CableLabs^® Winter Conference 2001: A Cable Odyssey

Entitled 2001: A Cable Odyssey, the CableLabs Winter Conference attracted almost 300 attendees, plus 17 supplying companies that provided demonstrations.

"We have a technical franchise on the next generation of packet networks. We are, by far, the most capable platform for delivering interactive TV, high-speed data, and all future IP-based services. We continue to change and to grow in our technical and business stature," Green added. (Please see Green’s keynote address).

Also among the highlights of the conference was an interview with Liberty Media Group Chairman and former CableLabs Board Chairman, Dr. John C. Malone. In response to questions from cable analyst, Leslie Ellis, Malone said that he believes that cable has a positive future and that interactive television and high-speed data businesses will be very valuable for the industry.

Liberty Media Group Chairman, Dr. John C. Malone, interviewed at CableLabs’ Winter Conference 2001.

The conference began February 12 with an update on the new political scene in Washington. Cable consultant Steve Effros moderated the session. Panelists were Dan Brenner, senior vice president for law and regulatory policy with NCTA; Joe Waz, vice president external affairs and public policy counsel with Comcast Corp.; and Tom Wolzien, the senior media analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein.

The competitive landscape was the subject of the next session. Bill Menezes, editor of Broadband Week, moderated a panel that included Tom Eagan, director, equity research for UBS Warburg LLC; Stephen Flynn, an analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter; and Doug Shapiro, managing director and senior research analyst over the cable and broadband services sectors for Banc of America Securities LLC.

The morning continued with a session on Business Development. CableLabs Chief Technical Officer, Dr. David P. Reed, moderated the session. It included presentations and live demonstrations that were managed by CableLabs’ Manager of Technology Demonstrations, Jim Rice. Panelists were Mark Coblitz, senior vice president of strategic planning for Comcast Corp.; Kevin Leddy, senior vice president, new product development for Time Warner Cable; and James H. Starr, a vice president with AT&T Broadband Laboratories.

The morning concluded with the discussion between Malone and Ellis.

That afternoon, two concurrent tracks of sessions focused respectively on OpenCable™ and DOCSIS™ (Data over Cable Service Interface Specification) activities. Executive Consultant to CableLabs, Rouzbeh Yassini, CEO of YAS Corp., moderated a series of presentations by panelists David Fellows, a principal with Pilot House Associates LLC, discussed DOCSIS 1.0 and DOCSIS 1.1; Doug Semon, principal Internet systems architect with Time Warner Cable, addressed legacy cable modems in a DOCSIS world; Luisa Murcia, vice president of technology high-speed data for AT&T Broadband, presented on back office operations; Steve Craddock, senior vice president of new media development, Comcast Corp., discussed DOCSIS and PacketCable™; and George Hart, director of technology integration with Rogers Cable Inc., focused on the advanced physical layer work for cable modems.

John Hildebrand, vice president of multimedia technology for Cox Communications, moderated the rest of the DOCSIS track. It featured presentations on various technical aspects of DOCSIS. Jesus Lopez, senior project engineer, broadband services technology for CableLabs, discussed the DOCSIS 1.1 certification process; Pak Siripunkaw, visiting engineer at CableLabs from AT&T Broadband Labs, focused on DOCSIS 1.1 deployment; Doug Jones, chief architect for YAS Corp., addressed next-generation cable modem termination systems (CMTS); and Greg White, senior broadband data communications engineer with CableLabs, presented on Quality of Service in DOCSIS 1.1 and PacketCable Networks.

Don Dulchinos, CableLabs vice president of advanced platforms and services, moderated the first half of the OpenCable track, which touched upon OpenCable hardware evolution. Jim Wood, vice president of advanced technologies for AT&T Broadband, addressed AT&T’s digital set top strategy. David Broberg, director, OpenCable requirements, talked about television receiver technology and business trends. Keen Personal Media CEO, Russell Krapf, presented on personal video recorder integration on the cable platform.

The second major OpenCable session, entitled Interactive TV Operational Issues, was moderated by So Vang, CableLabs project director, OpenCable software. Sessions included the OpenCable Applications Platform, presented by Vang; likely client configurations, Ralph Brown of Excite@Home; headend support issues by Jean-Pol Zundel of Comcast Corp.; and several cable operator perspectives on interactive TV, presented by Rich Fickle of AT&T Broadband and Vince Groff of Cox Communications.

Green kicked off February 13 with his keynote. He was followed by a panel of entrepreneurs discussing their start-up companies. That session was moderated by Glenn Edens, president of AT&T Strategic Ventures. Speakers included Max Brownstein, co-founder of Broadband Home; Jonathan Fram, CEO of eVoice; and Ranjit Sahota, CEO and CTO of MetaTV.

The morning concluded with a dual-track approach—one business and one technical. The business track contained a group of speakers discussing retail strategies and a second session on interactive television. CableLabs Director of E-Commerce, J.P. Singh, moderated the retail panel that also included Page Shaper, AT&T Broadband; Sabrina Steeves, Adelphia; and Charlie Herrin, Comcast Corp.

Dulchinos moderated the interactive TV panel, which also included Kim Kelly, Insight Communications COO; John Hildebrand of Cox; and A. Malcolm Stanley of Rogers Cablesystems.

A concurrent technical track contained panels on headends of the future and on bandwidth management. CableLabs consultant, Tom Elliot, moderated the headend panel, which featured as speakers Paul Brooks, senior staff engineer of the Plant Engineering Department, Time Warner Cable Engineering and Technology, and David Eng, vice president system integration, AT&T Broadband. CableLabs Senior Advisor, Network Systems, Dr. Terry Shaw, moderated the session on bandwidth management, which included speakers Cheryl Persinger, a member of technical staff in the Management Science Applications Group of AT&T Broadband Labs, and Mike Giobbi, vice president of new technologies with Armstrong Cable.

The afternoon tracks focused on CableLabs’ PacketCable™ and Strategic Assessment activities.

Newly promoted Glenn Russell, now heading the PacketCable project, moderated that project’s afternoon. He provided the project overview and Tom Thompson, project director, PacketCable interoperability testing, briefed attendees on the PacketCable compliance testing program. Other sessions were on economics of second line IP phones, as presented by Julia Brodsky, project manager, business strategy in the Strategic Planning Department. Maria Stachelek, project director software systems and architecture, presented the roadmap for PacketCable progress this year.

Leslie Ellis moderated a panel on PacketCable deployment, which included Glenn Altcheck, director of marketing, VoIP solutions in the Motorola Broadband Communications Sector; Mark Bakies of Cisco Systems; Steve Craddock of Comcast; Cameron Gough, AT&T Broadband; Rich Higgins, director, telecommunications engineering for Time Warner Cable; and Tom Thompson.

Reed moderated the Strategic Assessment afternoon. The first session was on CableHome™ and included Stuart Hoggan, project director, CableHome, on a home networking technology update and trends; Kevin Luehrs, project manager, digital network platforms in CableHome, on the CableHome project; and Steve Saunders, project director, home networking software for CableHome.

Jeffrey Jaye, consultant to CableLabs, addressed streaming media industry developments and economics, while Dr. Yasser Syed, project manager, streaming media technologies for CableLabs, presented a comparison of popular streaming video technologies.

A series of competitive assessments closed out the day. They addressed interactive television, presented by CableLabs consultant Dr. Jerry Bennington; Brodsky’s reprise of the second line VoIP economics; Dr. Terry Shaw on cable competitors for high-speed data business; and Perry O’Neil, CableLabs’ senior advisor, strategic technologies, on a business-to-business interface.

The conference also included demonstrations from the following companies: