BigBand Networks

Last updated
BigBand Networks
Company type Private
Industry
Founded1999, public 2007
Headquarters,
United States
Key people
  • Amir Bassan-Eskenazi, President & Co-Founder, Former CEO
  • Ran Oz, Co-Founder & Former CTO
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$112M (FY 2010) [1]
Decrease2.svg US$-30.8M (FY 2010) [1]
Decrease2.svg US$-31.6M (FY 2010) [1]
Total assets Decrease2.svg US$181M (FY 2010) [2]
Total equity Decrease2.svg US$134M (FY 2010) [2]
Number of employees
620 (July 2007)
Parent Arris Group
Website bigbandnet.com

BigBand Networks was a corporation headquartered in Redwood City, California, that opened in 1999 and specialized in selling multimedia technologies to cable television multi-system operators. It had its IPO on the Nasdaq in 2007, which was met with controversy when a class-action lawsuit alleged that the company violated the Securities Act of 1933. The company was acquired as a division within Arris Group in 2011.

Contents

BigBand manufactured and sold digital video and data processing products and services for digital video and cable modem termination systems (CMTS). During its existence, BigBand won two Emmy Awards for its video on demand service and switched video technology.

Description

BigBand's development centers were assimilated by Arris Group. The main video products are developed in Tel Aviv, Israel employing roughly 200 people. The main data and voice products development center is in Westborough, Massachusetts with roughly 175 people. [3] A third research and development office is located in Shenzhen, China. [4]

The company formerly sold video, voice, and data products directly to major cable multi-system operators (MSOs). Amongst the company's biggest MSO clients were Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox with Verizon becoming their biggest customer in 2006.

BigBand's main products include a digital video processing platform called BMR and a cable modem termination system (CMTS) called Cuda. The video platform enables services such as switched video, [5] digital cable, video on demand and IPTV offered on a variety of transport networks such as QAM cable, DSL and Verizon Fios.

BigBand won two Emmy Awards, one for service in the US with Time Warner Cable "Start Over", enabling video on demand, the ability to pause a broadcast program and watch it later. [6] In 2008, BigBand received the Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for its switched video technology which enabled cable operators to deliver unlimited number of broadcast channels to their subscribers. [7]

History

2007 IPO and class action lawsuit

BigBand went public in March 2007. [8] The offering was underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Jeffries & Company, Cowen & Company and ThinkEquity. [9]

In October 2007, a class-action shareholder lawsuit was filed on behalf of shareholders who purchased BigBand Network securities in the company's IPO on March 15, 2007. The lawsuit sought to pursue remedies under the Securities Act of 1933. The complaint alleged BigBand violated the Securities Act, and that company insiders including the CEO, CFO and CTO knowingly published misleading and false statements about the company's financial health and product offerings. In particular, the complaint alleged that BigBand materially misstated their revenues, and engaged, among other allegations, in the practice informally known as channel stuffing to artificially inflate their financials prior to IPO. The suit was settled in 2009, with BigBand agreeing to pay US$1.5 million. [10]

In 2007, BigBand sued a firm started by ex-employees. The firm, called Imagine Communications, was allegedly infringing on 3 of BigBand's patents covering video processing and bandwidth management techniques. [11]

Acquisition by Arris Group

In 2011 the acquisition of BigBand by Arris Group was completed for $172 million, with Arris paying $53 million for the acquisition of BigBand's outstanding shares. [12]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cable modem</span> Broadband Internet access device

A cable modem is a type of network bridge that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), radio frequency over glass (RFoG) and coaxial cable infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high bandwidth of a HFC and RFoG network. They are commonly deployed in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes (STB) with direct to disk recording, portable media players and TV gateways with recording capability, and digital camcorders. Personal computers are often connected to video capture devices and used as DVRs; in such cases the application software used to record video is an integral part of the DVR. Many DVRs are classified as consumer electronic devices; such devices may alternatively be referred to as personal video recorders (PVRs), particularly in Canada. Similar small devices with built-in displays and SSD support may be used for professional film or video production, as these recorders often do not have the limitations that built-in recorders in cameras have, offering wider codec support, the removal of recording time limitations and higher bitrates.

Vonage Holdings Corp. is an American cloud communications provider operating as a subsidiary of Ericsson. Headquartered in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, the organization was founded in 1998 as Min-X as a provider of residential telecommunications services based on voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In 2001, the organization changed its name to Vonage.

Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) is a broadband telecommunications network that combines optical fiber and coaxial cable. It has been commonly employed globally by cable television operators since the early 1990s.

Cox Communications, Inc. is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It is the third-largest cable television provider in the United States, serving approximately 6.5 million customers, including 2.9 million digital cable subscribers, 3.5 million Internet subscribers, and almost 3.2 million digital telephone subscribers, making it the seventh-largest telephone carrier in the country. Cox is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd in Sandy Springs, Georgia, U.S., in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CableCARD</span> Digital cable smart card

CableCARD is a special-use PC Card device that allows consumers in the United States to view and record digital cable television channels on digital video recorders, personal computers and television sets on equipment such as a set-top box not provided by a cable television company. The card is usually provided by the local cable operator, typically for a nominal monthly fee.

Pace plc was a British company which developed set-top boxes (STBs), advanced residential gateways, software and services for the pay-TV and broadband services industry. Pace's customers included cable, telco, satellite and IPTV operators. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until December 2015, when the company received the last of the regulatory clearances needed to allow a merger with Arris Group to proceed. In 2019, Arris was subsequently acquired by network infrastructure provider CommScope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientific Atlanta</span> Defunct American company

Scientific Atlanta, Inc. was a Georgia, United States–based manufacturer of cable television, telecommunications, and broadband equipment. Scientific Atlanta was founded in 1951 by a group of engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and was purchased by Cisco Systems in 2005 for $6.9 billion after Cisco received antitrust clearance for the purchase. The Cisco acquisition of Scientific Atlanta was ranked in the top 10 of largest technology acquisitions in history and was Cisco's largest acquisition to date. Prior to the purchase, Scientific Atlanta had been a Fortune 500 company and was one of the top 25 largest corporations in Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moxi (DVR)</span>

Moxi was a line of high-definition digital video recorders produced by Moxi Digital Digeo and Arris International. Moxi was originally released only to cable operators, but in December 2008 it was released as a retail product. Moxi was removed from the market in November 2011. The former retail product, the Moxi HD DVR, provided a high-definition user interface with support for either two or three CableCARD TV tuners. Arris also offered a companion appliance, the Moxi Mate, which could stream live or recorded TV from a Moxi HD DVR.

The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, or Technology and Engineering Emmys, are one of two sets of Emmy Awards that are presented for outstanding achievement in engineering development in the television industry. The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), while the separate Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards are given by its sister organization the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS).

Arris International Limited is an American telecommunications equipment company engaged in data, video and telephony systems for homes and businesses. On April 4, 2019, Arris was acquired by network infrastructure provider CommScope.

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation was a fabless semiconductor company designing network and embedded Power ISA, and server processor ARM, optical transport and storage products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downloadable Conditional Access System</span>

Downloadable Conditional Access System or DCAS was a proposal advanced by CableLabs for secure software download of a specific Conditional Access client which controls digital rights management (DRM) into an OCAP-compliant host consumer media device. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) proposed that DCAS be used as a substitute for physical CableCARDs, a standard also created by CableLabs for which products began appearing in August 2004 as part of industry compliance to the FCC mandate, which in turn is pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. DCAS is growing in popularity as a less expensive alternative for CableCARD, with major North American operator deployments from Cablevision and Charter. DCAS deployments can be expected to grow in the coming years, thanks to favorable regulatory view from the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 and FCC appointing a Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee, and wider support for key ladder (K-LAD) functionality from system-on-chip (SoC) vendors and set-top box manufacturers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Switched video</span>

Switched video or switched digital video (SDV), sometimes referred to as switched broadcast (SWB), is a telecommunications industry term for a network scheme for distributing digital video via a cable. Switched video sends the digital video more efficiently freeing bandwidth. The scheme applies to digital video distribution both on typical cable TV systems using QAM channels, or on IPTV systems.

Tru2way is a brand name for interactive digital cable services delivered over the cable network. Services include interactive program guides, interactive ads, games, chat, web browsing, and T-Commerce. The brand also appears as <tru2way> and is used to market cable services, applications, and devices that support the tru2way cable architecture. Tru2way is the successor name for technology known as OpenCable. Major cable operators committed to deploy the tru2way platform in service areas covering more than 90 million U.S. homes by the end of 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CommScope</span> American network infrastructure manufacturer

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. is an American network infrastructure provider based in Hickory, North Carolina. CommScope employs over 30,000 employees. The company joined the Nasdaq stock exchange on October 25, 2013.

Stingray Group Inc. is a Canadian music, media and technology company based in Montreal, Quebec, with offices in Toronto, Ontario, as well as in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruckus Networks</span> Networking equipment brand

RUCKUS Networks is a brand of wired and wireless networking equipment and software owned by CommScope. Ruckus offers Switches, Wi-Fi access points, CBRS access points, Controllers, Management systems, Cloud management, AAA/BYOD software, AI and ML analytics software, location software and IoT controller software products to mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises. As a company, Ruckus invented and has patented wireless voice, video, and data technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase data rates, and avoid interference, providing distribution of delay-sensitive content over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mellanox Technologies</span> Israeli-American multinational supplier of computer networking products

Mellanox Technologies Ltd. was an Israeli-American multinational supplier of computer networking products based on InfiniBand and Ethernet technology. Mellanox offered adapters, switches, software, cables and silicon for markets including high-performance computing, data centers, cloud computing, computer data storage and financial services.

Harmonic Inc. is an American technology company that develops and markets video routing, server, and storage products for companies that produce, process, and distribute video content for television and the Internet.

References

  1. 1 2 3 BigBand Networks (BBND) annual SEC income statement filing via Wikinvest.
  2. 1 2 BigBand Networks (BBND) annual SEC balance sheet filing via Wikinvest.
  3. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2 August 2007). "BIGBAND NETWORKS REPORTS SECOND QUARTER 2007 FINANCIAL RESULTS". SEC.gov . Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  4. "BigBand Networks Expands Presence in China". Business Wire. 2007-03-30.
  5. "Cablevision Deploys BigBand's Switched Video". Converge Network Digest. 2007-07-24. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
  6. "Tech Emmys Take the Strip". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  7. "Winners of the 59th Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards". Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  8. Alan Breznick (2007-03-15). "BigBand IPO: Boing!". Cable Digital News.
  9. "BigBand Networks raises $139m on Nasdaq IPO - Globes". Globes.co.il (in Hebrew). 15 March 2007. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  10. "BigBand Settles Shareholder Lawsuit". Multichannel News . Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  11. Todd Spangler (2007-06-05). "BigBand Sues Firm Started by Ex-Employees". Multichannel News.
  12. "ARRIS Completes BigBand Acquisition". Yahoo! Finance . ZACKS. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  13. "Paper - Network Design For A Multiplicity Of Services - NCTA Technical Papers". NCTATechnicalPapers.com. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  14. "Paper - The Triple-Play Network Platform - NCTA Technical Papers". NCTATechnicalPapers.com. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  15. "The Statistics of Switched Broadcast - 2005". docslide.us. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  16. "Paper - Advanced Monitoring Of Switched Broadcast Systems - NCTA Technical Papers". NCTATechnicalPapers.com. Retrieved 2018-09-14.