News Releases

BIGBAND ADVANCES IP VIDEO STRATEGY WITH LAUNCH OF vIP PASS™

vIP Pass suite expands content beyond traditional TV with 75 percent CapEx savings over traditional CMTS expansion

March 4, 2009

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 4, 2009—BigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBND), a leader in digital video networking, today unveiled the company’s new IP video delivery product suite for the cable industry, vIP PASS™. The vIP PASS suite is designed to capitalize on existing infrastructure and deliver web-based and managed video services to a broad range of devices via DOCSIS 3.0 modems. The company estimates that the solution has the ability to save the industry up to 75 percent of its capital expenditures for CMTS expansions, or up to $2 billion over the next two years.
 
“We created vIP PASS in direct response to our customers’ need to meet the huge demand for high quality video services, which are growing at unprecedented rates across the network,” said David Heard, BigBand's Chief Operating Officer. “The suite enables our digital video networking platforms to become an efficient IP video delivery system. Operators can now deliver quality video experiences to a wide variety of consumer devices, generate new revenue streams, and be more competitive with a solution that could save them hundreds of millions of dollars in capital expenditures which is especially important in this economy.”
 
BigBand’s vIP PASS solution is designed to reduce the network complexity in delivering IP video services and inexpensively delivers cable services to a wide variety of IP-enabled consumer electronics devices. It uses service providers’ existing architectures and the company’s proven digital video networking architecture to more easily add broadband or web-based video services to existing line-ups. Today’s CMTS’s were not designed to transport the rapidly growing volume of video traffic. In addition to high costs for video transport, they lack the tools and video service quality mechanisms necessary to ensure a consistently high quality video experience. vIP PASS is further enhanced by BigBand’s proven edge QAM platforms, video control plane technology, video QoS, and performance and viewership tools that give operators visibility into the performance and viewing statistics of their video content. 
 
Unlike CMTS-delivered video, vIP PASS further simplifies video management by enabling operators to use one interface for managing video services, whether these services are delivered to set-top boxes or other devices.  This is important as operators begin to adopt future enhancements, such as addressable advertising.  BigBand’s DOCSIS-compatible solution utilizes lower cost, more flexible IP set-top boxes or IP-enabled TVs, PCs, and handheld consumer devices.  
 
"Service providers are looking to deliver video to more consumer devices to provide personalized content, generate additional revenue streams, and compete with popular online video services," said Greg Ireland, Research Manager, Consumer Markets: Video at IDC. "To that end, IPTV and robust IP-based video services are increasingly relevant for cable providers. However, delivering next generation IP-based video services should not necessarily be based on the CMTS equipment originally designed for data and voice traffic. Instead, solutions built specifically for video delivery are a way to leverage ongoing investments in digital video networking equipment and offer the best quality of service while managing precious bandwidth. Already, IDC expects cable providers to spend in excess of $2 billion over the next couple of years just to expand and enhance broadband services. It therefore makes sense for IPTV traffic to bypass the CMTS, so the CMTS can be utilized for data and voice services with no risk of disruption."
 
About BigBand Networks
BigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBND) provides broadband service providers with innovative network solutions designed to make it easier to move, manage and monetize video. These solutions are based on BigBand’s video-networking platforms that are built to enable efficient and reliable delivery across a wide range of services, including digital TV, high definition TV, advanced advertising, video-on-demand and interactive TV. BigBand Networks’ customers include more than 200 service providers—including seven of the ten largest service providers in the U.S.—and leading cable and telco service providers in North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. BigBand Networks is based in Redwood City, Calif., with offices worldwide. For additional information about the company, please call +1.650.995.5000, email info@bigbandnet.com or visit www.bigbandnet.com.

BigBand Networks’ brand and product names, including vIP PASS™, are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of BigBand Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.


This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities Laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements may relate to, but are not limited to the functionality, programming potential and other potential benefits to be derived by our customers from the use of BigBand’s vIP PASS™ solution, forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, among others, the following: rapid technological change that can adversely affect the demand for BigBand’s products, design flaws in BigBand’s vIP PASS, shifts in customer demand, shifts in strategic relationships, delays in BigBand’s ability to deliver or decisions to discontinue its products and services, or announcements by competitors. These and other risks may be detailed from time to time in BigBand’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained from www.sec.gov. BigBand Networks is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information contained in our website is not incorporated by reference in, or made part of this press release.