RCN is expanding its video-on-demand capabilities by purchasing new transmission hardware and software from Harmonic.
The cable operator -- which has some 350,000 subscribers in the Boston, Chicago, eastern Pennsylvania, New York and Washington, D.C., markets -- is buying new Narrowcast Service Gateway 9116 edgeQAM transmission devices with Privacy Mode encryption to expand its VOD footprint. It is also upgrading the software of existing NSG 8108 systems to add Privacy Mode.
The NSG family of edgeQAMs perform a variety of VOD-related functions at the network edge, including multiplexing, program routing, PCR restamping, scrambling, quadrature amplitude modulation and RF upconversion.
"The expansion of our VOD service, which covers all of our geographical markets, is a critical component of RCN's growth strategy," said Rick Swiderski, vice president of engineering for RCN, in a statement. "In selecting our edge solution provider, it was important for RCN to choose a partner that could provide both customers and content owners with the assurance that the VOD program transmission is going to be secure and reliable, in addition to being able to successfully perform all of the required edge-processing functions."
