Cutting Digital Costs While competition from satellite and wireless providers is driving operators toward digital, clearly the technology's lofty price tag presents an imposing obstacle. Not surprisingly, Canadian MSOs are trying to minimise this expenditure. Dave Robinson, senior vice president general manager, operations, digital network systems, at General Instrument, says prices for digital set-tops are dropping. Cogeco will launch digital services later this year. The role of the cable operator has expanded from running a broadcast video entertainment network to also predicting demand for five or six new services.
Help is needed.
Like operators, equipment vendors also are evolving, from hardware sellers to industry experts who provide software solutions, which is why Shaw's Bissonnette urges operators to consult with them. Paul Connolly, vice president of marketing and network architectures for Scientic-Atlanta, agrees. He advises systems to conduct extensive modelling or 'what-if' scenarios. From our point of view, the more modelling we do, the more we learn and the more valuable the whole capability becomes, so it's really a self-generating process. This modelling involves closely examining a specific network with a given set of current and future services, then selecting the technology that will best enable these services.