How's This For Premium Cable?

Some cable-TV operators may soon add another service to their menus: Along with HBO and ESPN, customers will be able to opt for data recovery, backup, and storage service software. IBM last week struck a deal with Narad Networks Inc. under which it will use Narad's patented high-speed data-over-cable technology to create product and service packages that cable-network operators can remarket to small and midsize businesses, which spend about $100 billion annually on IT, according to AMR Partners. The service will make access to IT much more cost effective for small businesses, says Ahmet Ozalp, Narad's VP of strategic marketing.

Like DSL, which lets phone companies deliver data over unused portions of the telephone network, the Narad Services Delivery Platform lets cable operators deliver data on unused cable bandwidth without interfering with television signals.

Narad says it's in trials with three major cable operators, which it wouldn't identify.