Client: Bell Atlantic Network Services
The Bell Atlantic Intelligent Home
On the surface Cascades looks like many other neighborhoods. But, in 1992, it was the site of one of the first demonstrations of interactive television services.
At the time, most “live” demonstrations were mere simulations - simple on-site video's that said “imagine if”. However, Bell Atlantic sought a live, simulation - a set of interactive applications that would run over an existing fiber-optic network.
Bell Atlantic tasked Creative Perspectives with creating the suite of seven interactive services for the Intelligent Home. Focusing on consumer quality-of-life, the demonstration services included video-on-demand, home shopping, travel, health care, music, education, and games. While a television and a “smart box” provided the device on-site in the Home, most of the network and computing equipment were located in a phone company central office several miles away; the services were then delivered to the Home via a fiber optic network.
This unique live simulation of service delivery gave Bell Atlantic the opportunity to better gauge consumer response to services. A vivid picture of their networks potential emerged as well. The resulting demonstration earned industry recognition and kudos for Bell Atlantic and Creative Perspectives alike. Later, Hitachi Telecom licensed the demonstration applications for showcasing their ATM equipment.
