In this interview Michael Loomis of Nortel Networks and Gary Bolton of Hatteras Networks explain the applicability of Carrier Ethernet to rural markets, using both existing copper and/or new fiber infrastructure. This allows carriers to provide services to rural areas that are comparable to what can be found in urban area. Michael Loomis points out how rural carriers are closer to their subscribers and are much faster to move to solutions than larger entities.

The previous issue of the Viodi View referenced Sheri Cooper and the selection of her husband as a finalist in the Children’s Category in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. To get to the finals, they had to pass through a panel of judges that included the likes of noted musicians, such as Al Jarreau and Bob Weir (Grateful Dead). In the final phase of the contest, it is about getting votes from the public; essentially it is now a popularity contest. 

In the tradition of using video to promote music, the duo put together this clever, low-cost production in the above video.

Check out the song and their CD, The Uh Oh Moon, at http://cdbaby.com/cd/cooperbounds. Vote by going to the following link and look for the title Jack Rabbit in the category Children’s Session I. 

http://www.jlsc.com/vote.php

A few hours after I wrote the first draft of this post and while I was thinking of ways to  to tie it a little tighter Viodi View, I ran across the John Lennon Educational  Tour Bus at NAB. The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Project is related to the aforementioned contest.  The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus web site describes what they do as follows:  

"The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a non-profit 501(c)(3) mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. Since 1998, the Bus has provided free hands-on programs to hundreds of high schools, colleges, Boys and Girls Clubs, music festivals, concerts, conventions and community organizations."

In addition to having John Lennon’s name behind it, any organization that has a booth at NAB that is large enough for a freight trailer and more is impressive. Good luck Sheri and Clancy.

Operation My Space, produced by the Fox property, relied on kulabyte to compress a video feed into a 480P high definition, Flash encoded broadcast. Over 2.7 million people viewed this 5-hour long, live program. 

Although kulabyte’s solution can provide multiple file types, its claim to fame is they can create Flash files that are equal to or better than MPEG-4. VON TV, which provided live streaming of the VON conference over the Internet, used the kulabyte encoding solution. The VON TV generously loaned their studio for this brief interview with Blake Wenzel. The encoding rate for this particular video was 300 kb/s.  Any jerkiness in the above video is because it is not being streamed.  

The technology is cool, but the real interesting story is the development of the underlying software. The software came about almost as an accident. The cousins were working on a database project for a local businessperson/family friend when they ran into a roadblock. Their solution led to the encoding solution and the formation of KulaByte. 

The most impressive thing is how unassuming Wenzel is. Wenzel was running the encoding station at VON TV when I met him. He correctly pointed out that a live production is a great way to learn how to improve the software. He was very helpful in capturing and editing the above video. Regardless of where kulabyte ends up, it is clear that Wenzel and his cousin are just beginning to make an impact on the technology industry.   

Brought to you by Innovative Systems

In this brief video, John Rose discusses the importance of broadband to the members of OPASTCO and their customers.  In his comments at the OPASTCO conference, Rose suggested that there probably would not be much near-term movement on USF and Inter-carrier Compensation policy.  He emphasized the need for educating Congress on the importance of broadband to rural America. 

He stressed that an often-overlooked aspect of broadband is that it is a moving target.  That is, although OPASTCO members have done a yeoman job of bringing broadband to north of 90% of their customers, the bandwidth needs are rapidly changing.  As a result, the operators’ investment in the network is never ending. 

The investment in networks and back offices are huge and OPASTCO is forming strategic relationships with companies, such as Microsoft, that can help its members reduce costs and add value-added features to add value to the broadband pipe.  He pointed out that OPASTCO’s customers are competing with companies in India and China.  He talked about the important role that OPASTCO has in helping rural communities remain competitive. 

Along these same lines, we kick off this year with some great advice from the granddaughter of the Queen of Etiquette, Emily Post.  In this brief video, Anna Post gives tips on the proper use of email, instant messaging, speaker phones, video conferencing and new technologies in general.  Feel free to pass this video along, as she has some common-sense ideas on the proper use of these relatively new communication methods.

(video source:  Logitech)

BTC Broadband sees its role as a technology leader dedicated to providing leading edge services to its community. Aggressively pursuing that path, it has launched one of the first 100%, MPEG4-based, subscription video services in the USA. The CEO of BTC, Lynn Pike, gave the Viodi View some valuable insights into the development and launch of BTC TV.

Viodi View asked Lynn what drove BTC to pioneer such an early push to MPEG4. The answers were clear. Taking a strong position against competition from Cox required a high level of video service, and going the MPEG2 route would require upgrading to MPEG 4 before achieving pay off of the MPEG2 gear.

I also wanted to know how long the process took. Lynn confided that "It took us almost 24 months, primarily due to the middleware and STB development. If we were to start today I would estimate only 12-18 months with the gating item being content contracts." Content availability will only improve as and when more MPEG4 oriented turnkey providers hit the market.

BTC teamed with Conklin-Intracom to build the infrastructure, and launched with over 145 basic and premium channels. Added features, including various flavors of PVR, network and STB based, will begin rolling out in December.

Lynn also offered some advice to other IOCs heading down this road. "Always allow more time than expected." Product roadmaps and delivery dates are still uncertain at this stage of any technology roll out and vendor support is critical.

"Twenty to thirty year old copper OSP is great for voice frequency, fair for DSL and really unfriendly to IPTV data rates. Figure on cleaning up 25 -30% of your pairs before you can deploy TV. You will find corrosion, bridge taps, load coils, moisture in splice closures, poor splice connections, and woe to you if you have paper cable …. Shorten your loops to under 9000′ – 5000′ is better."

So, how about the future? In answer to questions of bandwidth availability and consumption in the longer term, Lynn noted some concerns. He strongly supported increased fiber deployment. "….build green fields with fiber, overbuild with fiber while settlements are still available…." and looks forward to vendors expanding the bandwidth capacity of copper. "We will need 30 to 40 megs for HD, VOD and multiple streams."

Viodi will keep up with BTC’s progress, and give readers insight into the successes and roadblocks that BTC will encounter on their way to offering PVRs, HD and other video services to their community.