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April 2003 Issue

OPTIMIZE

Diagnostic Tool Fills Blind Spot

Editor's note: Welcome to "Optimize." Each month you'll benefit from other engineers' lessons-learned as they strive to save money in the operation and maintenance of broadband networks.

The quicker an operator realizes that there is a problem in the field, the quicker he can diagnose the issue, make adjustments at the headend or roll a truck and get revenue flowing again.

Traditionally, operators haven't been too good at diagnostics. This shortcoming seems to have carried over into the world of IP. In many cases, operators either have no meaningful network surveillance in place or methodically ping end-devices to make sure they are operating, a cumbersome procedure that reveals limited amounts of information.

Apex, N.C.-based iglass is offering an approach that promises an improvement over both these methods. iglass learns what is occurring in the network by simply sampling traffic at the media access control (MAC) address layer of set-top boxes, modems and network devices. "It talks to anything that can talk IP," says president Tim Bolden.

The system (also called iglass) can communicate with video-on-demand (VOD) databases and gather information as granular as pauses and playbacks in VOD movies. Separately, it can monitor overall network operation with great precision. For instance, measurement of the devices on either side of the failed premises unit can provide hints about what is happening.

Currently, Bolden says, iglass is being used by Time Warner's Raleigh/Fayetteville, N.C., system and is being evaluated by the MSO's Memphis, Tenn., and Desert Cities, Calif., systems.

On to the premises

The system was first put to work minding network devices such as computers, servers and ATM switches, says Mark Eagle, the director of project engineering for Time Warner Raleigh. It is now being used for premise devices.

"Their philosophy is that usually there is some kind of communications going on between the controller and the device at the home....Why not come in and get a copy of the communications? If they loose contact with an individual set-top, it is no longer communicating or is down."

The information can provide a clever engineer a tremendous amount of data, Eagle says. If a certain set-top is down, for instance, the engineer can examine the adjacent boxes. If those boxes are working normally, the chances are higher that there is a problem with that specific box. If, however, the adjacent units are operating marginally, a systemic problem is more likely.

-- Carl Weinschenk

PULSE

Software Aims to Cut Integration Costs
N2 broadband

An open-standard software platform from N2 Broadband aims to cut costs and accelerate the deployment of VOD and cable's other new service offerings.

"The whole goal is to make things easier and cheaper for the operators, especially for testing new things as they come available," Darryl DeFreese, co-founder and chief architect at N2 Broadband. "We want to make it possible to just do testing, without a year's worth of engineering ahead of time."

N2's technology originated within Time Warner and accordingly has deployed on the Scientific-Atlanta platform. But the company says that OpenStream supports a Motorola platform, as well.

Already operational in its core component with Concurrent, nCUBE and SeaChange, N2 says its OpenStream platform also is compatible with relative newcomers to the VOD server market, such as Broadbus Technologies, InfoValue, Kasenna, Midstream Technologies and VideoPropulsion.

The compatibility afforded by open standards translates into quick, pre-integrated solutions. DeFreese points to an N2 deployment with a large MSO that used its own billing system and choice of VOD systems and applications: "They were able to mix and match, pick and choose, and still get it all up and running in six weeks."

Problems in NYC

That is admittedly a best case. A counter-example might be Time Warner, New York City.

Instead of six weeks, some six months passed between the time that nCUBE landed the coveted Manhattan account and on-demand service was launched last fall.

Moreover, this deployment confirmed that operators simply cannot launch VOD and be done with it, especially in a system with 500,000 digital subs.

Engineers close to the action report that many issues were detected only after the system began to hit larger order volumes. Iterative problems associated with scaling evidently led to the hub and system-level failure late last year and reached a critical point in early 2003.

Redoubled efforts by the vendors, including not only nCUBE and N2, but also S-A, CSG Systems, and Oracle, led to a stabilization of the platform by March, sources say.

Given the multi-vendor nature of any VOD launch, even an insider would have difficulty assigning blame. What operators clearly want, however, is for vendor collaboration to be as efficient and painless as possible.

N2's DeFreese suggests that as on-demand services scale, operators also will want more choices, such as library servers with lots of disks, as well as fast-streaming servers that solve the "Friday-night problem."

IDC analyst Greg Ireland agrees that the market is facing youthful growth: "VOD is deployed, but the service is still ramping up." He also underlined the importance of compatibility on Motorola for any vendor aiming to serve Comcast's market.

-- Jonathan Tombes

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