RFC 1686 (rfc1686) - Page 2 of 14
IPng Requirements: A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1686 A Cable Television Industry Viewpoint on IPng August 1994
1. Executive Summary
This paper provides comments on topics related to the IPng
requirements and selection criteria from a cable television industry
viewpoint. The perspective taken is to position IPng as a potential
internetworking technology to support the global requirements of the
future integrated broadband networks that the cable industry is
designing and deploying. The paper includes a section describing the
cable television industry and outlining the network architectures to
support the delivery of entertainment programming and interactive
multimedia digital services, as well as telecommunication and data
communication services.
Cable networks touch on residences, in addition to campuses and
business parks. Broadband applications will reach the average,
computer-shy person. The applications will involve a heavy use of
video and audio to provide communication, entertainment and
information-access services. The deployment of these capabilities to
the homes will represent tens of millions of users. Impact on the
network and the IPng requirements that are discussed include issues
of scalability, reliability and availability, support for real-time
traffic, security and privacy, and operations and network
management, among others.
2. Cable Television Industry Overview
Cable television networks and the Internet are discovering each
other. It looks like a great match for a number of reasons, the
available bandwidth being the primary driver. Nonetheless, it seems
that the impact of the cable television industry in the deployment of
broadband networks and services is still not fully appreciated. This
section will provide a quick (and simplified) overview of cable
television networks, and explain the trends that are driving future
network architectures and services.
Cable television networks in the U.S. pass by approximately 90
million homes, and have about 56 million subscribers, of a total of
about 94 million homes (U.S. TV CENSUS figures, 9/30/93). There are
more than 11,000 headends, and the cable TV industry has installed
more than 1,000,000 network-miles. Installation of optical fiber
proceeds at a brisk pace, the fiber plant in the U.S. going from
13,000 miles in 1991 to 23,000 miles in 1992. Construction spending
by the cable industry in 1992 was estimated to be about $2.4 billion,
of which $1.4 billion was for rebuilds and upgrades. Cable industry
revenue from subscriber services in 1992 was estimated to be more
than $21 billion, corresponding to an average subscriber rate of
about $30 per month (source: Paul Kagan Associates, Inc.). These
figures are based on "conventional" cable television services, and
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