Cisco Delivers First Elements of Advanced OpenCable Network Infrastructure
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- December 2, 1997 -- MEDIAONE., the Broadband service provider arm of US WEST Media Group (NYSE:UMG), announced state-of-the-art packet over SONET (POS) products based on Cisco Systems Gigabit Switch Router (GSR) are now in production within MEDIAONEs network.
"This is a critical milestone in MEDIAONEs Broadband IP/SONET rollout and an early indication that the Cisco 12000 GSR technologies can play a vital role in the cable industrys digital services offerings. MEDIAONE has been trialing the Cisco 12000 GSR successfully since early October," said Paul D. Bosco, vice president of Internet products and technology at MEDIAONE.
The Cisco 12000 GSR series routers are critical solution elements as MEDIAONE moves to meet ongoing demand for current products and anticipated growth in future voice and video products.
"With growth accelerating in our residential MEDIAONE Express products, strong interest in our new telecommuting services and business offerings, and quickly emerging packet voice and digital video applications, our network infrastructure must be enhanced very quickly. We also hear our customers asking for ever more reliability, availability, services, and high quality video based content. Working closely with Cisco we are extending our Broadband infrastructure leadership to OC12 and OC48 levels to satisfy demand, introduce new services, and meet our customer requirements. The Cisco 12000 GSR series routers provide us a scaleable carrier-class solution which meets our growing and rapidly changing needs," said Bosco.
MEIDAONE and Cisco are aggressively exploring the application of Cisco technologies within the cable industry. A key requirement is the cost effective distribution of MPEG2 digital video across a single common infrastructure fabric and operational environment supporting data and voice services. Cisco 7500 series routers and Catalyst 5000 switches already deployed within the MEDIAONE network are being linked with new Cisco 12000 GSR routers as this common fabric is constructed. Cisco IOS software is being used in the network to support high-performance queuing and traffic engineering supporting class of service (COS), quality of services (QOS), and video multicast services. MCNS cable modems (www.cablemodem.com) supporting dynamically provisioning QOS and multicast will be added to this network in an end-to-end configuration as these new modems are available.
"MEDIAONEs application of Cisco 12000 series routers, along with other Cisco products within their advanced infrastructure, will enable the delivery of Internet data, voice, and video products," said Don Listwin, senior vice president of Cisco Systems Service Provider Line of Business. "Our relationship with MEDIAONE will demonstrate the power of Cisco technologies for use in Broadband two-way cable networks connecting a range of devices including personal computers, thin clients, networked appliances and a new generation of interoperable set-top boxes. Cisco is also actively working with many partners to offer end-to-end solutions using advanced set top systems proposed in the CableLabs. managed OpenCable process."
Key OpenCable interfaces include the formats for digital cable television signals (MPEG-2), the consumer privacy system, the copyright protection system, the interfaces for high-speed connections to the Internet (Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specification (www.cablemodem.com)), and the interfaces required to author interactive applications.
About MEDIAONE
MEDIAONE, a unit of U S WEST Media Group (NYSE:UMG), is the nation's leading Broadband services company, providing more than 5 million subscribers in 19 states with entertainment, information, and communications services. U S WEST Media Group is involved in domestic and international cable and telephony, wireless communications, and directory and information services. For 1996, Media Group reported proportionate pro forma revenues of $8.1 billion. Media Group is one of two major groups that make up U S WEST, a company in the connections business, helping customers share information, entertainment and communications services in local markets worldwide. U S WEST's other major group, U. S. WEST Communications, provides telecommunications services in 14 states. U S WEST has proposed splitting the two groups into separate public companies by year-end 1998, pending shareowner and other approvals.
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