February 1, 2007

CMC, C-COR Unveil 'VOD in a Box' For Smaller Operators

By Mike Robuck

Wave Broadband didn't have any problem connecting its various systems via fiber in its Puget Sound footprint in order to deliver VOD services, but its Ventura, CA, system was on an island.

Wave Broadband will be able to deliver VOD to the standalone Ventura system thanks to a new turnkey solution from the Comcast Media Center and C-COR. Earlier this week, C-COR and CMC took the wraps off their "VOD in a Box" solution, which is a pre-integrated on demand offering that is designed to serve cable markets with 25,000 or fewer digital subscribers.

"To me, the real attraction of this is that it allows a smaller system, like Ventura, be able to launch VOD," said Wave Broadband COO Steve Friedman. "In Ventura, we have a lot of digital subscribers as our base and a lot of high speed users as well. We're really excited about the opportunity to launch VOD in Ventura."

Ventura was already familiar with C-COR's VOD platform from having it deployed in other systems. Wave Broadand already had two-way capability in the Ventura system, and the company started working on installing VOD in a Box late last year.

"It really was just a headend installation and then preparing the plant," Friedman said. "The most important part was making sure that the plant could handle the streams, and it can."

Friedman said there was still some installation work to be completed before the VOD services are launched. CMC and C-COR expect other operators to take VOD in a Box for a spin later this year.

Michael Pohl, president, global strategies, for C-COR, said a series of questions are sent to the cable operator prior to the installation of the solution.

"Once they respond to the questions, then we can configure the system for that particular operation," he said. "The goal here is to keep the manual intervention at a minimum at all levels. We rely on an operator's knowledge of what they have in a system and configure a response to that."

What's in the Box

Pohl said and CMC Vice President and COO Gary Traver started discussing the possibilities for VOD in a Box in July last year after having "ethereal" discussions for years.

For small and medium-sized operators, VOD in a Box covers all of the basic hardware and software elements that are required to deploy a VOD solution.

"It's a turnkey solution that involves us (CMC) providing and aggregating the content and also providing the operational support," Traver said. "In addition, we both also provide the maintenance support and all of the hardware that is necessary to drive it. That's why it's truly VOD in a Box."

VOD in a Box product uses C-COR's n5C compact video server platform, which employs components of the company's n5 On Demand server platform, including the nABLE back office management system. Pohl said the total amount of equipment needed at the headend was about half a rack.

On the CMC side, the CMC's content management service allows a cable system to accept content from multiple sources without the usual need to coordinate, manage and manipulate the content at each headend.

With the solution, cable operators won't not need an on-site asset management system or on-site content management personnel since the CMC's VOD operations team will address all of the requirements for acquiring and managing the content, including creating and validating meta-data, pitching VOD content to the C-COR servers and providing around-the-clock quality assurance monitoring.

"The single biggest cause of service calls today in a VOD system for us is asset issues; the asset's not there, the asset isn't encoded properly," Pohl said. "The CMC will be verifying the receipt of the assets and taking control of the asset phase, so you're no longer relying on multiple providers, which makes it a lot easier for a system to operate than what we currently see in the field today."

Currently, the solution works with Motorola's digital cable systems, but it will be compatible with Scientific Atlanta down the road. VOD in a Box uses the TV Guide program guide and works with major billing systems such as CSG, Convergsys, Amdocs and Great Lakes.

VOD in a Box also features a barker channel from CMC and C-COR that is specific to the content offered.

The CMC's VOD content management services include a secure Internet portal that allows affiliates to track when programming has propagated from the CMC catcher successfully to the affiliate's VOD system, and it can list VOD assets by programmer or provide a total view of all VOD assets.

Traver said the two companies also worked on supporting manufacturers and third-party vendors that cable operators use in order to minimize problems.

"If you look at this on a make vs. buy basis, we think from a value standpoint that we have a much higher value than what is currently available today because we're providing capabilities that don't exist," Traver said.

- Mike Robuck