Cass Cable TV, a triple-play operator with approximately 16,000 subscribers in Central Illinois, has selected Adara Technologies for a switched digital video network upgrade that will allow it to expand its HD offerings.
Cass Cable and Adara executives cited several reasons for the decision, including lower capital costs and the fact that the Adara solution would allow the operator's Motorola set-top boxes, conditional access system (CAS) and headend equipment to co-exist with Cisco set-tops, CAS and equipment.
The solution would also allow them to bring products to market faster and reduce the complexity of making the upgrade.
The Adara is partnering with Cisco in the hosted and managed solution, which incorporates Cisco's switched digital video (SDV) technology and combines Cisco's advanced, web-connected set-top boxes with an advanced user interface for interactive web applications.
"Over the past two years, we looked at a number of upgrade options, including analog reclamation using DTAs in particular, but the huge investment required versus the ultimate benefit to us and our customers did not come close to meeting even a reasonable threshold," said Gerald S. Gill, president of Cass Cable TV in a statement. "Then we found the Adara Hosted and Managed SDV solution that delivers an order of magnitude more, at a fraction of the cost. None of the other options were even close from every important perspective including cost, time-to-market, effective capacity increase, new services and revenues enabled, future-proofing and IPTV migration."
The ability to find a solution that would work with their legacy Motorola equipment was also key.
"With Adara's Hosted and Managed implementation, not only can we use Cisco's proven, world class SDV technology, CAS and advanced set-top boxes, but our past investment in Motorola is completely secure," added Tom Allen, VP and COO of Cass Cable TV in a statement. "We are now in a position to offer hundreds of HD channels, Whole Home DVR, and many more advanced services and this is only the beginning."
The companies also noted that the capital and operating expenditures for the SDV upgrade is less than one-tenth that of an analog reclaimation using DTA and that the time-to-market for new HD services will be four months instead of two years.
