News Releases
BigBand Networks Unveils BEQ™6000; First Universal Edge QAM Deployed for both Switched Digital Video and Modular CMTS
BigBand’s third-generation edge QAM platform deployed on three continents; delivers industry’s lowest total cost of ownership through superior RF performance
September 24, 2007
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 24, 2007—BigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBND), today unveiled its “universal” edge quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) platform—the Broadband Edge QAM (BEQ™) 6000—designed to deliver a wide range of services, including video-on-demand (VOD), switched digital video, network PVR, video-over-DOCSIS®, high-speed data and voice-over-IP. BigBand believes it is the first company to deploy universal edge QAMs to provide switched digital video (SDV) and modular cable modem termination system (M-CMTS). Cox Communications is deploying the BigBand BEQ6000 to power its SDV deployment in Northern Virginia. Dutch operator Multikabel has deployed the BEQ6000 platform for M-CMTS to provide high-speed data and voice-over-IP services, and Japanese operators Cable Networks Akita, Hino Cable Television and Bay Communications are using the BEQ6000 to deliver high-speed data services as well. BigBand believes it has deployed more edge QAMs for SDV and M-CMTS than all of its competitors combined.
“BigBand’s universal edge QAM deployments for SDV and M-CMTS are breakthroughs,” said Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst for In-Stat. “Versatile QAM platforms, with the ability to support video, data or voice services, are key to keeping costs down and efficiency up as operators ramp up to deliver more bandwidth and new services.”
While the pricing of today’s platforms is roughly equivalent, price-per-QAM has incorrectly been a focal point in the analysis of edge QAM economics. The ongoing cost to maintain and operate each QAM platform can vary widely, and thus total cost of ownership is the more accurate measure of an edge QAM platform’s true cost to operators. The BEQ6000 establishes a number of industry benchmarks designed to enable it to achieve what BigBand estimates to be the lowest total cost of ownership of any available edge QAM platform. BEQ6000 benchmarks include:
- Lower operational cost. BigBand estimates that the BEQ6000 achieves a forty percent improvement in operational cost over other leading edge QAM platforms. The BEQ6000’s protocol support, power efficiency, RF performance and reliability are designed to lower the operational costs associated with delivering video, data and voice services.
- Superior RF performance. The BEQ6000 achieves QAM modulation with more than twice the signal quality and up to twice the signal level compared to other leading QAM devices on the market today. This enables operators to achieve a high quality-of-service for a broad range of applications, even as they migrate to new, advanced technologies such as M-CMTS and SDV.
- Superior reliability. The BEQ6000 has been designed with a balance of density, functional design, component durability, signal quality and modularity designed to make it the industry’s most reliable edge QAM platform. BigBand has customized high-quality components—such as power supply and fans—to improve product uptime and enable longer product life. BigBand believes the BEQ6000 also features the industry's only service-level fault detection and protection switching to maximize the benefit of redundant transport and minimize the impact of routine network maintenance.
BigBand’s SDV and M-CMTS are two of the most economically beneficial technology solutions in the cable industry. SDV is designed to allow cable operators to expand to virtually infinite programming and increasingly personalize content by delivering programs only where they are requested. BigBand’s M-CMTS can substantially lower the cost of increasing broadband speeds by leveraging the BEQ6000 to perform some of the capabilities traditionally performed by the CMTS core.
“The universal edge QAM is a significant breakthrough for the cable industry; it can simultaneously enable new video and data services and lower the cost of providing them,” said John Holobinko, BigBand’s vice president and general manager of cable IP. "The BEQ6000’s superior RF performance and reliability are designed to allow operators to ensure quality across services, and significantly reduce operational costs.”
Pricing and Availability
The BEQ6000 is available now and has been deployed by service providers in North America, Asia and Europe. For product pricing and availability information, contact sales@bigbandnet.com. For technical specifications and other information, visit: beq6000.html?release=beqlaunch.
About BigBand Networks
BigBand Networks, Inc. [NASDAQ: BBND] provides broadband service providers with innovative network solutions designed to make it easier to move, manage and monetize video. These solutions are based on BigBand's video-networking platforms that are built to enable efficient and reliable delivery of video, voice and data across a wide range of services, including digital TV, high definition TV, addressable advertising, video-on-demand, interactive TV, Internet TV, video telephony, high-speed Internet and voice-over-IP. BigBand Networks' customers include more than 100 service providers—including six of the ten largest service providers in the U.S.—and leading cable and telco service providers in North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, Calif., with offices worldwide. For additional information about the company, please call +1.650.995.5000, email info@bigbandnet.com or visit www.bigbandnet.com.
BEQ6000 and all other BigBand Networks’ brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of BigBand Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. DOCSIS is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities Laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements may relate to, but are not limited to the functionality, programming potential and other potential benefits to be derived by our customers from the use of the BEQ6000, forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, among others, the following: rapid technological change that can adversely affect the demand for BigBand’s products, design flaws in the BEQ6000, shifts in customer demand, shifts in strategic relationships, delays in BigBand’s ability to deliver or decisions to discontinue its products and services, or announcements by competitors. These and other risks may be detailed from time to time in BigBand’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained from www.sec.gov. BigBand Networks is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information contained in our website is not incorporated by reference in, or made part of this press release.