Ask The Experts

Chief Technology Officer,
Executive Vice President,
and Co-founder

Ran is chief technology officer of BigBand Networks, which he co-founded as a new breed of company combining advanced multimedia and communications technologies. He has been the primary visionary in the development of the company's products, now globally deployed and utilized for more and better services over more efficient networks. Under Ran's technical leadership, BigBand Networks is pioneering vital advances in digital television, on-demand and IP services, and moving the company towards leadership in the industry's next-generation network initiatives. Ran holds several patents in HFC networking, visual computing, media manipulation and other areas, and regularly presents on advanced technology topics at the most prominent broadband industry events. He is an electrical engineering graduate of the Technion Institute of Technology, and holds an MSEE from Tel Aviv University.

Q. What video developments do you expect will make an impact in the coming months?

A. Well, HDTV is one. The penetration of HDTV is growing, with HD streams becoming more varied in their structure and quality, placing ever greater demands on network performance and functionality. Digital ad insertion continues to grow in importance, as does the insertion of advertisements in HD. We also expect to see advanced video and audio codecs, such as H.264, becoming prevalent in both cable and telco environments. These require a deep understanding of the underlying technologies and knowledge of how to take advantage of their characteristics.

Q. What are some of the challenges facing video transport?

A. More and more networks are moving to MPEG over UDP/IP transport. The lack of specifications and customer experience in this field pose some interoperability issues for our customers. We are helping to make this transition as smooth as possible, since the convergence of video processing and transport is a cornerstone in BigBand Networks' vision. Our unique understanding of both fields allows us to assist and educate our customers to ensure they achieve best utilization of their network infrastructures.

Q. Tell us something about the key technologies that BigBand Networks has in development.

A. We are constantly working to enable operators to cost-effectively expand service offerings. An example is switched broadcast. BigBand Networks invented this technology and, though we received our first production orders earlier this year, we're not resting on our laurels, but continuing to pioneer a long list of enhancements that will provide our customers with compelling benefits.

Q. What can you tell us about these enhancements to switched broadcast?

A. What I'm able to reveal at the moment is that we're developing switched unicast, which is similar to switched broadcast except that each subscriber receives a unique program stream. Cable operators can refine their programming based on the precise viewership accounting that switched unicast systems enable. We're also innovating ICC (instant channel change) to eliminate delays in channel hopping and ensure that the quality of the subscribers' viewing experience is maintained.

Addressable advertising, which runs in a switched broadcast environment, provides ads that have been selected based on subscribers' viewing preferences, hobbies or interests. Addressable advertising will be also be ready for prime time soon.