Dan, I came across this post below in today's SCTE list (the Society of Cable Television Engineers)...
[ owner-scte-list@relay.doit.wisc.edu
relay.doit.wisc.edu ]
... a news list that I've been following for about four years.
I chose you to address this to because it focuses on the Reltec product which you inquired about recently, comparing it to a number of others.
When I first began viewing this thread [four years ago], we were on the trailing edge of what I like to think of as the first-generation of convergence hysteria, you might recall, before some cold water splashed onto a couple of near-monumental deals. Today, we see some of those same players (TCI and BEL in two separate pending arrangements) on the cusp of approvals. [ ? ]
SCTE isn't ordinarily a list for casual reading of the popular or familiar issues, since it is a virtually all-male brotherhood [a term not to be underestimated or trivialized there] of craftsmen, engineers, consultants and managers who talk about everything from backyard dog lines to F-connectors, to SONET, to Add Insertion techniques, to switched video, to Homes Passed (HP) formulae, to the threat or benefits of satellite, etc.
The spectrum of topical coverage spans everything from the most pedestrian to the theoretical & esoteric. Mostly the former, however, that is, the day-to-day encounters of problems [and offered solutions] faced by the folks who actually are responsible for managing and putting in place the cable TV facilities at all levels.
---
Denver Techie,
Would you or others here who may be versed in these product lines be kind enough to critique this individual's assessment of the situation? What he says seems logical enough to me, but I tend to view these subjects from a distance, and I've not been exposed to the elements in quite the same way as him, or perhaps you [All] have been. Thanks in advance.
I thought that this would be an interesting diversion and provide us with grounds for making a comparison to what other folks are discussing, re: the last mile.
Enjoy, Frank C.
=======================snip begins:
[fellow member],
In response to your inquiry:
FIBER TO THE CURB (or to the Building/dormitory):
RELTEC (available now)& DSC (available in Spring 1999) both have
technologies which are capable of extending 10 megabit Ethernet, traditional telephony, and a 860 MHz Broadband overlay.
The RELTEC unit is currently being deployed by Bell South and SPRINT in some areas of the South Eastern United States.
The basics of this topography is supported by SONET, as their remote
terminal (RT) is inserted as a hub in the SONET ring. Each RT addresses ONU's at optical... extended from the RT (with power pair). The ONU then converts optical packaging at into conventional 64kb (RPOTS) service. There is also Ethernet service cards (supporting 10 megabit LAN), ISDN cards (supporting 128kb service) and video transport cards which all insert or interchange with functionality at the ONU's. A broadband network via AMVSB optical could overlay this telco topography, and Video stand alone ONU's are available providing a fiber to the curb or fiber to the MDU style topography.
Broadband Technologies Inc., also utilizes a similar technology with their topography, however I am not sure of the Ethernet capability as the basis of delivery for BBT is based on 1.52 megabit per unit/subscriber. RCN is using their architecture in most of their overbuild endeavors in the North Eastern areas of the United States, configured as a broadband overlay, though BBT boasts to a switched video capability eliminating the AMVSB overlay. I personally haven't been sold on switched video yet.
Next Level (Santa Rosa CA) <<<--Not GI .. also offers a similar technology (almost identical to Broadband Technology).
All four of these vendors have the technology in place and have good trackrecords in supporting their products.
ONU's are configured on fiber loops. Vulnerability is restricted to around 300 or so units, mimicking the vulnerabilities of typical HFC node topographies. Each RT addresses approx. 1500 HP.
Costs vary depending on which Vendor you choose.... The study I recently performed with RELTEC in a residential environment reflected a $1500 per HP cost is deployment of a full service (TELCO, ETHERNET & VIDEO) topography. Density obviously plays a major factor into this equation so the setting you have offered with DORMS etc., would most assuredly be a more economical deployment. You would have to accomplish you own specialized quote.
The pictures are great, as all subscribers are 1 amplifier in cascade. Service and maintenance is likewise very manageable. All Services are provided from the ONU to the subscriber via Siamese cable. Wire length from ONU is a factor.
Contention of bandwidth is managed well with all four vendors equipment, as the ONU is where most of the contention occurs, unlike the NODE in conventional HFC topographies.
{delete}
============================end snip |
