Cisco Systems is adding new capabilities to its 7600 series routers to better serve IPTV applications, the company said.

In next year’s first quarter, Cisco will begin trials of a new Visual Quality Experience appliance to work with the 7600 in IPTV applications. A sort of server with a video content cache, the VQE includes solutions for quick error repair and rapid channel changing.

The speed at which users can change channels has been a particular point of concern surrounding IPTV because--unlike traditional cable systems, which deliver all channels to the home at all times--IPTV systems deliver channels only after they’re requested, which can sometimes take a few seconds.

The 7600 uses a content cache to bridge the gap between one channel and the next so that users experience a virtually instantaneous channel change.

The VQE also detects and corrects errors in less than 100 milliseconds. When packets are lost, set-top boxes alerts the VQE, which selects the missing packet from its content cache and delivers it, resuming the correct order of packets.

The VQE will initially be shipped as a discrete appliance, one that is a few rack units high and sits between the DSLAM and switches or routers upstream. Each box can serve over 1,000 end users.

But eventually--and Cisco isn’t saying when--the VQE will be integrated into the 7600.

Meanwhile, Cisco is also ratcheting up the 7600’s scale. Next quarter the company will begin trialing a new software release for the 7600 that increases the number of PPPoE, PPPoEoA, IP and DHCP sessions it can handle to 64,000.

Cisco is also introducing a content delivery system that allows service providers to insert local content (e.g., advertising) into video-on-demand programs.