RCN Corporation Speeds Its March To All-Digital With BigBand Networks' Digital Simulcast Solution

BigBand Networks, a leader in digital video networking, has announced that RCN Corporation, a leading provider of all-digital television, high-capacity data and voice services to residential, business customers and service providers, has selected the BigBand Broadband Multimedia-Service Router 1200 for its digital television simulcast deployments in RCN's Boston, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia/Easter Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. metro area markets.
Rick Swiderski, Vice President of Engineering with RCN, said: "BigBand's BMR platform enables us to convert to an all-digital environment, reclaiming our analogue spectrum to free up bandwidth, so we can provide our customers with an exciting expansion of quality programming content.
"We selected the BigBand BMR because the platform is reliable, scalable and easy-to-use and because of BigBand's track record of world-class field engineering support and swift deployments."
RCN's conversion to an all-digital network enables RCN to improve the picture quality, make the network easier to maintain and dramatically increase the number of Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) channels it can offer to subscribers.
The conversion, dubbed "Analog Crush (SM)" will allow RCN to offer its customers over 300 SD channels and 75 HD channels initially, in addition to a more robust line-up of international content and on-demand titles.
David Heard, BigBand's Chief Operating Officer, said: "The BigBand BMR is one of the most widely-deployed, versatile digital video networking platforms in the world and its selection by customers such as RCN underscores the platform's reliability.
"Being able to help our customers quickly reclaim analogue bandwidth and stay ahead of the competition by rapidly expanding their service offerings, is a huge asset."
The BigBand BMR1200 is a robust platform designed from the ground up to carrier-class and offer five 9's availability. It is field-proven, having been deployed by over 200 service providers worldwide, in over 4,000 installations. It is designed to support a variety of applications including digital simulcast, digital TV management, digital ad insertion, HDTV and switched digital video.
Offering a rich array of bandwidth management functionality, it can help speed the migration from broadcast to content personalisation.
Further information is available at: www.bigbandnet.com and www.rcn.com.
(KMcA)