Sunday 15 September 2002
Harmonic strikes Telewest note
by Joe O'Halloran
At IBC2002, broadcasting networking delivery systems supplier Harmonic is celebrating a significant win with UK cable MSO Telewest.
The deal's exact terms have not been fully revealed, but it is seen as a huge coup for Harmonic, which will install its MetroLink DWDM transmission system in the upgrade of Telewest's network in southwest England. The installation represents the first deployment in the world of a 100 GHz DWDM solution for the cable market.
MetroLink has the ability to multiplex up to 32 wavelengths at 100 GHz/0.8 nm spacing on a single fibre. In the Telewest deployment, MetroLink will provide Telewest with a narrowcast/broadcast infrastructure to run voice, data and video services. The network runs across urban and rural areas and will be integrated into the existing Telewest environment using wavelength below the window occupied by existing 1550 nm trunk transmitters. Harmonic Market Development Manager Dawn Emms revealed that, due to the mixed geographical nature of the deployment, initially in some places only a subset of the 32 wavelength will be used. However, she assured that as cable modem deployment increases, Telewest could increase incrementally the number of wavelengths used.
According to Frank Summerfield, Harmonic's director of sales for broadband access networks, one of the key drivers for the Telewest deal was the increase in cable modem traffic. "Companies such as Telewest really need to increase the capacity of their networks because they are deploying cable modems at such a rate they are running out of bandwidth, and this is restricting customers from actually downloading the information they need," he said. "[Companies such as] Telewest can't wait for customer demand and then put in the bandwidth."
Such a deployment is a very aggressive statement on behalf of the financially beleaguered Telewest. Harmonic firmly believes that a mutually profitable future, for operators and technology provide alike, will come from deployments such as advanced networking technology. Cable modems and data are seen as the current key profitable services in the consumer sector but, said Emms, the Harmonic technology will boost Telewest's attempts to increase revenue streams in the business arena.
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