New Partnership to Develop Cable Networks of the Future

BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany — A group of European cable operators, equipment vendors, and research organizations announced the launch of the ReDe∫ign project. The project focuses on the development of new technologies extending the life expectancy of today’s Hybrid Fibre Coax networks including a Next Generation HFC broadband architecture. MSOs will be able to migrate to this architecture in a most cost-effective manner.

By launching the project, the ReDe∫ign partners address a major challenge of the multimedia and broadband industry. Cable operators provide Triple Play services to more than 70 million European customers, thus playing a key role in the delivery of broadband services to the European society. Already today, Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks are capable of transporting Gigabits of digital content to customers. However, with the rapidly evolving markets and the increasing bandwidth demand for new services such as HDTV, Video on Demand, and sophisticated IP-based services, the cable industry needs to continuously evolve its networks to maintain its competitive advantage.

In the ReDe∫ign consortium, cable operators Telenet, ZON Multimédia’s TV Cabo, and ANGA, the German association of cable operators, press forward the work in cooperation with equipment manufacturers Alcatel-Lucent and VECTOR. The work is scientifically supported by the Dutch research institution TNO and Technische Universitaet Braunschweig, who is also coordinating the project.

ReDe∫ign will be addressing these challenges in close cooperation with European cable operators who are invited to actively engage in the activities through an Operators Forum. Moreover, the project will cooperate closely with standards developing organizations such as DVB and CENELEC. These alliances will ensure the results of the project being synchronized with industry demands for technical standards and will allow the broader cable community to benefit from the work on the shortest possible notice.

About ReDe∫ign

ReDe∫ign is a Research Project co-funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. The project will run until end of June 2010.