• Embarq still bedeviled by copper thieves
By Brian Santo
Even with the price of copper dropping far below historic highs, copper theft is apparently still a problem. Embarq has had such problems in Ohio that it is expanding its program to offer rewards for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of anyone stealing Embarq wires.
Embarq has been offering rewards ranging up to $1,000 to catch copper thieves in Warren, Ohio; Las Vegas; and Houston. The company expanded the program to all of Trumbull County in Ohio and has upped the top reward to $5,000.
“Copper theft continues to be a serious problem industry-wide,” said Dallas Hayden, manager of Corporate Investigations at Embarq. “Copper theft is not only a financial drain on Embarq, it also puts the entire community at risk of losing 911 and other emergency communications if those lines are cut by the copper thieves.”
• Electroline appoints Rodrigues as prez
By Traci Patterson
Electroline Equipment Inc., which designs and manufactures products for hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks, has named Winston Rodrigues as president of the company.
Winston replaces John Vincent, who resigned late last year. Prior to his appointment, Winston was vice president of operations for Electroline.
Winston said: “I am excited about this new roll and anticipate Electroline’s continued success as a valued supplier to the HFC marketplace. We have a dedicated staff with lots of ideas, and there are some great new products on the horizon. Be on the lookout for some announcements in the near future.”
• AmberFin promotes Devlin to CTO
By Mike Robuck
AmberFin announced that Bruce Devlin has been named as the company’s new chief technology officer. Prior to his promotion, Devlin was vice president of technology for AmberFin.
In his new position, AmberFin said Devlin will be responsible for leading strategy and vision at the company, helping its customers to deliver superior-quality TV, film and video content across a rapidly changing file-based media environment, which includes VOD, TV, mobile and other small-screen devices.
Prior to AmberFin, Devlin worked at Snell & Wilcox, the BBC and Thomson. He holds several patents in the field of compression and files and has contributed to books on media, MPEG and File Formats. Devlin was previously one of the founding developers of the MXF File Format Specification, which was awarded a technical Emmy earlier this month.
• Sezmi to use DRM from SecureMedia
By Brian Santo
Sezmi is using SecureMedia’s conditional access/digital rights management (CA/DRM) software to protect its personal television system.
Sezmi has a wireless box that aggregates terrestrial broadcast video and any content that can be found online or delivered via a broadband pipe (think on-demand services from companies such as Amazon or Netflix). Sezmi is now in trials and will be commercially available to U.S. consumers through broadband providers and national retailers in 2009.
SecureMedia said Sezmi is using its Encryptonite One System CA/DRM to protect content.
• Infinera suits up for SCTE’s Canadian Summit
By Mike Robuck
Infinera will be on hand for the first edition of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Canadian Summit next month in Toronto.
At the SCTE Canadian Summit, which will be held Feb. 3-4 at the Toronto Congress Center, Infinera will exhibit how its system, with its photonic integration technology and digital architecture, can help cable operators optimize their networks for triple-play services, video multi-casting and headend consolidation.
Infinera’s digital optical network platform is called the Infinera DTN, which is a digital ROADM based on large-scale photonic integration. Infinera said its systems are now deployed in metro or long-haul networks in every one of the five largest cable operators in the U.S.
More Broadband Direct:
• Microsoft offloads Comcast shares
• Obama whittles CTO list to 2
• AT&T set-top boxes garner Energy Star certification
• Group aims to sort out home networking morass
• Ericsson reports profit drop, to cut 5,000 jobs