The status of interoperability on fiber coax networks

Fiber/coax networks are becoming the medium of choice for the last mile of the “information superhighway”. Issues of interoperability in key technologies necessary for this medium are discussed. From a technical perspective it is useful to consider the interoperability issues in the following categories: digital video compression; digital audio compression; digital system multiplexing and transport; modulation and error correction; security and conditional access; network interchange protocols; and applications environment. Of course, there are multiple sub-layers in each one of the above categories that must be addressed in detail to achieve interoperability. The paper attempts to address important sub-layers in each of the major categories in which agreement has been reached on details and to identify several critical interoperability details on which the industry must still reach agreement to have a truly interoperable “information superhighway”