Firefighters look to distance training
PALO ALTO, Calif.–Amnis Systems Inc. (formerly Optivision Inc.) has deployed its MPEG-2 technologies for the Tulsa Fire Department in a distance training application. Cadets and veteran firefighters in 33 work sites serving 400,000 Tulsa residents will receive 60 percent of the training while at their posts, via streaming video. The distance training that will be conducted includes emergency medical services and other emergency response training.
Having recently built its own fiber optic ATM network, the City of Tulsa had the infrastructure available to accommodate the fire department’s new training system.
The department is now able to send work sites live video, recorded programs and satellite transmissions from its broadcast production studio at its central fire training facility.
Con Edison, EurekaGGN team on access
NEW YORK–Con Edison Communications Inc. has formed a strategic relationship with EurekaGGN, a provider of integrated communications services. The new alliance, which is expected to generate up to $10 million in revenues for CEC over the course of the agreement, will enable CEC to gain access to as many as 150 New York City buildings currently served by EurekaGGN.
Under the terms of the five-year agreement, CEC will offer access to its fiber optic broadband network to EurekaGGN, which will in turn provide the telecommunications and Internet services within the buildings where EurekaGGN already has access, including voice services, dedicated Internet access and value-added Internet Protocol-based applications services.
ConnectSouth picks Viasource for DSL support
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.–ConnectSouth has chosen Viasource Communications Inc. to provide technical and field support to the provider’s DSL installation base. Viasource is a broadband technology deployment organization providing video, voice and data fulfillment and longterm support infrastructure to broadband providers. ConnectSouth, headquartered in Austin, Texas, provides a range of high-speed connectivity and Internet business application tools for small- and medium-sized businesses in the southern U.S.
ConnectSouth picked Viasource because its “national footprint fit well with our target markets, and because of their experience and expertise in the telecommunications sector,” says H. Doug Black, ConnectSouth senior VP of operations and engineering.
Rock Hill to roll out Pioneer set-tops
LONG BEACH, Calif.– Rock Hill Telephone and Cable TV has chosen Pioneer as its vendor-of-choice for its set-tops and interactive program guide. The company will be deploying Voyager digital set-tops and Passport navigation software during the first quarter of 2001, combining installation with a consumer promotion. The set-tops offer programming features such as video decompression, IP addressing, 32-bit processing and increased channel capacity and support USB, S-video, composite video and baseband stereo.
TWC gifts students with access
AKRON, Ohio–Time Warner Cable is offering reduced rate Road Runner high-speed online to University of Akron students and full-time employees who live in the northeast Ohio Time Warner service area, costing users $19.95 per month. The reduced rate represents an in-kind gift to The University of Akron estimated at $2.5 million over the next three years from Time Warner Cable. The university will administer sign up and billing, maintain help desks to support end users, and provide e-mail accounts and Internet access to end users via its on-campus network. Time Warner will conduct technical training, open to all faculty, full-time staff members and students at the university to increase Internet knowledge among people taking advantage of Road Runner services.
Moore breaks ground on facility
ERFURT, Germany– Moore GmbH has broken ground on a 30,000-square-foot polyethylene duct manufacturing facility in Erfurt, Germany. The new facility is located in the eastern state of Thuringia, Germany and will specialize in the production of polyethylene duct for the protection of fiber optic cables used in the construction of the pan-European fiber optic network.
The company currently operates two similar facilities in the U.S., one in Kentucky, home of its corporate headquarters, and the other in Oklahoma.
Insight, Convergys expand pact
CINCINNATI–Convergys Corp. has expanded its original five-year billing services agreement with Insight Communications to provide billing and customer care for broadband telephony services. Insight is expanding its use of Convergys’ Integrated Communications Operations Management System for billing and customer care support to offer broadband telephony to its customers through its agreement with AT&T Broadband. Insight will market the co-branded AT&T local telephone service both independently and as part of a voice, video and data bundle, beginning in its Louisville, Ky. system.
Concurrent, Federal Hill partner
ATLANTA–Concurrent Computer Corp. has announced a strategic partnership with Federal Hill Communications, a global video-on-demand content provider. The two companies are already working together on a project with an Australian client.
Federal Hill has agreed to negotiate and license Hollywood movies and ancillary entertainment content on behalf of Concurrent’s clients. The company specializes in the procurement of digital content, which includes feature films, documentaries, biographies, lifestyles, animation, sports, series, “how-tos,” games and music. Federal Hill tailors program offerings for VOD providers based on the specific needs, geographic location, demographics and cultural nuances of the client’s targeted viewership.
Sniezko wins Shapp Scholarship
EXTON, Pa.–The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers has awarded the 2001 Milton J. Shapp Memorial Scholarship to Kosma Mateusz Sniezko, a senior at Highlands Ranch High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo. He is the son of Oleh Sniezko, who is an executive at AT&T Broadband as well as a past Polaris Award winner for fiber optic innovation.
Worth $20,000, the scholarship is funded by Motorola (formerly General Instrument) and named for industry pioneer Milton Jerrold Shapp, founder of GI and former governor of Pennsylvania.
Kosma’s academic accomplishments include a 4.05 GPA, near-perfect SAT scores and captaining his school’s winning team in the Colorado Science Bowl Tournament (they’ll compete in the national tournament in May). He plans to study electrical engineering next fall at one of his top three college choices–Stanford University, Case Western Reserve University or the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The scholarship was established in 1996 to recognize students who demonstrate the same excellence in academic and personal achievement as exhibited by Shapp throughout his life.
Powering equipment survives quake
BELLINGHAM, Wash.– Nearly a dozen Alpha Powernodes located about 30 miles from the epicenter of the recent earthquake in the Pacific Northwest survived undamaged and fully operational, according to company officials. The day following the 6.8 magnitude earthquake, detailed, on-site inspections revealed no structural or other damage to the broadband powernode installations. The installations will provide network power to a hybrid fiber/coax network in the final stages of deployment in the region.
ISG gets patent for transceiver design
MILPITAS, Calif.–ISG Broadband has announced the assignment of a U.S. Patent for its cable modem transceiver technology. The technology has enabled the company to develop miniature, drop-in ISG tuners now found in cable TV and telephony systems worldwide.
Patent Number 6,160,571 was granted to Jim Wang, VP of development engineering.
