Cogeco 2015 Annual Report Download - page 12

MD&A COGECO CABLE INC. 2015 11
(c) in 860 MHz and 1 GHz markets, Atlantic Broadband is using the available spectrum to add bonded DOCSIS channels to increase
speeds and to provide additional HD channels.
Cogeco Cable Canada and Atlantic Broadband use DOCSIS technology to deliver Internet and business services over HFC networks. DOCSIS
has numerous advanced features, including the prioritization of packets to ensure a continuous transmission and high quality of service delivery.
This prioritization is important for services that need to be transmitted in real time, such as telephony service. In addition, this technology provides
a flexible and expandable platform to further increase IP transmission speeds up to 250 Mbps and beyond and for providing other products such
as symmetrical services, which are particularly well suited for commercial customer applications. Today, Cogeco Cable Canada and Atlantic
Broadband offers a top internet speed of 120 Mbps using DOCSIS 3.0 technology and they are on track to continue with the necessary infrastructure
enhancements to selectively incorporate DOCSIS 3.1 to continue with speed increases to 250 Mbps and beyond. In select areas, Atlantic
Broadband is currently offering Gigabit speeds using passive optical network technology.
Finally, Cogeco Cable Canada and Atlantic Broadband are deploying FTTH technology in all new residential developments which meet specific
criteria of size, proximity to the existing plant and service penetration rate. Cogeco Cable Canada and Atlantic Broadband use a FTTH technology
called Radio Frequency over Glass ("RFoG"). The primary benefit of RFoG is its compatibility backward and forward with existing Cable Modem
Termination System ("CMTS") investments and back-office systems. RFoG offers increased reliability, lower maintenance costs and is an excellent
platform for the delivery of enhanced video services and higher speed internet services in the future.
The following table shows the percentage of homes passed in Canada and in the United States where Digital video, VOD, Internet and telephony
services were available at August 31, 2015:
% of homes passed where service is available
Service Canada United States
Digital video 99% 99%
VOD 97% 86%
Internet (DOCSIS 2.0) 98% 99%
Internet (DOCSIS 3.0) 97% 95%
Telephony 96% 99%
2.2 ENTERPRISE DATA SERVICES
As part of a process initiated in the previous months, the Corporation announced, on May 5, 2015, the operational, financial and organizational
restructuring of its Enterprise data services segment by combining the strengths of its two business units Cogeco Data Services and Peer 1
Hosting to form Cogeco Peer 1. This combination represents a growth opportunity for Cogeco Cable by bringing the teams and capabilities
together and therefore, positioning it to increase operational efficiencies, streamline the product offerings and leverage the global footprint.
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
The Enterprise data services segment provides colocation, network connectivity, managed hosting, cloud services and a rich portfolio of managed
IT services in Canada, the United States and Europe to small, medium and large enterprises around the globe. Cogeco Peer 1 provides these
services in the following key vertical markets: online retail, financial services, technology, public sector, education, health care, business services,
manufacturing, media and online gaming.
Cogeco Peer 1 provides its services through 21(1) data centres covering approximately 420,000 gross square feet and more than 50 points-of-
presence in North America and Europe. The activities of the Enterprise data services segment are carried out across Canada (British Columbia,
Ontario, Québec), the United States (California, Texas, Virginia, Florida and Georgia) and Europe (London and Southampton, United of Kingdom
("UK")).
The following five services represent our core suite of offerings:
Colocation: Colocation services allow customers to host “customer-owned” IT infrastructure within a Cogeco Peer 1 data centre where they
benefit from a superior data centre environment, uninterruptible power sources and our FastFiber NetworkTM connectivity infrastructure. These
services include cabinets, cage space, redundant power supply, physical security and operational support. This type of solution also enables
customers to further leverage other Cogeco Peer 1 services including cloud, backup and disaster recovery, and managed IT services.
Network Connectivity: Cogeco Peer 1 operates an advanced high speed transport fibre optic networks in Canada, the United States and in
Europe. This core backbone is equipped with state of the art, carrier grade infrastructure connecting its global data centres and facilities all
together. The network has multiple interconnections with Tier 1 peering partners, carriers and extended geographic reach via leased facilities
with third party carriers. Cogeco Peer 1 also owns and operates fibre access networks in Montréal and Toronto. These combined
transport and access facilities enable Cogeco Peer 1 to provide a rich suite of high performance network connectivity options including wavelength,
Ethernet, IP virtual private network and very Internet services.
Managed Hosting: Cogeco Peer 1’s managed hosting solution provides clients with access to server, storage software, load-balancers, transport
networks, security and content distribution network infrastructure that are managed by Cogeco Peer 1’s support teams, in order to host customers'
transactional web-site applications. The solution may also provide certain customers with access to PCI-DSS compliant environments for their
web hosting in select geographies.
(1) At October 28, 2015.