Cox Business Services inked a three-year, $20 million contract to connect 142 locations of the new Orleans Public School Systems with voice, video and data via a Gigabit Ethernet WAN. The deal lets the district’s 10,000 teachers use such applications as live video and software title downloads, Cox says. The Cox Communications unit was chosen for its Ethernet technology and fiber optic network, it says. Former Cox Louisiana VP and GM Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans March 2. …

Time Warner Cable will use RCA digital cable modems from Thomson Multimedia under a preferred supplier deal. Thomson will supply modems based on its digital cable modem platform, which it says has the connection flexibility of both USB and 10/100BaseT Ethernet with auto-sensing. The RCA cable modems are CableLabs-certified. Financial terms were not disclosed. …

Time Warner Cable Desert Cities will use ProfitNow! from CSG Systems Inc. in its Palm Springs, Calif., market. The product is an intelligent customer relationship management tool that helps with churn by allowing customer service reps to analyze key information about a customer and make instant decisions that could help retain customers at the “greatest risk of jumping ship,” CSG says. …

BigBand Networks Inc. appointed Dean A. Gilbert to its board. Gilbert most recently was executive VP and GM of AtHome Networks, from 1996 to 1999. …

America Online Inc.‘s AOL Internet service topped 34 million members, who use the service for more than 1 billion hours each month. The company rolled out its high-speed broadband service over 24 Time Warner Cable systems since fall, and will be on all 40 TWC systems by summer, it says. …