CableNet is the only independent alternative telecommunications provider in Cyprus to offer broadband, fixed telephony, television services through a wholly owned cable infrastructure and mobile network. The company operates a next-gen hybrid fiber-coaxial network that supports broadband and HDTV services.

In a project designed to augment this network, CableNet sought to link stadiums across Cyprus and to two remote production sites in order to bring content to the network hub and on to the headend. They wanted to use this project as an opportunity to introduce Media over IP into the network, position themselves to use SMPTE ST2022-7 redundancy as an option in the future, and avoid the cost of Satellite links in spans where Wave Division Multiplexing didn’t meet the loss budget.

In addition to expanding its links to include new locations, CableNet took this opportunity to move into IP-based media delivery, as well. To this end, the company deployed additional InfinityLink and FiberLink media transport systems along with the SMART Software Defined Platform provisioned for ST 2022 support, and various video-over-fiber cards, to connect nine nodes at various locations — Paphos, Larnaca, Nicosia, and Limassol — around Cyprus.

With integrated video routing and Ethernet switching, InfinityLink makes it easy to design and manage complete contribution transport systems from studio to studio and from remote sites to the CableNet network operations center.

CableNet has used FiberLink products with success in the past, but this is the company’s first implementation of media over IP. The compact FiberLink system is a plug-n-play system that eliminates the need for special tools or adjustments during installation. Supporting virtually every type of video, audio, and data signal, the fiber optic transmission solution simplified CableNet’s expansion of its existing network both geographically and into the realm of IP media delivery.

Together, these Artel solutions have opened up a low-risk, low-cost path to media over IP. With both video-over-IP links and data links, CableNet can move media while also managing file transfers or general IP traffic transport in the future.

The newly deployed Artel solutions have enabled CableNet to bridge existing traditional media-over-fiber delivery implementations with next-generation media-over-IP implementations. As a result, the company can use a single platform to interconnect various locations with remote production facilities seamlessly and cost-effectively, using different technologies and workflows to address each customer’s unique requirements.