Cable-TV-based computing got a boost last week at the Western Cable Show here when Intel and Bandai Digital Entertainment unveiled cable-transmission solutions, and Time Warner announced it would purchase 1 million digital set-top boxes.

Time Warner will buy 550,000 of the boxes from Scientific-Atlanta, while 450,000 will be supplied by Toshiba and Pioneer, which will license Scientific- Atlanta's technology, a Time Warner spokesman said. Time Warner is expected to deploy the boxes by the end of 1997. The company did not disclose what it will spend, but analysts estimate the deal is worth $400 million to $450 million.

Time Warner is currently upgrading its wires and central computers, and hopes to offer two-way service to one-third of its customers by 1997.

The boxes could be linked to Time Warner's Road Runner Internet service, a spokesman said. The boxes could also be used to connect cable services to a PC, though the company is focusing on television connections, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard said it has tuned its QuickBurst cable modem for the @Home Networks system and signed a series of international agreements, while Bandai reported that it completed the first phase of a cable modem test in Montreal for its Pippin@ World Internet appliance.

Hewlett-Packard has upgraded its modem to add support for multicast technology, which allows videoconferencing and interactive gaming, said Casey Sheldon, HP's brand manager for interactive broadband products.

The modems are rated as having a 30M-bps downstream speed and 15M-bps upstream speed.

In addition to @Home Networks, HP said cable operators Comcast and Cox Communications are in the process of certifying the QuickBurst modem and are expected to test them at sites in the near future, Sheldon said.

QuickBurst also will be deployed in Japan by four cable companies, and Nokia has agreed to distribute it in Europe. Nokia has already won a bid with Helsinki Television to roll out a high-speed network in Finland, which, when finished, is expected to support 10,000 users.

While the modem is currently only available from cable operators, HP plans to move it into retail in the near future as the services it supports expand, Sheldon said. The modem has a list price of $459 and an expected street price of less than $400.

Bandai successfully tested the product in Montreal, where 10 homes were connected to the Internet via Pippin@World, which was outfitted with a cable modem and a 10 base-T Ethernet adapter card.

Bandai is planning another test, with Pippin, which it developed jointly with Apple Computer, in more households later this quarter. It is currently available in Japan for a suggested retail price of around $700, but has not been released in the United States.

Several vendors, including Intel, Motorola, IBM and 3Com, plan to offer end-to-end cable transmission solutions at the Western Cable Show. Intel made its announcement a day before the show.

Intel's CablePort product line includes a cable modem, a data delivery system and installation software. The products have been developed to the worldwide DVB-C cable data software transport specifications.

Intel's system uses a POTS or ISDN telephone modem for a return channel and provides speeds of up to 41M-bps on the downstream, according to the company. Intel will market the product directly to cable operators and expects volume deployments in the second half of 1997.

Source: Computer Retail Week