RGB Rolls Out Edge QAM Modulator
RGB Networks unveiled its fourth product Wednesday morning at ET with the debut of its Universal Scalable Modulator (USM).
Adam Tom, RGB co-founder and executive vice president, business development, said the new edge QAM modulator was designed to help cable operators migrate toward providing more personalized content to many devices. Like the rest of the RGB lineup, the USM features a dense, scalable solution for cable operators to deploy the next generation of digital video architectures such as on-demand services, switched digital video and modular cable termination systems (M-CMTSs).
The one-rack-unit USM can support up to 128 QAM channels in 6 MHz plants and supports up to 96 QAM channels in networks that have 8 MHz channels. The USM can multiplex up to 1,280 digital programs, which Tom said makes it the cable industry’s highest density edge QAM modulator.
RGB also laid claim to being the first edge QAM modulator to offer both multiple Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and a 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface.
"It’s also the first edge modulator with full redundancy," said Ramin Farassat, RGB’s VP of product marketing. "128 QAMs going down is very substantial, and we don’t want any problems with that. The key is that we don’t want them to pay for a chassis with 128 QAMs if they’re only going to use 24."
Instead, customers can increase capacity by adding more software licenses through RGB while supporting multiple applications in the same platform. Based on RGB’s flexible and programmable Video Intelligence Architecture, the USM can simplify and expedite future deployments of advanced digital video services, including MPEG-4 H.264/AVC video delivery.
RGB has shipped 1,200 units to date of its other three products, with most of those in North America through its partnership with Motorola. It recently opened offices in United Kingdom and Singapore.
The company counts Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Bresnan among its cable customers. Farassat said later this year RGB will deploy a chassis-based product in response to interest from other telecommunications operators. – Mike Robuck
