In announcements last week from Comcast about speed boosts for small-to-medium business (SMB) customers and from Cox Business about its MEF-14 certification, for instance, both MSOs referred to requirements of health care providers.
As an example of a metro Ethernet, the Cox announcement pointed to its MedNet, a private IP network in Hampton Roads, VA, that links doctors' offices with clinics and hospitals in the area. In this case, the network is engineered to exceed MEF specifications, partly in recognition of the sensitivity of the information being transmitted.
For its part, the Comcast announcement included three examples of business files needing a burst of downstream throughput: software service packs, PowerPoint presentations and digital X-rays.
Another important item on the medical IT agenda is the category of picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), as mentioned in this related CT Reports article.
Hotels, continued
Other verticals lean upon the cable industry's traditional aptitude for brokering content deals. In that light, the Cox Business/Hospitality Network last week announced that it has agreed with National Lampoon to deliver on-demand content from the comedy production company to more 80,000 Las Vegas guest rooms.
In Las Vegas, Lampoon-style humor is a vertical need all its own. More conventional infrastructure requirements include the kind discussed in this Cox deal with Trump International or in this message from Rob Hughes, senior cable solutions manager for Nortel:
"A great example showing how Nortel's enterprise products complement the existing services offered by cable companies to address the hospitality segment can be found at one of the largest hotel/casinos in Las Vegas."
While the unnamed cable operator provided high-speed data, Nortel added an enterprise solution "that enabled the hotel to enhance the guest experience and create new revenue generating services." Hughes indicated that use of color (maybe neon?) screens on the IP phone allowed the hotel to advertise restaurants, coming attractions and other services.
How best to meet the hotel market is open to discussion, a recent contribution being this cover story for April, "Cable and Hotels," by Glen Hardin, senior director, video systems, for Time Warner Cable's Advanced Technology Group. One of Hardin's takeaways: Hoteliers should be wary of proprietary HDTV technology.
Help CableFAX: The Magazine decide by nominating the executives you think should be included in our annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Cable. We will rank the top 50 most powerful women, and run a list of the second 50, in the November issue of CableFAX: The Magazine. Nominations are open to all cable operators, programmers, vendors and trade associations. Click here for nomination form. Deadline for nominations: Sept. 8.
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THE 100 POWER LIST It's time to get in your nominations for the CableFAX 100, version 2008. Nominate here. Deadline for nominations: Sept. 8.
Cable's stars turned out for the first annual CableFAX 100 luncheon at New York's Grand Hyatt last December. Catch Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Cash Cab's Ben Bailey as well as Sundance Channel's Larry Aidem and Cable Pioneer Bill Bresnan and others in our video from the wintertime event.
Who are cable's most powerful women executives?
Help CableFAX: The Magazine decide by nominating the executives you think should be included in our annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Cable. We will rank the top 50 most powerful women, and run a list of the second 50, in the November issue of CableFAX: The Magazine. Nominations are open to all cable operators, programmers, vendors and trade associations. Click here for nomination form. Deadline for nominations: Sept. 8.
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