual specifics other than what I have previously mentioned in this post.

Ok, first stop is this page about the Alcatel-Lucent Triple Play Service Delievery Architecture.  Good info but not what I am really looking for.

Well what are you looking for?  I think for me the most intriguing part of the whole LUS project has to be the set top box that they will be using?  This is to me is going to be the most significant part of the whole thing.  I know I know.. everyone else is talking about the bandwidth and especially the peer to peer aspect but really for me I am a bit underwhelmed with all that.  I know that I simply have no need for it.  I rarely download movies or music to be honest.  And there just isn’t an application “yet” that would push me to really need it.  I am quite content with what I have strangely enough.

Back to this set top box.  Why I think this box will be important is that its going to have an integrated web browser.  My understanding is that subscribers who simply sign up for TV service would still be able to surf the internet on this thing for free.  Sure it will be pretty limited in what it can do for an integrated appliance browser.  But this can be a huge deal in that it may introduce people to the internet who have never before had the opportunity or the need to justify paying for a computer and internet access.

This would go a long way towards bridging that digital divide and would be a significant advantage over the various competitors.

There are so many set top manufactures that one cannot really even begin to guess what has been selected.

I started out by googling “alcatel ftth set top web browser” and well I guickly realized that it does not appear that Alcatel currently makes a set top box.  There was some info though about a company “ANT Software Limited” that they seem to partner with on this vary topic.  Seems this ANT Software makes a browser for set top boxes that utilize the Alcatel-Lucent solution.

http://www.antlimited.com/ant_galio_browser.asp?menu=153

http://www.antlimited.com/pr_061005.asp

As I kept digging I also came across something that was simply interesting and new to me.  I was looking at various Motorola set top boxes for IPTV solutions and learned about this “Microsoft Mediaroom”  http://www.microsoftmediaroom.com  which until now I hadn’t heard about.

Apparently the Microsoft Mediaroom is what is driving the AT&T U-verse boxes.  It’s pretty cool to say the least but nothing in the demos show anything about a web browser which I found to be absurd for Microsoft.   They again they did miss the boat early on when it came to the internet so it figures they would miss it on this too.  I kid I kid

The ironic part about the Microsoft Mediaroom and it lacking a web browser it seems is when you read a whitepaper MS put out back in 2004 about IP Set Top boxes.  In that paper they even talk about “superior browsing capabilities” on a set top box back in 2004!  They never cease to surprise me.

So with all this I still am no where closer to knowing anything about the set top box in question.  Maybe I should go stake out the LUS headend and possibly do some dumpster diving!  They did mention in the article about boxes in dumpster, seems the Independent was almost asking someone to do this very thing.  If the dumpster is within a caged area might have to wait for the dump truck to come empty it and follow the dump truck. 

Who am I kidding, I am to old and tired to do that anymore.  :-)