VOTW: GigE, LTE and Al a Carte – Elements of a New Rural Vermont Telecom Network
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, November 1, 2010 · 
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And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW) brought to you by Viodi TV. No one technology will solve the challenges of bringing affordable broadband to rural areas. In this video interview, Dr. J. Michele Guite of Vermont Telephone discusses their efforts to combine LTE wireless technology with GigE fiber backbones to connect 114k rural Vermont households to the Internet at broadband speeds. This interview took place at the 2010 Broadband Properties Summit back in April 2010, several months before the approval of Vermont Telephone’s ARRA application.
Access to affordable applications and content will be a large factor in determining the success of the telco’s initiative to bring broadband to the rest of Vermont. It’s probably not surprising then that Guite is telling his customers that they should have the right to purchase content on an a la carte basis.
Guite understands that, especially in this economy, value — which means paying for what one wants and not being forced to pay for things one does not want — will be a key to driving network subscriptions and penetration. With a relatively small workforce (one article reports they only plan on adding 12 more full-time employees), Vermont Telephone will have to focus on the servicing the customer and will not be able to focus on things such as program packaging, must-carry and retransmission consent, headends, etc.
VOTW: 2020 Vision with Gary Arlen
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, October 4, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW), brought to you by Viodi TV. For as long as there have been conferences, panelists have been making predictions about technology and its adoption. Gary Arlen of Arlen Communications has seen and made his share of predictions both on panels and as part of his consulting practice. At the Media and Innovations Summit, Arlen moderated a couple of panels and coaxed predictions from his panelists regarding interactive television. He also showed off his latest button that sums up his philosophy on predicting the future; and the button even comes with a user guide.
VOTW: Broadband to the Unserved
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 · (1) ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW) sponsored by Viodi TV.
The Navajo Nation faces challenges in both communications as well as other utilities. According to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), some 18,000 families are without electricity. With an area larger than 10 of the 50 states of America, the Navajo Nation still presents unique challenges to providing communications services.
The NTUA recently won a $32.1 million grant from the NTIA as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This is being matched with $11.3 million from the NTUA, and $2.2 million from Commnet Wireless. The funds will provide broadband access to 15,120 square miles of the Navajo Nation’s 27,000 square miles. The wireless service will cover 30,000 households and mid-mile backbone to another 49 communities.
Monroe Keedo, divisional manager for IT for the NTUA, explains how some of the grant money will support families and students in the Navajo Nation.
Have you recently seen a funny, entertaining or informational video? The New Edge would love to hear from you. Please send your suggestions for the next video of the week (VOTW) to jward@ntca.org and your video might be featured in an upcoming issue..
VOTW: Local Content – Putting Smiles on Customers’ Faces
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, August 2, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW), sponsored by Viodi TV.
Local content as a way to serve the community was a common theme at a recent industry event. Cullen McCarty of Smithville Telephone and Gary Evans of HBC provided an excellent overview of how they are helping their communities by serving up content about and by the community. What made this especially interesting is that HBC has gone through several generations of equipment, while local content is a relatively new venture for Smithville.
Smithville’s initial focus is to create and embed content on its website, while HBC is a long-time veteran of programming a linear TV channel. As seen in this video, one thing these telecommunications firms have in common is that they are using local content to inform and put a smile on the faces of the people in their respective communities.
Have you recently seen a funny, entertaining or informational video? The New Edge would love to hear from you. Please send your suggestions for the next video of the week (VOTW) to jward@ntca.org and your video might be featured in an upcoming issue.
VOTW: Broadband for Smart TV
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW), sponsored by Viodi TV: Broadband for Smart TV – CDN, Adaptive Bit Rate and 10 Mbps.
Wilfred Martis, GM Retail CE of Intel, explains the minimum requirements to enable so-called Smart TV for consumers. The benefits of Smart TV extend beyond entertainment and include educational, telemedicine and even telecommuting opportunities. He suggests the United States is behind other countries in being able to implement Smart TV features, particularly in what he terms, “geographically dispersed regions.”
The open nature of what Martis talks about promise to drive down costs and simplify use for those who currently do not have broadband. Martis suggests the current minimum broadband ingredients necessary to make this vision a reality are content distribution networks that bring content to the edge, solid buffering in the client to allow for adaptive streaming, and a broadband pipe to the home of at least 10 Mbps.
VOTW: The Modern Housecall
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW), sponsored by Viodi TV: The Modern Housecall.
Bringing the doctor to the home via communications and connected medical devices is the theme of this brief interview with Rob Scheschareg of MedConcierge, LLC. Scheschareg believes that demand for this type of service will increase if current health care trends continue. He thinks there are opportunities for communications service providers to bundle remote health care services with their broadband offering to provide more efficient and effective health care to their customers, while creating a sticky service.
VOTW: The Chasm has been Crossed
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our tech video of the week (VOTW), sponsored by Viodi TV. With 16% of U.S. households having access to fiber to the premise, the chasm that separates early adopters from the mainstream has been crossed. In this video interview, Joe Savage, President of the FTTH Council, comments on the deployment figures released this week by RVA Market Research and Consulting. He also comments on Verizon’s fiber plans, as well as those of other U.S. cable and independent operators will affect the near-term rollout of FTTH.