BigBand Networks Enhances Cable Service Reliability with Redundancy Solution for Digital Broadcasting.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2002

Leading Cable Operators Select Solution

Leveraging Gigabit Ethernet Transport by BMR(R) between Headends

BigBand Networks, Inc., a leading provider of broadband multimedia routing systems for broadcast television and advanced services, today announced availability of the first self-healing redundancy solution for digital cable services. This solution enhances cable network reliability and maximizes service availability, by allowing an alternative headend to immediately restore digital video to subscribers whose primary headend fails or loses a source. Standard protocols such as Gigabit Ethernet are used to efficiently route and transport high-quality digital video programming between facilities. Several major cable operators have selected the headend redundancy solution on BigBand Networks' Broadband Multimedia-Service Router (BMR) for deployments in large systems with hundreds of thousands of digital cable subscribers.

"It is increasingly important that the cable industry avoid service interruptions, given the expansion of revenue-generating programming provided, and high expectations of service quality, especially in large systems serving the most subscribers," said Richard Peske, vice president of product marketing for BigBand Networks. "BigBand Networks is launching our headend redundancy solution for any service or program over digital cable by leveraging Gigabit Ethernet as the lowest cost means to transport content and enhance network reliability. Validated by our customers' deployments, the BMR platform already driving revenues through services like digital broadcasting, HDTV and digital ad insertion, also economically assures availability of these services, maximizing transactional revenues and boosting customer satisfaction."

BMRs distributed among headends transport content between each other over optical fiber via protocols such as Gigabit Ethernet for superior economics with full standards compliance. Sources of digital broadcasting or advanced services feed BMRs, which can format content for Gigabit Ethernet and put it onto existing physical transport infrastructure. At the destination headend, other BMRs combine standards-based transport protocol conversion with intensive media processing, to assure reliable delivery to subscribers of high-quality video, reformatted for the appropriate QAM technique.

When connected with BigBand Networks' headend redundancy solution, BMRs accessing digital programming overcome outages by switching to remote back-up sources via high speed transport. There is immediate recognition of outages, and control to overcome any level of service interruption ranging from a failure of multiple channels each carrying several programs to a single, problematic program. Intelligent switching and fiber-based transport between facilities through BMRs for headend redundancy is superior economically and in reliability to deploying redundant systems within headends. The BMR solution provides protection against failures on input sources, or a catastrophic event disabling a facility, which cannot be guaranteed by any redundancy approach attempted within a single site. Connecting additional hubs to the network between two remote headends by transport extends the BMR redundancy solution to include these hubs.

In addition to its support for cable system reliability through transport, the BMR is itself built from the ground up as a reliable system with multiple redundant and hot-swappable components. Intelligent switching between input and output connections assures reliability within the headend. Any program is made available to multiple input ports, fed from redundant sources. The BMR continuously monitors these sources, and intelligently switches to a secondary port when the primary port meets failure conditions as specified by the operator.

Transport and redundant switching on the BMR are modular features based on BigBand Networks' NativeMedia(TM) operating system architecture. Benefits include:

-- Economically efficient support of any system architecture via standard high-speed transport protocols such as Gigabit Ethernet.

-- Service maintained by transport between headends should any source device, intermediate link or facility fail.

-- Assures transactional revenues from pay-per-view, VOD and event-based programming.

-- Self-healing network minimizes manual maintenance costs associated with service outages.

-- Augments internally redundant BMR platform architecture and ability to circumvent failed equipment within headends.

ABOUT BIGBAND NETWORKS

BigBand Networks, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells and supports Broadband Multimedia-Service Routers (BMR). The BMR is a new class of router built on the company's NativeMedia technology that uniquely routes and processes video, audio and data in their native formats. This enables network operators to cost-effectively expand revenue-generating offerings of broadcast-quality content and advanced, interactive services. Services supported by the BMR include digital broadcast television, HDTV, ad insertion, VOD and iTV. The company's customers include Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Rogers Cable. BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, CA. For more information on BigBand Networks, please visit www.bigbandnet.com.