UNICATIONS ENGINEERING & DESIGN GAZINE OF BROADBAND COMMUNICATIONS s: 181 ent age Bandwidth Gave Cable Operators the Pole Position. teenuge ip leg Aire' An*L But in The Race For Cyberspace Only Motorola Can Put You in The Winner's Circle. Take The Checkered Flt The race for cyber space has reached the final lap and the stands are filled with subscribers anxiously waiting at the finish line. They won't notice who finishes second, so it's essential that you choose a vehicle that is second to none, Motorola's CyberSURFRTM cable modem. An exciting product of Motorola's CableComm technologies, the CyberSURFR modem drives data downstream at remarkably high speeds. Turning to the upstream path, it successfully outmaneuvers the inherent 114111Mit. noise ingress in HFC networks, accelerating information through at 768 kilobits per second. Thus connecting personal computers to a transmission system that delivers lightning fast multimedia communica- CyberSURFR' Cable Modem tions to your speed-hungry subscribers. And as these new speeds enable the next generation of applications and content, the protocol adapts to meet the needs. But speed alone is not enough. Unique technologies that economize precious cable spectrum, use of proven frequency agility techniques, forward error correction, and dynamic load balancing, provide your subscribers with ample bandwidth on demand. While standards based encryption protects their sensitive information. Innovation, reliability, quality and attention to detail will allow the winners to pull away from the rest of the pack. And since these characteristics are the hallmark of all Motorola products, no one else is more capable of helping you lap the competition. It's time to make your move from the pole position. Let Motorola fuel your race for cyberspace. Pull over and make a pit stop with us at the Western Cable Show, Booth #4334. See how Motorola's CableComm technology can become your system's new driving force, propelling your team into the final straightaway. Western Cable Show Booth *4734 MOTOROLA Multimedia Group See the Motorola sponsored Indy Car and meet driver Parker Johnstone while Get Your Moderns Running. you're cruising the Western Show. http://wvvvv.mot.com/multimedia • 800-2VVAY-HFC • 847-632-3409 &A and Motorola are registered trademarks of Motorola, Inc. CyberSURFR is atrademark of Motorola, Inc. ©1996 Motorola, Inc. • IN PERSPECTIV E Are these guys really ready to compete? MAGAZI NE Several of the Regional Bell Operating Companies have been caus- VP Group Publisher ing quite astir by arguing that they need new per-connection fees William McGorry from Internet Service Providers because, get this, business is too Publisher good. This is exactly the kind of thinking that has some Robert C. Stuehrk, [email protected] Editor of the RBOCs, unable to keep up with increased Roger Brown, [email protected] demand for more lines, cellular and other services, in Managing Editor trouble with local utility commissions. Dana Cer\ enka, [email protected] Specifically, Pacific Telesis, US West and Bell Associate Editor Atlantic are pointing to anew Bellcore study that says Michael Laffeny, [email protected] the increasing popularity of the Internet is clogging the Contributing Editors Leslie Ellis, [email protected] nation's telephone lines, making it much more likely Fred Dawson that callers are greeted with fast-busy signals instead of CONSULTING ENGINEERS acheery "hello" at the other end. Chairman Calls made to access the Internet average 22 minutes Wendell H. Bailey, NCTA VP, in length (and are bound to grow), vs. four minutes—the Science and Technology average length of avoice call. The frequency of these MEMBERS longer calls is chewing up telephone network capacity Jim Chiddix, Chief Technology Officer, Time Warner Cable and causing the RBOCs to take anew look at their his- Stephen D. Dukes, VP Technology, TCI torical traffic models. For example, PacTel took aclose Technology Ventures look at calling patterns in one area of the Silicon Valley David Fellows, Sr. VP, Engineering and and concluded that something like 16 percent of all calls Technology, Continental Cablevision RBOCs: did not connect, compared to the more typical one per- Tom Jokerst, Sr. VP, Engineering, Charter Communications cent rate. The problem could be exacerbated now that Earl Langenberg, Consultant America Online intends to allow unlimited access for a Dave Large, Principal, Media Connections Group Slapping flat fee. Robert Luff, President & CEO, TV/COM Instead of embracing the new demand, the telcos International seem to want to quell it by charging the ISPs—in Pete Smith, VP Engineering, Rifkin & Associates advance—to build more capacity through anetwork Joe Van Loan, Senior VP & COO, Mediacom their best LLC upgrade. To gain support from regulators, the telcos pre- Director of Sales &Marketing dictably put adark spin on the problem, suggesting that Scott C. Snyder, [email protected] customers lives could be in danger because emergency 911 calls National Accounts Managers might not be able to get through. Linda S. Sommer. [email protected] But some have already seen through the smokescreen. Already, Michael Tangney, [email protected] the service providers are crying foul—and so are several of the tele- Classified Sales Manager Tim Reeder; 800/866-0206 phone companies' largest customers. Assistant to the Publisher Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Apple, Netscape, Digital, Michelle Pazar America Online and AT&T WorldNet, among others, have formed Production Manager the "DATA Coalition" to fight the new fee, which would ultimately Johanna McGinnis have to be passed on to the consumer. Such fees would create a Art Director chilling effect and reduce Internet demand, or so the coalition says. Don Ruth Telecom experts say the problem can be fixed by building more Assistant Art Director Anney Grossberg capacity or routing data traffic over frame relay networks. In other Address words, the telcos could simply take some of their record-level prof- 600 S. Cherry St., Suite 400 its, plow them back into their networks, and make even more money Denver, CO 80222 by selling more services. 303/393-7449; Fax 303/393-6654 Web site: http://www.cedmagazine.com The Telecom Act promised competition in telecommunications. The RBOCs will survive the new era primarily because of their Circulation Director Maria Gottlieb: (212) 887-8565 girth. But incidents like this show that their corporate cultures, based Associate Circulation Manager on monopolies, will take along time to change. Shay, nGreen: (212) 887-8564 Subscriber services CED P.O. Box 10728 Riverton, NJ 08076-0728 25ee.f)aa-frr- Telephone: 609/786-0501; Fax: 212/887-8493 CHILTON PUBLICATIONS Roger Brown Leon C. Hufnagel Jr., President Editor Christopher M. Savine, Sr. VP Finance Bill O'Brien, Sr. VP Communications Group 4 CEO : C OMMUNICATIONS E NGINEERING & D ESIGN D ECEMBER 1996 Ilaveteles Multi-User Stealth Reverse Sweep Multi-User Capabilities... Get the latest Greater Performance... Only with the Wavetek Stealth do you enjoy in W.A. etek sweep technology. 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In the U.S. call, 1-800-622-5515 See us at the Western Show, Booth #1518 WarldwIte Ulu Offices United States (1) 317-788-9351 Wavetek...partners in productivity for over 35 years United Kingdom (44) 1603-404-824 Southeast Asia (65) 356-2522 France (33) 1-4746-6800 Asia Pacific (852) 2788-6221 Germany (49) 89-996-410 China (86) 10-6500-2255 Eastern Europe (43) 1-214-5110 Japan (81) 427-57-3444 W AVŒTŒ http://mwimaveteLcom C ONTENTS FEATUS> 56 New slant on operational issues By Andy Paff, Integration Technologies To begin an OSS development program, ops must first understand where they are now, and where they want to be in the long run. 62 Return systems 102 By Thomas J. Staniee, The Excalibur Group, aTime Warner Company About the Cover Photo by Mark Sims The second part of aprimer on the return path, this article covers issues relating to setup, troubleshooting, equipment and test systems. 76 CableNET '96 amelting pot of vendors, technology By Dana Cervenka photo by Mark Si/ny Western Show attendees can find out how to troubleshoot the dreaded cable modem installation and more at this year's CableNET '96 exhibit, produced by CableLabs. 38 Wrapping up management solutions 78 GI, Rogers test 256 QAM data over HFC By Marc Rrba and Paul Matuszak, General Instrument Corp. with OSS General Instrument reports rosy results of its first extensive field tests of the 256 QAM system, By Michael Lafferty in conjunction with Rogers Cablesystems Limited.