CMC's HITS, Motorola Upgrade National Authorization Service (NAS) to Support EBIF

Comcast Media Center (CMC) announced Thursday that its HITS (stands for "Headend In The Sky") service--which provides centralized content-management and distribution solutions for cable operators serving smaller markets--and its partner Motorola have upgraded the National Authorization Service (NAS) that they jointly operate, adding support for interactive TV applications using the Enhanced Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) platform.

The companies say that the upgrade includes support for ETV/EBIF services managed and delivered via CMC's HITS AxIS service. The latter--whose name stands for "Headend In The Sky Advanced Interactive Services," and which was developed in collaboration with Vidiom and TVWorks--is a centralized platform that operates on the NAS and DAC headend-management platforms and that is billed as being designed to support developers of advanced OCAP/tru2way and ETV/EBIF interactive TV applications and to facilitate the deployment and management of those applications on cable systems serving small- to mid-sized markets. According to CMC, HITS AxIS is currently working with over 20 leading ITV developers and content providers and has already launched nearly a dozen ETV applications for beta testing by four MSO's. Those apps, the company says, include dashboard, "Movie Tickets" and "Yellow Pages on TV" services customized for local markets, as well as RFI and tcommerce applications. It says that the NAS operating platform also supports an EBIF-compliant version of the "video-rich navigation" (VRN) service developed by CMC and GuideWorks (a joint venture between Comcast and the company now called Rovi) and offered through HITS AxIS.

According to CMC and Motorola, the most recent set of enhancements to the NAS platform include support for Motorola's APEX high-density edgeQAM, which they say can help HITS affiliates to efficiently allocate bandwidth as they deploy switched digital video (SDV) and modular CMTS network architectures, and expand their VOD and high-speed data offerings to subscribers. The APEX platform is billed as supporting standards-based video and high-speed data interfaces, and as providing a physical chassis that offers field-swappable QAM modules and redundant swappable power supplies in a low power package. The NAS solution, meanwhile, is billed as providing cable headends with the ability to receive, process, control and distribute digital video, audio, interactive and data services without requiring a local Digital Access Control (DAC) system. CMC HITS and Motorola also operate the QT Plus platform, which they bill as a centrally managed alternative to DAC and NAS headend-management systems, and which they claim is popular with cable systems serving smaller markets and the MDU space. "The greatest advantage of the innovations that we're continuing to make to the NAS platform is that they allow system operators to generate additional revenues by deploying advanced services without having to replace widely deployed set-tops or engage in costly overhauls of their existing headend architecture," CMC SVP and COO, Gary Traver, said in a prepared statement. "The HITS family of services, which are supported by NAS, integrate to optimize existing cable headend architecture, for the launch and support of advanced video and broadband services, which represents a much more economical method for increasing revenues while minimizing capital and operating expenses." Added Mark Depietro, VP of video access solutions for Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility business: "Motorola continues to work side-by-side with CMC to provide independent operators with choice both in terms of the selection of devices and the enhancement of their network capabilities. We are excited to release this latest generation of NAS to help the independent market operator community leverage the digital expansion to manage its existing resources more effectively while delivering compelling new services."