SEPTEMBER 26, 2006 -- Alcatel (search for Alcatel) has successfully upgraded Mediaset's transport network to enhance interconnections among its production sites and its operations as a content provider for other broadcasters. Alcatel's optical data-aware technology enables Mediaset to pave the way for supporting new services such as DVB-H mobile TV, in addition to the existing offering comprising analog TV and digital terrestrial television (DTT) services that include educational channels and pay-per-view for movies, theater, and live events, according to Alcatel.
The transport network upgrade was designed and engineered by its owner, Elettronica Industriale, which is a subsidiary of Mediaset and currently uses 1,700 transmitting towers to distribute video signals to about 99% of the population in Italy.
The optical multi-service network rolled out with Alcatel's equipment delivers more powerful content sharing capabilities for broadcast production by linking Mediaset's main studios located near Milan, to Rome, via bidirectional connections. The Alcatel equipment is expected to improve quality of service (QoS) by minimizing video signal distribution delays, avoiding the encoding and decoding previously required to compress bandwidth, and enabling significant savings in capital expenditures.
"This project confirms Alcatel's strong commitment to closely work with broadcasters and help them deliver multiple services to their end-users in a flexible and cost-effective way," said Romano Valussi, president of Alcatel's optical networking activities. "The Alcatel solution for video applications offers Mediaset the functionality needed to broadcast with the highest quality, while offering a set of innovative services."
The deployment, based on its Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) equipment, offers an advanced platform to aggregate and transport uncompressed and compressed video signals. Alcatel's OMSN systems use the 4xAny service concentrator, equipped with the Serial Digital Interface (SDI), for uncompressed digital video signals transmission at 270 Mbits/sec over optical networks. In addition, they use the Alcatel Integrated Service Adapter-ASI (ISA-ASI) card to aggregate ASI video signals, which are flexibly compressed from 100 Mbits/sec down to 2 Mbist/sec and thus optimized to be transported over a broadcaster's microwave radio network.
The network upgrade greatly strengthens Mediaset's ability to contribute video signals over a network based on the Alcatel's 9600 LSY microwave radio equipment. Furthermore, the new equipment provides Mediaset with Gigabit Ethernet data connectivity to support internal IT applications.
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