Comcast Corp. bolstered both the content and technology side of its high-speed-data business last week with deals with Snapfish, an online photo service, and Arris Group Inc. for cable modem termination systems.
Snapfish offers cable-modem customers the ability to print, share and store pictures online. Customers can go to the Comcast Photo Center page on the High-Speed Internet homepage (www.comcast.net) and set up a virtual photo album account, accessible by personal password.
They also can order digital camera prints on Kodak paper, create personalized photo greeting cards or mail in traditional film, which Snapfish will then develop and convert into digital files.
"The Comcast Photo Center marries the art of photography and the power of broadband," said Greg Butz, Comcast High-Speed Internet's vice president of marketing and business development. "With a few quick and easy steps, users can share special photos with family and friends, edit and order their pictures."
New users get 10 free prints and one roll of film developed for free, plus free shipping through Feb. 15. The offer does not apply to former AT&T Broadband Internet customers.
Comcast also put in an order for another 50 CMTS from Arris. The MSO bought Arris' C4 CMTS units for its next-generation data service in Royal Oak, Mich., late last year. Now it is beefing up its CMTS order from the cable-gear provider.
The 50 additional C4 units now being shipped are each capable of supporting up to 16 downstream and 128 upstream channels, are Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 1.1-qualified. They also can be upgraded in the field later this year to support DOCSIS 2.0, boosting upstream capacity to 192 streams per unit.
