The Cincinnatti Bell Information Systems Inc arm of Cincinnati Bell Inc – which was outside the Bell System at the time of the break-up of AT&T Co, wants to leap aboard the multimedia bandwaggon and is joining forces with IBM Corp, Rochester Telephone Co and Lazard Freres & Co in a feasibility study to examine the possibility of using advanced technology to link several cable television systems into a single system. The six-month project, to be conducted in Pennsylvania, will be led by Probe Research Inc, a telecommunications market research and forecasting firm.The non-profit FiberSpan Pennsylvania commissioned the $900,000 study, which is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Cable Television Association: it will examine the potential for economies of scale in marketing, switching, billing, ad insertion, mass digital storage and satellite reception by linking several cable systems via an optical fibre ring. Cincinnati Bell says that it intends to become even more involved in the merging of the cable, the telephone and the computer industries as market opportunities become more clearly defined.
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