• In the media: Netbooks threaten PC, cable TV
By Brian Santo
Incredibly inexpensive notebooks designed specifically to access content on the Internet are threatening several businesses, most notably the PC market, but also the cable TV market, The New York Times reports today (story here; registration required).
The article focuses on the disruption in the PC market beginning to be caused by inexpensive computers known as netbooks, which in many cases displace far more expensive, high-end models.
The article mentions that consumers who buy these computers to access content on the Internet are also beginning to cancel their pay-TV subscriptions.
• AT&T’s VoIP service available in Jacksonville
By Mike Robuck
AT&T announced today that it has launched a VoIP-based service to its customers in the Jacksonville, Fla., area.
Telcos such as AT&T and Verizon have seen their landline businesses erode due to competing VoIP offerings from cable operators and other service providers. By offering a VoIP service, AT&T hopes to win back customers who have dropped its landline service by including VoIP in its bundle of video, wireless and high-speed data. Unlike some VoIP-only service providers that use the public Internet to deliver phone service, AT&T is using its own IP- and fiber-based network.
In January of last year, AT&T announced that it had finished testing the voice component of the U-verse service (story here), finally adding the third element of the triple play that U-verse was designed to deliver. Since then, AT&T has been rolling out its VoIP service market-by-market in its footprint.
• Exfo releases new PON power meter
By Traci Patterson
Exfo Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. has introduced a new passive optical network (PON) power meter for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) testing.
Exfo’s PPM-350C PON Power Meter, dedicated to Broadband PON (BPON), Ethernet PON (EPON) and Gigabit PON (GPON) configurations, has new workflow management capabilities to enable more efficient and faster FTTH deployments, the company said.
The power meter provides a data storage interface designed with PON testing in mind – test results can be stored and flagged according to optical line terminal (OLT), optical network terminal (ONT), or even test location. And these results are stored in a protected data format to ensure the authenticity of each measurement.
More Broadband Direct:
• Zodiac, Alticast team up on tru2way
• AT&T wades deeper in femto waters
• Cablevision settles accounting irregularities case
• Jones/NCTI intros new IQ training program
• Cisco invests in Digitalsmiths
• Arris tops 20M mark for its EMTAs
• Limelight absolved of patent infringement
