Cable's migration to switched digital video (SDV) will happen well before the industry expands spectrum to 1 GHz, C-COR Corp. (Nasdaq: CCBL - message board) CEO David Woodle said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call this morning.

    Woodle said SDV will be "big" for the vendor as it moves into its next fiscal year. (See Sales Jump at C-COR.)

    C-COR became a top video-on-demand (VOD) software and equipment supplier in 2005 after closing its purchase of nCUBE Corp. It now wants to apply that technology and expertise toward the SDV sector. In April 2006, C-COR announced an "open" SDV system based on its nABLE Global Session and Resource Manager. Middleware specialist Open TV was announced as an initial technology partner. C-COR already uses nABLE as the back office of its widely deployed VOD platform. (See OpenTV, C-COR Enter Switching.)

    Although C-COR has not publicly disclosed any SDV field work, it is believed to be participating in the technical trial Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is conducting in the Denver area. (See Comcast Puts SDV Vendors to the Test.)

    The SDV market is expected to heat up later this year and into 2008, creating opportunities for a handful of system-wide switched digital players such as BigBand Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: BBND - message board), Tandberg Television , Scientific Atlanta , Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO - message board), and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT - message board).

    According to recent data, BigBand is well ahead of its peers and appears to be the only one in the group with an SDV system that’s been commercially deployed. (See SDV Deployment Snapshot.)

    "We're finishing trials,"Woodle said Thursday of C-COR's SDV-related activity. "I think we're one of the key vendors. We do have systems that are working operationally today. I think the revenues for that will be a key part of our fiscal '08 performance."