China’s Xiamen CATV Uses BigBand Networks Platforms to Deliver Video on Demand and Advanced Internet Services

BigBand Networks, Inc., (NASDAQ: BBND), a leading provider of broadband multimedia infrastructure for video, voice and data, today announced that Xiamen CATV is using its Cuda® cable modem termination system (CMTS) and FastFlow® Broadband Provisioning Management software to deliver high-speed data and IP video. Xiamen is using Cuda to make news, sports and other local video content available to subscribers on-demand, by delivering it over cable modems to TVs via IP-enabled set-top boxes.

“BigBand’s Cuda and FastFlow provide the foundation for Xiamen CATV to deploy an advanced IP services implementation that delivers rich content—including television programming and Internet content—reliably,” said Xianjiong Liu, chief technology officer of Xiamen CATV. "BigBand Networks’ programmable architecture allows Xiamen CATV to give its subscribers a powerful set of broadband Internet capabilities today, with the prospect of adding speed enhancements and other new features in the future.”

Xiamen serves more than 400,000 subscribers in southeastern China’s Fujian province. The operator decided in 2006 that it wanted to augment its traditional digital video services with high-speed data and IP video, and selected BigBand Networks’ for its CMTS project. Xiamen selected Cuda in part for its support for key Ethernet functions—such as virtual local area networks (VLAN) and point-to-point protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE)—that are designed to allow the CMTS to interoperate with the Fujian operator’s other network equipment. The operator added BigBand’s FastFlow software to configure its IP services for multiple subscriber profiles and devices.

“Xiamen is really pushing the envelope with new services, such as IP video, and demonstrating the flexibility of our Cuda platform,” said Johnny Cheung, BigBand’s senior director of the Asia-Pacific region. “It’s an exciting time for the cable industry in China. Operators continue to move forward with their migration to digital infrastructures and continue to seek out innovative technologies to help them deliver new, advanced services.”

BigBand Networks’ has created a modular CMTS (M-CMTS) architecture that is designed to leverage key features of the DOCSIS® 3.0 specification—downstream channel bonding and multicast forwarding—to deliver switched IP video to a television or personal computer. The company is demonstrating its M-CMTS solution’s ability to deliver HDTV here at CCBN this week. For additional information about BigBand’s cable IP innovations, including Cuda, FastFlow and M-CMTS, visit http://www.bigbandnet.com/cable_ip.php.