US West is using GI settops, Bell Canada has a couple different trials. Pixstream uses IBM encoders and decoders.
cableworld.com
Bell Canada VDSL Technology Delivers
By Jim Barthold
Bell Canada is trialing high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) technology to deliver video and high-speed data over traditional telephone lines in Toronto.
The telco is using VDSL to deliver ExpressVu direct-to-home satellite service from its parent company, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE) and high-speed data from its Simpatico Internet Service Provider (ISP) to multi-dwelling units (MDUs), said Clayton Mangione, direct-technical development.
"It's a cost-effective, time-effective way of carrying ExpressVu signals to their customers," said Mangione, noting "with 40% of our res market in buildings six stories or greater, we see a lot of potential."
U S West also uses VDSL for video and high-speed data delivery in Phoenix, but it is not allied with a DTH carrier such as ExpressVu, Mangione pointed out.
Although only in a trial to 100 Toronto participants, Bell Canada expects to expand the service to 430 units in November and start a full marketing trial in March 2000. If all goes as expected, Mangione said, the telco should roll out full service "as soon as possible" after that.
"There's no reason why we can't migrate very quickly into unlimited VOD and NVOD platforms, as well as WebTV-type platforms with Internet on television," as well, he added.
Bell Canada uses Next Level Communications Inc.'s (NLC) subscriber equipment and PixStream Inc.'s headend technology to repurpose the bundled ExpressVu MPEG programming, Mangione said.
"PixStream equipment actually takes the ExpressVu signal, strips off the conditional access and transcodes it into an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) level. From there we route it directly into the (NLC) BDT (broadband distribution terminal). By doing that, we have full access to all the ExpressVu channels, so we're not investing in any re-encoding at all," Mangione explained.
The telco must invest in both NLC's pricey subscriber equipment and PixStream's headend gear, but Mangione dismissed these as start-up costs that are swallowed by operational efficiencies as the service rolls out.
"The nice thing about VDSL is it's very low labor-intensive," he said. "The fixed cost investment is low because the cost is in the silicon chips and the set-tops and the line cards. As you get a customer, you invest."
Subscriber acquisition cost, he said, "is relatively low, whereas if you look at the cable modem world, you have to pass every home with coax, you have to make your plant two-way and upgrade to 550 or 750 (MHz) ... before you even get a customer."
Another important aspect of the trial, is its focus on MDUs - "and we're talking 30-story, 50-story buildings," he said.
"The way we see it is, it's cost-effective today for these high density markets and it's only going to improve over time," he noted.
The set-tops, while costlier than typical cable units, continue to drop in price to around $600 each in small quantities, Mangione said.
"Definitely we have seen a (price) drop," he insisted. "The nice thing about the box is it's a single box and inside there's a VDSL modem, there's three MPEG-2 decoders and a 10BaseT interface. You have pretty much everything you want in a typical MDU unit."
Those who don't want video, he added, don't get a box, but can still get data.
"We just put in an Ether set which is the VDSL card" that is "the same price as a normal ADSL modem," he said.
The only drawback to VDSL, Mangione admitted, is the need to be within about 3,600 to 4,000 feet of the headend equipment.
"You can see why we're targeting MDUs. There aren't too many buildings that go up that high," he said.
The PixStream equipment helps Bell Canada avoid high programming costs by reformatting and delivering the ExpressVu material.
"PixStream's gear is what we call a video headend-in-a-box," explained Dave Caputo, PixStream's marketing VP.
That headend unit, which standards nine rack units (RU) high, or under 16 inches, takes ExpressVu's bundled video content and "we bust it apart and create (our) own multicast and put that over the network," he said.
"We can do up to 144 channels in that one product" at a cost that could range from $6,000 to $40,000 a channel. "It really just depends on what your inputs are and your outputs are."
PixStream gear can also be used for cable headends, although the need is more pressing for telcos, Caputo said.
The twisted pair infrastructure, Mangione said, makes Bell Canada's MDU approach work.
"To feed an MDU with a DTH offering is pretty tough," he pointed out. "You can't get away with a dish on every balcony, so you're into building a dish on the roof and then rewiring the building to new coax and fiber facilities."
On top of that, he said, there is no building exclusivity in Canada, so BCE could wire a whole building for one DTH customer.
"The fixed cost investment (of VDSL) is very attractive," he said. "You don't have to wire the entire building to get that one guy on the 43rd floor."
The telco continues to use its existing infrastructure once it reaches the subscriber.
"We're running existing telephone wires so you can actually put this (Next Level) box where your entertainment center is on your existing wiring," he said. "You just plug it into the jack."
From there, the second and third signals can be fed throughout the residence using existing wiring.
"You have pretty much everything you want in a typical MDU unit," he said.
(October 18, 1999)
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