New Brunswick Telephone last week launched the first commercial bidirectional, high-speed multimedia service to personal computers in a Saint John suburb.

Called Vibe, the NBTel service includes high-speed Internet access and multimedia content from various service providers, including interactive games, shopping, news and distance learning.

NBTel is delivering Vibe over its VideoActive network, a broadband fiber-to-the-neighborhood system that supports asynchronous transfer mode transmission standards over the entire network into the home (see figure). The VideoActive network features fiber from the central office to the node and coaxial cable to about 40 to 60 homes per node, said Gary Lund, general manager of broadband services for NBTel. The telco is planning to increase the number of homes per node to 150 to 200 when it adds amplifiers to its system in the first half of 1997.

"ATM to the home allows us to have complete flexibility to deliver two-way interactivity," he said.

The VideoActive network relies heavily on Northern Telecom technology, including its Magellan Concorde ATM switch in the CO; the Interactive Coax Access system to provide a 20 Mb/s neighborhood local area network; the ONU-ICX node product that modulates the fiber optic signal into an RF signal; the Entree 100 multimedia access device at the home that converts the RF signal into a 10 Mb/s Ethernet signal; and Sonet for the backbone network transport.

NBTel is also using server technology from Oracle and Sun Microsystems.

The commercial launch follows a three-month trial of 30 customers. NBTel is offering service to 4300 households with a monthly fee of $19.95 for the basic Vibe service, which includes news, interactive education and interactive games. An additional $20 per month provides unlimited Internet access.