Hybrid fiber/coax in the public telecommunications infrastructure

The benefits of the hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) architecture for the delivery of interactive broadband services have been widely discussed in the past few years. The cable television industry began deployment of this infrastructure in 1989 to support the broadcast video business. Recently, domestic telephone companies have looked at various degrees of HFC implementation, ranging from the delivery of broadcast video only to full telephony integration. The article looks at the HFC network evolution from a broadcast, non-essential, isolated architecture to a robust, interactive, broadband element within the public telecommunications fabric. Regional networks, interface to the public network and network management systems are a few of the significant issues with respect to the viability of HFC as the access layer to the “information superhighway.” If the HFC platform proves viable, telephone companies will adapt it to meet their needs in a fully integrated system