Internet
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Demonstrates 1Gbps Speed Broadband Connection and Next Generation Video Product
Today, attendees at the NCTA Conference in Chicago got a glimpse at the future as Brian Roberts demonstrated some of the fastest broadband speeds and shared our next-generation television experience with them.
Brian downloaded the current season of "30 Rock" for the audience in about a minute and a half using the first ever 1 Gbps broadband speed download over a production HFC network. And for those of you who were doing the math, the current season of "30 Rock" has 23 episodes with a total run time of almost nine hours. Our engineers worked with our local Chicago system and teams at Cisco and Ookla to create and deliver this demonstration of the future of broadband.
Today, Comcast offers Internet speeds up to 105 Mbps — and we've been increasing speeds for our customers every year since we launched in 2002 with just 1.5 Mbps of speed. We deliver more speed to more homes than any other ISP in America, and we'll keep up that pace as the Internet continues to evolve.
Turning to the TV, Brian also introduced the crowd to Xcalibur, our next-gen IP video platform we've been developing that will enable us to bring consumers the future of television, faster. The first of the Xcalibur products is in a market trial in Augusta, Georgia and includes a completely new cloud-based user interface with advanced navigation and access to more content, including select online videos and apps delivered over IP.
So what do fast Internet speeds and really cool TV have in common? The Comcast network and technology infrastructure.
Whether it's downloading the current season of "30 Rock" in just 90 seconds or using IP technology and our own "cloud" servers to make the television screen more personal and interactive, this evolution is possible because of the way we've built our network - it's flexible and scalable.
While we're using our network to deliver these experiences today, our engineers in Comcast Innovation Labs are working with our consumer electronics partners like Cisco, Facebook, Pandora Radio, Intel, Pace, INRIX, The Weather Channel, thePlatform and with developers to continually push the envelope to invent applications that haven't even been imagined yet. What could anyone possibly do with 1Gbps of speed? How can we bring apps, social media and other popular features to market faster or carry this rich TV experience over to many other TV devices, including connected TVs and game consoles? We are working on answers to this question, and the possibilities are infinite.
What Brian showed today is just the beginning. Have a look for yourself.