March 21, 2005 Beijing, China -- Harmonic, a provider of digital video, broadband optical networking, and IP delivery systems, has announced that GuangXi Broadcast Network Information Co. (GuangXi Cable) has expanded its digital television service using Harmonic's head-end and networking products. According to a press release, the upgraded service employs the company's DiviCom encoding devices to produce superior quality digital video, and its Broadcast Network Gateway (BNG) to securely increase the digital TV service's reach.
According to the release, the upgrade allows the carrier to improve its operating efficiencies, flexibility, and revenue potential by regionalizing program line-ups at the main head-end, then distributing the content over an existing SDH backbone.
In order to extend the carrier's service to the 14 regional cities within the province, the company's BNG was chosen to provide a seamless interface between the main head-end, an existing SDH network, and local head-ends. According to the company, the compression efficiency of its DiviCom encoders coupled with the flexibility of its BNG makes it possible to centrally combine and deliver programming according to the unique requirements of each service area. In addition, the company says the provided infrastructure allows the carrier to efficiently and cost-effectively add channels at either the main head-end or the local level, while allowing locally encoded content to be sent as needed to the main head-end for redistribution to other areas.
"Since the very successful launch of our Harmonic-based digital television service in Nanning, we have looked for an economical way to extend this service throughout GuangXi Province, particularly for areas with a population size that does not currently justify a full digital headend," explains Jing Yang, vice director of engineering, planning and construction for GuangXi Cable. "We now have a platform that will fully support our current broadcast and future on-demand services."
According to the release, to secure the transmission of digital content over its backbone and enable conditional access to pay-TV services, the carrier is employing the BNG's DVB scrambling capability. At each local head-end, a BNG receives the content via the SDH network, multiplexing and scrambling locally encoded video content. QAM then modulates the transport stream for distribution to subscriber homes over the HFC access network. According to the company, this upgraded and secure infrastructure lays a solid foundation for the implementation of other value-added digital television services such as video-on-demand, which requires high levels of content protection.
The company says that with its NMX Digital Service Manager, the carrier is also able to monitor and control its digital head-end environment and network from a single console. NMX also permits local system operators to manage their digital video systems, including third party equipment, thereby simplifying the task of adding new digital services and equipment.
"We are proud to have been selected not only to build the first digital TV service in GuangXi Province but also to help GuangXi Cable expand its business opportunities," concludes Dr. Yaron Simler, president of Harmonic's convergent systems division. "The upgraded infrastructure is highly extensible and will provide further efficiencies when the time comes to expand the locally encoded TV channels and introduce advanced video services."