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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel G. DeBusschere who wrote (1789)	10/30/1998 8:32:00 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

Cable TV Technology Makes Progress on IP Telephony Posted October 30, 1998 02:00 PM PST The following information has been excerpted from the October 29, 1998 edition of TeleCompetition Report. As president and chief executive officer of CableLabs, the cable TV industry's research and development consortium, Richard R. Green has seen a lot of technology come and go. TCR talked to Mr. Green last week about the cable TV industry's technological progress and the viability of Internet protocol-based telephony in the wake of the planned AT&T Corp.-Tele-Communications, Inc., merger. TCR: How much has the technology changed since 1988, when CableLabs was started? Green: Our first task was [figuring out] how to introduce fiber into the all-coaxial-cable network. . .So a uniform approach evolved out of that, which has become the hybrid fiber/coaxial architecture. Then we began working on digital technology. And I think it was about seven years ago that we issued the first RFP [request for proposals] for home digital video equipment. . .that has evolved now into digital cable TV. We also worked closely with the broadcasters to develop high-definition television [HDTV] as well. Then we began the next effort with telecommunications-telephony, data, video telephony, those kinds of things. And that, of course, has evolved into [CableLabs'] current three projects, which are the cable modem, the integrated set-top box, and then packet cable, which is the specification of the network equipment needed to connect terminal equipment together to make it into a very advanced packet-based network. TCR: Has the move to more integrated services made CableLabs' job easier or more difficult? Green: It makes it easier because it brings new industries into our range. In other words, we become the nexus of a convergence of industries. TCR: Where do you see the technology heading in the next five years or so? What are we going to be able to do that we can't do now? Green: When I look back, what we had on the drawing board, say, eight years ago was electronic program guides and fiber. We've come a long way. What we have on the drawing board today is packet cable, which is an advanced packet network. So I think in five years that technology will likely change our view of telecommunications altogether. What a packet network allows you to do is to take the coaxial cable that's coming in and provision it any way you want. You can have three telephone circuits, and one fax circuit, and a high-speed data service, and several digital services. Some of them [could be] two-way but all provisioned on that one coaxial cable. You can imagine how that's going to change how we think about telecommunications. TCR: Let's turn to IP telephony. Has it become a bigger priority for CableLabs because of the AT&T Corp.-Telecommunications, Inc., merger plan? Green: We were working on it long before the merger [proposal was announced]. In fact, I think what you see in the merger strategies are exactly what we needed: the business scenario to implement the technology. And that's what always happens. If we can get the technical ideas clear enough in people's minds and the directions clear enough, then the business deals seem to fall into place. The main elements of [developing IP telephony] are specifying the network elements-the software that resides in the network to manage the clients. There are different approaches to that, obviously. There are networkcentric approaches. The computer industry has a different view of packet networks than the telephone industry has, for example. And we're in the middle. So I would say that the biggest challenge in packet cable is that now we have to get agreement over a broader sector of participants. That's very challenging but also extremely rewarding. TCR: You're confident that the technology is there for IP to be viable? Green: Oh, sure. Some of our IP telephone links now are [producing] excellent quality. TCR: How far away are we from seeing IP telephony rolled out on a major scale, if not ubiquitously? Green: It's very hard to predict, and various of [CableLabs'] members have different scenarios and times for that. I would have to say it's yet to be determined. One of the ways I look at this is that the cable modem is a very hot product. It really works. It's very attractive to customers, and so the market is really there ready to be served. We compete with ADSL [asymmetrical digital subscriber line] services for that market. Our only barrier is just the physical development cycle and getting it deployed. It just takes physical time to do those things. TCR: You need time to build the modems. Green: Yes, and I think that's what will happen with IP [telephony]. It's the same sort of thing. It's going to be an extraordinarily exciting market, and that [excitement is] going to push the technology even faster. But you still have the constraints of time in getting things out there. ___________________ To learn more about TRI's TeleCompetition Report, click on the logo at the top of this article.