Time Warner Cable has launched a pilot service to allow cable customers with broadband to access cable television channels over their network connection -- The Broadband TV service is currently only available to some 9,000 subscribers in certain parts of San Diego, California. It will allow cable customers with the Road Runner broadband service to view selected channels on a personal computer, without any additional subscription. Basic cable customers will be able to see a limited number of channels, while those with higher levels of service will be able to see up to 75 channels. The Broadband TV service is delivered over the private data network of Time Warner Cable and it is not possible to access the service remotely, or to record programmes. The service currently only supports Windows PCs with Internet Explorer and RealPlayer 10. The trial service will be an interesting test of the attitude of programming suppliers to the delivery of their channels over a data network. It comes as major telecommunications companies in the United States are planning to launch IPTV or internet protocol television services to compete directly with the cable companies.
Gartner's latest worldwide IT spending forecast exposes a trend every CIO has already felt in budget negotiations. Total spending will climb 14.2 percent in 2026, reaching $6.37 trillion. It seems that the IT infrastructure market is simply having a strong year. However, the more useful insight is how unevenly that growth is distributed. The Headline Number vs. The Real Story Data center systems and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are absorbing capital at a pace several multiples faster than devices, communications services, and traditional IT services. This is not incremental growth spread across a healthy portfolio. It is a wholesale reallocation of enterprise technology budgets toward AI infrastructure, made on the expectation that demand for AI workloads will justify the outlay before that demand has been fully proven. Where the Money is Going Data center systems are forecast to grow 62.5 percent in 2026, that's up from 51.6 percent growth in 2025, reaching $822 billion....