Comcast reportedly testing IP network at MIT

For some reason the news that Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is testing IP at MIT is considered news even though it is just a confirmation of what Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis said during this week's Barclay Capital 2011 Global Communications, Media and Technology Conference.

"We have a variety of test beds related to IP which we think certainly helps with regards to bandwidth management ... and makes the customer experience a better experience," he told the investors' conference.

The news out of MIT is that Comcast won't be doing anything radical; it'll still be using its networks and only delivering services from the cloud via IP. It could, of course, be the first steps in finally removing conventional set-top boxes from the residence.

"Set-top boxes will be here for a while. A lot of intelligence will move to the cloud which is beneficial to us and probably some compression on cap ex," the Comcast moneyman said. "The more intelligence you can move to the cloud on an IP basis and use that terminal (for) software and download and interactivity, I think that only benefits both our customer experience to cap ex overall."

For more:
- Business Insider has this story
- listen to this webcast

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