Mediacom taps Concurrent, SeaChange
for fall VOD rollouts

By Jeff Baumgartner
From The September 10, 2002 Edition Of CED Broadband Direct

Mediacom Communications Corp. will spread the video-on-demand wealth this fall when the MSO rolls out the advanced service in two more markets: Des Moines, Iowa and the Quad Cities of Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa; and Moline and Rock Island, Ill.

Mediacom will once again use Concurrent Computer Corp. as its primary VOD server and system vendor in Des Moines. The MSO also partnered with Concurrent last fall for its VOD launch in Mobile, Ala.

Mediacom also marks the latest operator to join the customer ranks of SeaChange International Inc., which announced in its second quarter earnings call Aug. 27 that it had won a deployment with a new MSO but did not reveal the operator by name. In turn, SeaChange has become Mediacom's second source for VOD systems, providing gear for the Quad Cities rollout.

"We always try to make sure we have competition with our suppliers at anytime possible," said Joe Van Loan, Mediacom's senior vice president of technology.

Van Loan said Mediacom will use Gigabit Ethernet as its metro transport method in Des Moines and in the Quad Cities via an equipment deal with Harmonic Inc. The MSO presently leverages more traditional ASI (asynchronous serial interface) for its VOD offering in Mobile. Mirroring its setup in Mobile, however, Mediacom will tap TVN Entertainment as its on-demand content aggregator and long-haul transport partner.

Van Loan said Mediacom's initial deployments won't offer subscription-VOD, but the MSO could add that service later on.

What is significant about SeaChange's deployment with Mediacom is that the service will leverage Motorola Broadband's National Authorization Service (NAS), a model for small- to mid-sized cable systems that enables interactive content to be propagated and managed over satellite to cable headends before being transmitted to cable subscribers with thin-client digital set-tops such as Motorola's DCT-2000.

Under NAS, elements such as box authorization and billing are done remotely rather than at the local system level, said Andy Carroll, Concurrent's director of application engineering. For VOD vendors, working in a NAS environment presents "a bit of a learning curve, but we have it pretty much streamlined," he added, noting Concurrent's experience with Mediacom in the Mobile market.

While Concurrent's NAS-based system is certified and presently deployed, SeaChange's version is presently undergoing certification testing at Motorola's Acadia laboratories. But is expected to be ready to go this fall for the Quad Cities launch.