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Multimedia
- Bringing Enhanced Cable Services to Market: Forecasts and Analyses
Evans, Scott
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Provides a state-of-the-industry overview of cable. Included are recommendations for the industry plus financial analyses using different enhanced services models: video only, Internet only, video + Internet, video + voice, and combined services.
- Broadband Access Ramps: The Inevitable Next Horizon
Wright, Terry
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Considers the drivers underlying the emergence of the publicly accessible broadband network. Begins by stepping back in history to look at similar change agents that produced paradigm shifts. Argues that the cable industry has the opportunity to be an influential catalyst in shaping the nature and timing for this evolution to broadband-accessed cyberspace, as it remolds its installed competitive advantage into the fundamental on-line services access transport.
- Competing with HFC: Tips, Tactics, and Tricks for Switched Digital Video Providers
Goldberg, Lee
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author looks at two competing systems for bringing voice, video, and data into homes and small businesses -- hybrid fiber/coax networks and switched digital systems. He discusses the architectural similarities and differences of each and the assumptions each makes about the future of communications. He argues convincingly that SDV's switched architecture and open-ended connectivity make it able to offer a wider variety of services. Finally, he provides some practical advice on how to leverage the strengths of SDV into competitive advantage.
- Convergence Clash: PC versus TV as the Ultimate Browser
Evans, Scott
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The preceding article is followed up with a short piece on the battle over the next mass market home appliance for accessing information and entertainment. The author tells why he's placing his bets on the Internet Appliance, or the $500 Networking PC.
- Converging Webcasting Technologies
Van Tassel, Joan , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- This companion article provides a quick synopsis of TVPC and PCTV companies and technologies.
- Fiber Antics: Practical Lessons in Building a Municipal Fiber Optic Network
Grant, August E. , Ph.D.
Berquist, Lon
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Draws lessons from the city of Austin, Texas and its process to select a company to build a broadband network to provide telephone, cable TV, digital video, and digital data services. Readers may find the city's selection very interesting and insightful. It is hoped this information will be useful to companies wishing to work with city governments on advanced telecommunications networks.
- Forecasts for Advanced Video Services
Vanston, Lawrence K. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author previews a newly defined industry -- advanced video services (AVS). He provides forecasts with analysis for the adoption and availability of AVS and HDTV. These forecasts are intended to help decision makers who are concerned with timing the development of the advanced video services market and the supporting infrastructure . Included is a table classifying video services by customer interface.
- Forecasts of High-Speed Home Digital Services
Vanston, Lawrence K. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Summarizes recent Technology Futures, Inc. forecasts of the percentage of households using digital services by data rate. Also provides some scenarios describing how one group of potential providers -- local exchange carriers -- will have to upgrade their networks to be competitive in the market for digital access services.
- Media Asset Management
Van Tassel, Joan , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author provides an overview of an emerging technology, media asset management, that she argues will revolutionize the entertainment industry and all content provider businesses in the next decade. She introduces us to the technology -- what it is and what it does -- and discusses why film studios, production companies, special effects and post-production facilities, Internet content providers, and many Fortune 500 companies are adopting the technology. She concludes with a look at barriers to adoption and some drivers for adoption.
- Quality of Service for Multimedia Communications
Fredricsson, Staffan , Ph.D.
Perey, Christine
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The authors review a Multimedia Communications Quality of Service document developed by the Multimedia Communications Forum to provide both service providers and users with universal performance guidelines and service parameters for multimedia communications.
- Rebooting the Regulatory Operating System: The Computer Industry Turns on the Power
Van Tassel, Joan , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Tells the story of an extraordinary industry coming of age, its entrance into the domain of public policy and regulation, and its demand for changes in the way business-as-usual is conducted. This article begins with a description of the core beliefs and practices that are so highly regarded within the information technology (IT) pantheon. It then describes the factors that are propelling the IT companies to action and the fears this creates in traditional analog-based entertainment, consumer electronics, and telecommunications industries. From there, the article details the inter-industry conflicts that have arisen and the actions the information interests are taking to pressure the government and existing industries to meet the needs of digital technologies. Finally, after covering the scorecard of the IT efforts, the piece examines the potential for moving from conflict to collaboration between these groups.
- The Evolution of the Interactive Broadband Server, Part I
Van Tassel, Joan , Ph.D.
Rose, Steve W.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The authors discuss developments leading up to and traditional approaches to the design of interactive broadband servers. Particular attention is given to servers that are constructed by aggregating conventional single bus computers with other necessary components.
- The Evolution of the Interactive Broadband Server, Part II: The Cool Hairy Onion
Van Tassel, Joan , Ph.D.
Rose, Steve W.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- In Part I of this article in the last issue of NTQ (1Q96), the authors discussed the design and inherent problems with conventional linear interactive broadband server (IBS) design. In this second part, they present the rationale for the features and resulting benefits of an integrated IBS design which will translate into improved performance and reliability. They use the "cool hairy onion" analogy to describe the richly connected layers separated by function and responsibility. The authors describe each functional layer and the storage design, and conclude with some thoughts on the location of the server.
- The Remaking of the Internet
Evans, Scott
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author gives us his perspective of the Internet. Always entertaining, he provides a quick history of the evolution of the Internet, then looks at three emerging trends -- Intranets, digital cash payments, and multimedia content delivery via the Internet -- that have the potential to remake the Internet.
- Virtual Worlds Commerce
Gell, Michael , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Explores the shift in the market toward the commoditization of virtual reality and the creation of on-line virtual worlds. New developments in electronic commerce are identified which point the way toward new forms of business intelligence and new sources of profit. The implications for the telecom industry are analyzed in terms of the new technologies and capabilities required to support virtual worlds commerce. Opportunities and threats are also identified.
- Webcasting: The Computing Paradigm Shifts into Third Gear
Van Tassel, Joan , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Highlights the new broadcast functionality of computers that extends the computer's usefulness into the arena of mass communication and distribution of information. The author describes the different technologies that comprise the field, covering the features, drivers, standards, market characteristics, and future directions of each segment.
- Will TVs and PCs Converge? Point and Counterpoint
Grant, August E. , Ph.D.
Shamp, Scott A. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Presents two sides of the debate on whether technological, organizational, and social factors related to computers and televisions have gotten to the point that the two devices are converging into an "information appliance." The authors consider factors impeding convergence, then take a look at factors pushing convergence.
- xDSL: The Solution for Today's Bandwidth Demands?
Smith, David
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Looks at the future of several xDSL technologies and potential market opportunities. The primary focus is on several different variations of ADSL and why they provide a quick, cost-effective solution to today's bandwidth constraints. Concludes with a discussion of where the real market opportunities wait and raises some questions about potential problems.
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