Cable Modem Services

Next-generation CATV systems: architecture, protocols, technologies, and applications.Cable modems and digital set-top boxes: architecture and operationHFC and its competitors: DSL, FTTL, DBS, and MMDSEvolving from two-way HFC networks to next-generation DWDM access Key applications: EPGs, IPPV, VOD, web browsing, e-mail, e-commerce, and more Broadband cable TV networks are undergoing a massive transformation, from simply broadcasting analog TV channels to providing sophisticated, two-way interactive services such as high-speed Internet access and video-on-demand. Now, one of the field's leading experts reviews the technologies, protocols, applications associated with the CATV revolution, and previews the migration path from today's two-way hybrid fiber/coax networks to the awesome capacities of tomorrow's DWDM fiber networks. Coverage includes: HFC cable networks vs. the competition: DSL, FTTL, DBS, and MMDSKey fiber-optics transmission technologies: directly and externally modulated laser transmitters, optical receivers, and Erbium-doped optical fiber amplifiers (EDFAs)Architecture of DWDM access networksHardware architecture and operation of digital set-top boxes and cable modemsSoftware architecture and applications for digital set-top boxes Ovadia offers in-depth analyses of single and multiple-wavelength fiber-optics transmission impairments over HFC and DWDM networks, and presents the emerging two-way DWDM network architecture. Finally, he discusses the DOCSIS cable modem protocol, as well as key set-top box's applications such as electronic program guides (EPGs), video-on-demand (VOD), Internet-based applications such as e-mail, and e-commerce. Whether you're anengineer, scientist, cable professional, manager, or investor, if you want to understand where cable is headed, you need "Cable TV Access Networks: From Technologies to Applications.

There is widespread concern in the telecommunications industry that public policy may be impeding the continued development of the Internet into a high-speed communications network. In the absence of ubiquitous, high-speed "broadband" Internet connections for residential and small-business customers, the demand for IT equipment and new Internet service applications may stagnate.Broadband policy is controversial in large part because of the differences in the regulatory regimes faced by different types of carriers. Cable television companies face neither retail price regulation of their cable modem services nor any requirements to make their facilities available to competitors. Local telephone companies, on the other hand, face both retail price regulation for their DSL service and a requirement imposed by the 1996 Telecommunications Act that they "unbundle" their network facilities and lease them to rivals. Finally, new entrants are largely unregulated, but many rely upon the incumbent telephone companies for the last mile or "loop" to connect their customers to their high-speed transport services.This asymmetric regulation is the focus of this volume, in which telecommunications scholars address the public policy issues that have arisen over the deployment of new high-speed telecommunications services.Robert W. Crandall is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. His previous books include (with Martin Cave) Telecommunications Liberalization on Two Sides of the Atlantic (2001) and (with Leonard Waverman) Who Pays for Universal Service? (Brookings 2000). James H. Alleman is an associate professor in interdisciplinary telecommunications at the Collegeof Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado, on leave at Columbia University.