It is clearly crazy to have two separate cables running into each home or business, one carrying telephony and other cable television and all the interactive multimedia applications that are just around the corner, and First Pacific Networks Inc, Sunnyvale, California is doing its bit to speed convergence. It has announced a new system intended to enable cable television network operators to deliver switched voice over their existing cable infrastructure. The FPN1000 Cable Telephone System can operate over a 100 mile area, says the company, and will support over 500 subscribers for long distance bypass operations in one 6MHz RF channel. It will work with standard 450MHz CATV systems as well as emerging 550MHz (and above) systems. FPN1000 enables operators to take advantage of future plans for networks, including fibre to the kerb, while maintaining their bandwidth. It is already operating in a number of cable systems, including that running in Croydon (for local access) and in the US for long distance access. The system has two elements: a voice interface unit and a trunk interface unit. The voice unit is at the subscriber end of the link, and enables communications using a standard phone, facsimile or modem. The trunk interface unit provides standard interfaces to the public switched telephone network, as well as to alternative methods of access and long distance carriers. FPN1000 is said to be the first in a family of products that will broaden the scope of fibre optic or coaxial networks, enabling them to provide services such as energy management, telecommuting, distance learning, and video provisioning. First Pacific Networks is now also marketing a technology that will enable telephone and data communication to coexist with broadcast video transmissions over hybrid fibre and coaxial cable networks.
