Events
Explore the Future of Broadband With SCTE TechExpo24 On-Demand Sessions
Key Points
- Key sessions from SCTE TechExpo24 are now available on-demand anytime.
- Experts from the broadband industry, CableLabs and SCTE led and participated in countless discussions, covering topics from AI to zero trust.
Subject matter experts, innovators and thought leaders from CableLabs, SCTE and the industry at large came together last month for the Americas’ largest broadband event. From inspiring headliners and insightful interviews to hands-on demonstrations and an exposition full of solutions, SCTE TechExpo 2024 provided an in-depth look at the innovations that are shaping the future of broadband.
It was a lot to take in! But the learning opportunities didn’t stop there. Now, many of those track keynotes and sessions are available to anyone to view anytime, anywhere. Whether you want to revisit your favorite sessions or discover the ones you missed, you now have access to exclusive on-demand content from the action-packed event in Atlanta.
TechExpo24 On-Demand Content
Explore recorded sessions by topic — everything from strategy to sustainability — or catch up quickly with highlights from each day of TechExpo. And, in case you missed them, here’s a short recap of just a handful of the sessions our experts participated in.
Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) featured heavily in many sessions, with speakers discussing its impact on broadband networks. It’s obvious that AI will be critical to industry advancements, and operators are already beginning to find low-risk, low-cost ways to integrate AI into their network operations. Tools are emerging to speed the development of both enterprise- and industry-specific AI platforms. Catch up on how AI can be leveraged to build more secure networks in the session Driving a Proactive Approach to AI-Powered Security.
Technology Policy: Hear more about AI and get an update on its policy implications in A Year After the Artificial Intelligence Executive Order: Current Status & What’s Ahead. In the session, government experts outline federal priorities and the industry-relevant requirements of the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.
Wireless & Convergence: In Seamless Connectivity: Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, learn about the key considerations and how the industry can overcome challenges to achieve seamless connectivity. Then explore how fixed wireless access can meet the ever-increasing demand for network capacity and deliver broadband wireless services more effectively in Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)… But Were Afraid to Ask!
Wireline: Operators and vendors are demonstrating their ability to deliver or their interest in delivering 25 Gbps capabilities through DOCSIS®️ technology on the HFC plant. In Practical Strategies for Deploying FTTH, hear an analysis of modern passive optical networking (PON) technologies in the evolutionary path of HFC networks.
Network as a Service: Learn how operators can grow new revenues with Network as a Service (NaaS) and Quality by Design (QbD), which leverages standardized APIs to facilitate communication between applications and the network. Tune in to the recording of the API-Powered NaaS session to hear more.
Security: CableLabs gave an overview of its Zero Trust and Infrastructure Security (ØTIS) Best Common Practices (BCP) document, which was released at TechExpo, and discussed the critical role of zero trust in networks. The BCP serves as a guideline for cable operators and vendors as they implement zero trust concepts and support network convergence and automation. This session wasn’t recorded, but you can learn more and download the document here.
Business Strategy: In a recording from Growth & Transformation—Lessons from the Video Game Industry, level up your understanding of what the broadband industry can learn from the gaming industry when it comes to competitive differentiation, launching products and entering new markets.
Explore more exciting on-demand video content and continue your learning journey well after TechExpo24 — at your convenience. We’ll see you next year at TechExpo25, Sept. 29- Oct. 1, in Washington, D.C.!
CableLabs Winter Conference 2025
For more opportunities to share insights and discover the technology advancements transforming the industry, join us at CableLabs Winter Conference in March 2025 in Orlando, Florida.
This exclusive gathering provides a neutral meeting ground for CableLabs member operators and our vendor community to exchange knowledge and build meaningful connections. Members can register now, and a limited number of exhibitor tables are still available.
Innovation
How Patent Licensing Advances Innovation
Key Points
- Licensing agreements help incentivize innovation in the broadband industry by enabling collaboration and technology transfer.
- CableLabs’ patented technologies are available for our member operators to use at any time.
- Licensing reduces the litigation risk for manufacturers and other vendors who contribute to CableLabs’ work.
At CableLabs, we talk a lot about the importance of innovation and collaboration. These are the connecting themes in our Technology Vision for the broadband industry to drive competitiveness, scale and alignment while also cultivating technologies for the future.
But there’s another critical piece of the puzzle that comes into play when we talk about the industry’s collective advancements: intellectual property. Specifically, the licensing of patents and software — and how these creative safeguards move broadband technology forward by incentivizing innovation.
Why Are Patents Important?
Patents are a pillar of innovation in tech. They give inventors rights to their creations, allowing them to protect their hard-earned ideas in exchange for sharing the details of their invention with the world and pushing the boundaries of public knowledge. And during the patent protection period, a patent license allows other innovators to create and even build on the original invention. This allows technology to evolve and spark new ideas, even before the patent period ends.
Once the patent's protection runs out, the invention becomes public domain, meaning anyone can use or improve on it freely, fueling further progress. It's a win-win, keeping innovation moving forward!
It’s no surprise that the broadband industry is rife with patents. In fact, as of today, the CableLabs patent portfolio includes more than 850 issued and allowed U.S. patents and 97 foreign-issued patents.
Why Is Licensing Important?
Most standards and specifications carry an associated patent licensing requirement. This means that if you agree to work on and contribute to a specification, you also agree to license your patents that are essential for the specification’s implementation.
Licensing agreements prevent parties from incorporating their patented technology into a specification and later withholding or over-leveraging patent rights against a manufacturer that wants to build products that implement the specification. This is sometimes called patent hold-up, or a patent hold-out.
Adhering to a patent licensing policy establishes a nurturing environment that fosters collaboration, advances development and unifies goals in the industry to ensure the cooperation and interoperability that are critical to innovation advancements. It’s one of the reasons DOCSIS®️ technology was such a success and rapidly adopted, and why it continues to benefit the industry.
Further, in addition to licensing regimes created for specification development, patents and licensing play a pivotal role in broadband technology development more generally, helping industry players navigate a complex legal landscape while contributing to a stronger, healthier ecosystem and ensuring vendor neutrality.
Focusing on the future, CableLabs develops technologies and demonstrates proof-of-concept for innovations that will provide value to our members through an innovation lens that usually targets an impact eight to 10 years out. Developed to benefit the industry as a whole, CableLabs’ patented technologies are available for our member operators to leverage at any time.
Since our first intellectual property license in 1998, CableLabs has made it a tenet of our mission to enable the vendor ecosystem to deliver interoperable, competitive solutions. Licensing also reduces the litigation risk for vendors who contribute to the work we do.
Gridmetrics Available for Licensing
Gridmetrics, which evolved from a project incubated at CableLabs, uses existing broadband infrastructure to deliver actionable insights about the state of power in the last mile of the distribution grid. By providing an out-of-band measurement of the quality and consistency of the power grid, Gridmetrics data can be leveraged for outage detection, power restoration, grid safety and voltage variability.
Gridmetrics is now on a path to expanding its market reach. CableLabs’ research is complete, and licensing of the technology’s intellectual property is available.
Contact us using the button below to discuss licensing opportunities and learn how to join us in our work to achieve this vision for the industry. We’re excited to help put CableLabs’ technologies to work for you!
Events
Connect(ivity) Without Limits at CableLabs Winter Conference 2025
Key Points
- CableLabs Winter Conference is an exclusive networking and knowledge-sharing event for our member operators and exhibiting vendor community.
- Join us for an in-depth exploration of the CableLabs Technology Vision — a framework for defining the future of the broadband industry through architectures, protocols, technologies and strategies.
- Registration is open now for the conference, scheduled for March 10-13, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.
The vision: ubiquitous, context-aware connectivity and an adaptive, intelligent network. The challenge: navigating the ever-evolving digital landscape with confidence and ease.
CableLabs’ Technology Vision serves as a roadmap for advancing innovation and technology development in the coming years. It will drive industry alignment and support unmatched scale for operator members and the vendor community. Collectively, we can unlock the value of seamless connectivity to create nearly endless opportunities for players across the ecosystem.
Defining the Future
We’ll explore this vision in-depth and share how it is defining the future of the industry at CableLabs Winter Conference 2025 in Orlando, Florida.
This exclusive gathering provides a neutral meeting ground for CableLabs member operators and our vendor community to build meaningful connections, share knowledge and discover the technology advancements transforming the industry.
The event kicks off on Monday, March 10, with a welcome reception followed by two full days of practical knowledge and enriching insights. It wraps up Thursday, March 13, with member-exclusive project meetings.
Members can register now to join us, and a limited number of demo tables are available for exhibiting vendors to showcase their solutions. In addition to hours of unparalleled exposure during exhibiting hours, demo table packages also include conference passes for vendor company employees.
A Cornerstone of Industry Transformation
In each session at Winter Conference, we will zero in on the Technology Vision, exploring individual aspects of this transformative framework. We will outline the architectures, protocols, technologies and strategies required for building and evolving the network of the future together.
Launched at CableLabs Winter Conference 2024, the Technology Vision is a blueprint for accelerating the delivery of next-generation connectivity and beyond — propelling the evolution of the network from one primarily focused on speed to one that adapts to the needs of users and devices in real time.
The framework defines three core pillars that encompass the scope of broadband technologies:
- Seamless Connectivity: ensuring connectivity anywhere, anytime, on any device.
- Network Platform Evolution: creating the most efficient network architectures to deliver secure, truly seamless connectivity experiences.
- Pervasive Intelligence, Security & Privacy: supporting intelligence at every point in the network.
During Winter Conference 2025, we will explore how — at an individual, company and industry level — the framework can be leveraged to unlock new opportunities for better, more seamless online experiences and fuel innovation at scale.
Smaller Market Conference
Ahead of Winter Conference, we invite multi-system operators to join the Smaller Marketing Conference on Monday, March 10, to discuss the issues that are most important to them and their teams. Connect with and hear from leaders representing business strategy, technology, engineering, marketing, operations and customer experience, within the Smaller Market community.
This event is available for CableLabs members and NCTA guests. Registration for Smaller Market Conference is separate from Winter Conference, so if you are planning to attend, please be sure to register for both.
Let’s Collaborate at CableLabs Winter Conference
Join Winter Conference to be part of the collaborative ecosystem shaping the future of connectivity.
This is an event you can’t afford to miss! Register and start planning your trip today.
Technology Vision
An Inside Look: Protecting Future Networks with Brian Scriber
Key Points
- CableLabs collaborates with our member and vendor communities to create seamless, user-friendly online experiences by advancing secure, privacy-protecting and interoperable technologies, and managing trust for the network ecosystem.
Every day, consumers become more reliant on the digital services that surround us at home, at work, at school — and just about everywhere else. As a result, the need for robust network security and privacy protection has never been more critical.
CableLabs plays a vital role in shaping the future of our networks, enabling connectivity experiences that engender user confidence and peace of mind.
Brian Scriber, CableLabs distinguished technologist and vice president of Security Technologies, sat down recently to talk about how CableLabs is advancing Pervasive Intelligence, Security & Privacy — a core theme in CableLabs’ Technology Vision — through our state-of-the-art labs, working groups and involvement with standards development organizations.
Watch the video below for an “Inside Look” at how we are protecting future networks and find out what CableLabs’ “Chamber of Secrets” is all about. Plus, catch up on earlier videos with the leaders of our Wired and Wireless Technologies teams.
“If you’re going to do security right, you’re going to do it so that it makes life easier for the consumer — not so they have to remember 50 more passwords or go through a bunch of extra hoops,” Scriber said.
“If we do it right, it becomes kind of transparent and we make the secure network experience so much more useful to the consumer and the subscriber. By doing that, we are increasing their understanding and their trust of the network.”
Security and privacy are top of mind all year long for cybersecurity professionals, but did you know that October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month for all of us? Take a moment to close a few of those accounts you never use — and learn more about how operators and vendors can engage with CableLabs to create safer, more secure and more private networks.
Technology Vision
Creating Impact Together for a Seamlessly Connected World
Key Points
- Collaboration within the broadband ecosystem helps align the industry and create solutions at scale — ultimately allowing operators and vendors to accomplish more together.
- We invite our members and the vendor community to engage with us and one another in CableLabs working groups, SCTE Standards, and a host of interoperability and industry events.
As we look to the future of broadband technology, CableLabs is leading the charge with a bold vision designed to be a catalyst for transformative change. Our mission is to align our members and vendor community to create a collaborative context where we can work together to overcome industry challenges and seize opportunities.
Through events and activities, we invite industry leaders, technologists and product strategists to come together to learn how they can get involved with us as we shape the future of the industry, address industry challenges and create a healthier, more competitive ecosystem.
Inspiring Transformative Change through the CableLabs Technology Vision Framework
Facilitating collaboration to create impact together is a tenet of CableLabs’ Technology Vision. With the underlying goals of delighting customers, providing seamless connectivity and growing into new markets, the Technology Vision creates a roadmap for achieving the goal of ubiquitous, context-aware connectivity and an adaptive, intelligent network.
To achieve this ambitious mission, CableLabs members and the vendor community must work together to create solutions at scale and harness the power of collaboration. By aligning industry goals, combining expertise and sharing resources, we can offset risk and cost, bring together diverse perspectives and accomplish more together to create a seamlessly connected world.
The Technology Vision framework is built on three key pillars:
- Pervasive Intelligence, Security and Privacy — Creating intelligence at every point in the network to ensure high performance, reliability, security and privacy for all users and devices in any connectivity context.
- Seamless Connectivity — Enabling new experiences for customers and new revenue opportunities for operators through connectivity anywhere, from any device, without concern for the access network technology or how the user is moving across the network.
- Network Platform Evolution — Developing innovations that will drive the most reliable, cost-effective, sustainable network architectures for our members, ensuring optionality and unmatched flexibility while delivering seamless connectivity experiences to users.
Driving Alignment Toward a New, Adaptive Era of Broadband Innovation
The evolution of broadband is framed by three distinct eras: the Speed Era, Experience Era and Adaptive Era. These phases reflect the ongoing advancements in network capabilities and user experiences. During the Speed Era, technology innovation focused on metrics-based competition. As we move through the Experience Era and toward the Adaptive Era, the driving force has shifted to differentiation and stickiness (Experience Era) with the ultimate goals of service agility and ubiquity (Adaptive Era).
The Technology Vision framework drives alignment among member operators and the broader vendor community through several strategic initiatives:
- Specifications and standards
- SDO engagement and ecosystem development
- Technology transfer
- Member/Vendor POCs
- SCTE chapters and training
- Events (SCTE TechExpo, Engage, summits)
- Open source
Within these initiatives, core focus areas encourage collaboration on delivering flexible network solutions that are capable of enabling new services and improved user experiences — and ultimately help us build a seamlessly connected world.
Working Groups: Tools for Industry Success
Achieving industry success requires balancing the requirements of both operators and vendors. CableLabs and our subsidiary, SCTE, both actively support working groups that provide mechanisms for doing so by creating timely, cost-effective solutions that benefit operators, vendors and customers. The greatest successes result when industry stakeholders collaboratively develop solutions that address the business needs of cable operators and can be developed at the right time and cost to support those needs.
The CableLabs working groups typically develop specifications for the industry, focusing on the research and engineering of a solution. The SCTE groups focus on how that solution is deployed and operated. Overall, the two are complementary in the value chain, moving from ideation to specification to implementation and operation. This has played out in various ways historically — including DOCSIS, the gap node, smart amplifiers and proactive network maintenance (PNM).
The net result of both approaches is the development of specifications, standards and other outputs that enable new products and services that operators want and vendors can build. In all cases, active engagement from vendors and operators is critical for project success.
Here are examples of how working groups get results:
Common Provisioning & Management of PON
Provisioning and management of Passive Optical Networks (PON) are critical to advancing cable network capabilities, overcoming integration challenges and removing interoperability barriers.
Short-term goals include simplifying PON integration through leveraging existing DOCSIS back office systems, developing the Cable OpenOMCI specification and enhancing interoperability. For the long term, the group is exploring Software-Defined Networking (SDN)-based solutions and virtualized PON architectures to support future growth and flexibility. Deliverables include a technical report on DOCSIS provisioning and the Cable OpenOMCI specification.
Optical Operations and Maintenance Working Group
The Optical Operations and Maintenance Working Group (OOM-WG) is focused on architecture assessment, telemetry assessment and translating to field practices. Delivery goals include:
- Unified telemetry
- Specific guidance for major architectures based on similarities and differences
- General network operations approach for FCAPS: identify issue, resolve cause, localize, address with suitable action be that maintenance, capacity management or other action
Ultimately, this group’s objective is to reduce troubleshooting and problem resolution time and costs while increasing network capacity and uptime. This includes integration across the tools stack to reduce the burden of engineering, operations and troubleshooting.
Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) Working Group
The Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) working group focuses on standardizing and expediting new PNM technologies to operations and in the field. The group, a part of SCTE’s Network Operations Subcommittee, works in collaboration with our member and vendor communities to develop standards, operational practices, guidelines and training content to support their initiatives.
Advancing Innovation, Creating Impact in the Broadband Industry
Ready to join CableLabs in advancing industry innovation to create a seamlessly connected world? Explore our working groups, SCTE Standards, Interop·Labs events and SCTE TechExpo events, where we seek to address key industry challenges and opportunities. By fostering collaboration among members and vendors, we are paving the way for a future marked by pervasive intelligence, seamless connectivity and adaptable network solutions.
Technology Vision
An Inside Look: Creating Seamless Networks with David Debrecht
Key Points
- CableLabs works with its member operators and the vendor community to advance wireless network technologies and enable high-performing wireless connections.
What will it take to achieve adaptive, seamless connectivity across networks? CableLabs is leading the charge to reach this goal through new technology development, technology specifications and standards, and working groups that promote industry alignment.
In a new “Inside Look” video, David Debrecht, vice president of Wireless Technologies, talks about how the CableLabs Technology Vision seeks to drive industry alignment and interoperability across networks.
“The Tech Vision brings the industry together and defines where we're going. It gives us targets in technology and network usage so we can develop strategies to meet network needs of the future,” Debrecht said.
As the industry transitions from the speed era to the adaptive era, one of the key focus areas in the Technology Vision is Fixed-Mobile Convergence & Wireless. Together with operators and vendors, we are working to provide stable, interoperable wireless connections that deliver a consistent connectivity experience for the user.
Check out the video to learn how we’re bringing industry stakeholders together with CableLabs working groups that help us get more done, share ideas and innovation and create viable solutions that move us closer to seamless connectivity.
“I would definitely encourage people to get involved in the working groups that we have set up,” Debrecht said.
Join us!
Events
Get Connected, Get Inspired, Get Ready… for SCTE TechExpo 2024
Key Points
- SCTE TechExpo 2024 — the Americas’ largest broadband event — takes place Sept. 24–26 in Atlanta.
- CableLabs operator members receive complimentary Full Access passes, giving you entry to all sessions and a lounge.
Get ready for a broadband event like no other! Each year, SCTE TechExpo sets the agenda for what’s next in broadband technology with a packed three-day agenda including a line-up of inspiring headliners and technical speakers, thousands of influential global attendees to connect with and the latest technology to explore.
Practical Insights to Inspire Your Innovation Agenda
Nearly 100 hours of content spread across nine dedicated conference tracks will ensure you get the most out of the conference, on the topics that matter to you. Here are some highlights of CableLabs sessions that you won’t want to miss:
- The Opening Headliners kick off the conference on Tuesday, Sept. 24. CableLabs’ CEO Phil McKinney joins executives from Cable One, Cox Communications, Liberty Latin America and SCTE to set a bold vision for the future of broadband.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us so it’s no surprise it features heavily in the agenda. Catch CableLabs sessions on Making the Most of AI in Broadband Networks with Karthik Sundaresan, distinguished technologist and director of hybrid fiber coax (HFC) solutions at CableLabs, along with AWS, Cox and Rogers; and Driving a Proactive Approach to AI-Powered Security with Dr. Kyle Haefner, principal architect at CableLabs, and Charter Communications.
- Shining the spotlight on Wireless & Convergence, John Bahr, a CableLabs distinguished technologist, joins Cox, Nokia and Rogers to uncover Seamless Connectivity: Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, and CableLabs’ Dr. Roy Sun, Ph.D., principal architect, and Dorin Viorel, distinguished technologist, tell you Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)… but Were Afraid to Ask!
- NaaS is where it's at! Hear how to grow revenues by fostering a new approach to connectivity in the API-Powered NaaS session with CableLabs’ Shafi Khan, lead software engineer, along with Charter, Comcast and Izzi.
- Hear how to leverage cost savings with the latest technology with Charter, Comcast and Teleste in The What, Why and How of Using Digital Twins, moderated by Greg White, distinguished technologist, also of CableLabs.
- Technology policy takes center stage in A Year After the Artificial Intelligence Executive Order: Current Status & What’s Ahead as Priya Shrinivasan, CableLabs’ director of Technology Policy, and a panel of government experts lift the lid on what President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI means for the broadband industry.
- In CMO Insights: The North American Perspective, hear how the industry is meeting the demands of new users and building marketing strategies to suit a changing audience.
- In Growth & Transformation—Lessons from the Video Game Industry, Anju Ahuja, CableLabs’ vice president of Product Strategy Insights, talks with Sony Interactive Entertainment about what can be learned from the gaming industry on competitive differentiation, launching new products and entering new markets.
- Lastly, don’t miss the CableLabs-hosted Masterclass: Cultivating Your Ideation Toolkit and Innovation Mindset, on Monday, Sept. 23, as part of SCTE TechExpo’s newly launched Human Factor track.
Explore the detailed agenda here.
Stay Informed, Get Connected
SCTE TechExpo is a unique opportunity to fuel innovation, discover the latest trends and advancements in broadband technology, and explore new opportunities for growth and collaboration with peers who share a passion for the industry.
CableLabs operator members receive complimentary Full Access passes, which include entry to all sessions and a lounge for meetings and networking, away from the buzz of the main conference.
Plus, visit us on the show floor at booth #1547 to learn more about CableLabs’ Technology Vision and the benefits of CableLabs and SCTE membership. In our booth theater, sit in on demos covering topics ranging from AI and security to SCTE chapters and standards.
Be part of the community shaping the future of connectivity, and register today!
Technology Vision
Shaping the Future: Developing a Healthy Ecosystem That Drives Technology Innovation
Key Points
- CableLabs invites our members, the vendor community and other industry stakeholders to join us in working to achieve the three pillars of our Technology Vision: seamless connectivity, network platform evolution and pervasive intelligence, security and privacy.
- Working groups bring members and others together to focus on industry challenges, priorities and technologies.
- We regularly host interoperability events to enable participants to work together on specific solutions and goals.
The future of broadband hinges on seamless, adaptive connectivity. CableLabs’ Technology Vision establishes the framework that will get us there by driving innovation and collaboration among our members, industry vendors and other stakeholders.
As we take the next step toward a future of context-aware connectivity and adaptive networks, the industry needs a healthy, collaborative ecosystem built on a shared vision of interoperability.
What will that look like? It starts with working together toward common goals.
What Should a Healthy Ecosystem Look Like?
As technology has evolved, user experience has become the most important driver of customer satisfaction. Users want networks that work effortlessly, anywhere and all the time. To achieve this vision of seamless connectivity, industry stakeholders must work together to:
Drive and Develop New Technologies
The technology to support seamless user experiences is still being developed, and there is still much work to be done in areas like individual network performance, optimal hand-offs between networks, responsive self-configuration and pervasive sensing. The industry still faces complex challenges in these areas, and these issues must be solved before we can realize the promise of true interoperability and seamless connectivity.
For example, one of the most exciting technologies emerging today is Network as a Service (NaaS), a solution that creates consistency across operators using a common set of APIs. At this year’s MWC Barcelona, we saw many examples of NaaS including the CableLabs demonstration of potential use cases.
With NaaS still in its early stages, CableLabs seeks to leverage working groups and collaborative projects to build on these developments to achieve the goal of unconstrained, intelligent networks that fade into the background of the user experience.
Build a Robust, Reliable Infrastructure
Seamless connectivity requires an extensive infrastructure that can maintain optimal network performance no matter where a user is. For example, coherent passive optical network (CPON), DOCSIS, 5G and Wi-Fi 6 and 7 technologies have all made significant progress, empowering faster speeds, lower latency and better reliability. However, advancements are still needed in areas like fixed network architectures, optics solutions, network telemetry and automation.
Encourage Collaboration to Ensure Alignment, Interoperability and Scalability
The new era of intelligent, adaptive networks and seamless user experiences will only be possible if industry stakeholders work together to solve key challenges. Collaboration lies at the heart of CableLabs’ Technology Vision with a focus on seamless connectivity, network platform evolution and pervasive intelligence, security and privacy. Our working groups and collaborative projects bring industry stakeholders together to address these challenges, ensure alignment, and create scalable, interoperable solutions.
Agree on Standards to Facilitate Ecosystem Integration
Interoperable devices require common standards and specifications. In cooperation with cable companies and equipment manufacturers, CableLabs works to develop publicly available specifications that help facilitate deployment of new technologies. As technology continues to evolve, the industry will need to continue operating with an agreed-upon set of standards to deliver the seamless experiences customers expect.
How Do CableLabs Working Groups Help Establish a Healthy Ecosystem?
Since its earliest days, CableLabs has remained committed to establishing long-term, cooperative technology innovation. Our founding mission was to plan and fund strategic research and development projects that require cooperative effort and to serve as a central source of information about technology development and innovation for the industry. That mission is still in place today.
The CableLabs Technology Vision builds on this rich history by defining a high-impact framework that will bring together CableLabs members, vendors and others in the industry to advance the way we connect.
Together, we are working to improve the user experience by collaborating across key focus areas:
- Interoperability
- Fixed Network Evolution
- Advanced Optics
- Security & Privacy
- Specifications & Standards
- Network as a Service
- Fixed Mobile Convergence & Wireless
- Intelligence, Reliability & Performance
- Advanced Research
How You Can Get Involved
The future is bright for the broadband industry. We’re standing on the brink of a technology revolution that will change the way we live, work, learn and play. Here’s how you can join us in shaping the future:
CableLabs Working Groups
Working groups bring members and other stakeholders together to focus on specific industry challenges, priorities and technologies. The following working groups are accepting new participant applications:
Fixed Mobile Convergence & Wireless
- 3GPP Wi-Fi Tech (members only)
- 5G FMC Phase II (members and vendors)
- Next-Gen Wi-Fi (members only)
- Seamless Connectivity (members only)
Fixed Network Evolution
- 100G CPON (members and vendors)
- Common Provisioning and Management of PON (members and vendors)
- CPON Operator Advisory Group (members only)
- DOCSIS 4.0 ATP MAC (members and vendors)
- DOCSIS 4.0 MAC (members and vendors)
- DOCSIS 4.0 MSO (members only)
- DOCSIS 4.0 PHY (members and vendors)
- DOCSIS Technology OSS (members and vendors)
- DOCSIS Proactive Network Maintenance (members and vendors)
- Latency Measurement MSO (members only)
- Low Latency DOCSIS MSO (members only)
- Remote PHY (members and vendors)
Network as a Service (NaaS)
- NaaS (members only)
Security & Privacy
- Device Identification and Authentication (members only)
- Device Management and Identity Security (DMIS) (members only)
- DDoS Mitigation (members only)
- DOCSIS 4.0 Security (members and vendors)
- Future of Cryptography (members only)
- Gateway Device Security (GDS) (members and vendors)
- Mobile/Wireless Security (members only)
- Routing Security (members and NCTA)
- Zero Trust Infrastructure Security (members only)
Interop•Labs Events
These interoperability events provide opportunities for participants to work together on a specific technology solution or goal. Recent events have focused on DOCSIS 4.0 technology, zeroing in on areas like reliability, security and interoperability. Future events will include passive optical networking technologies and Open RAN.
Ready to take the next step? We invite you to engage with CableLabs’ Technology Vision, join a working group or attend our next Interop•Labs event. Join us in our mission to advance the way we connect!
Events
Join the Community Shaping the Future of Connectivity at SCTE TechExpo 2024
Key Points
- SCTE TechExpo, the largest broadband event in the Americas, is September 24–26, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Broadband operators who are CableLabs members can receive complimentary full-access passes to the event.
Where will the industry be by 2030? Anticipating the future and creating a strategy to ensure resilience is challenging, with ever-increasing customer demands and new technologies continually reshaping the landscape. The next generation of connectivity must be fast, reliable, ubiquitous and inclusive.
Broadband providers are looking to deploy new technologies such as fiber and mobile services and leverage application programming interfaces (APIs), data and artificial intelligence (AI) to create smart, secure and dynamic networks that improve reliability and performance. These tools will also enable increased energy efficiency and faster launches of new services.
Setting the Stage for Industry Growth
Much more than just a conference, SCTE TechExpo is where the industry meets to spark inspiration, catalyze innovation and impact the future of broadband. TechExpo is the largest and most influential broadband event in the Americas.
The brightest minds in the industry will provide ground-breaking insights on use cases and cutting-edge innovations, organized into nine dedicated conference tracks:
- Wireline Network Evolution
- Wireless & Convergence
- AI & Automation
- Operations, Construction & Network Planning
- Network as a Service (NaaS)
- Security & Privacy
- Growth & Transformation
- Technology Policy
- The Human Factor
As well as the enriching practical knowledge to be gained from the sessions, TechExpo attendees can explore the latest innovations and technology transforming the industry in the exhibition. AI is prolific on the agenda, and a dedicated “AI Zone” will make its debut this year, with content appearing on two stages on the show floor, the Tech Talk Stage and The Loft.
CableLabs members can receive complimentary full-access TechExpo passes, which include all headliner and conference sessions as well as entrance to the exhibition and a private lounge. Members will have the opportunity to connect with other global operators, policy leaders, vendors, associations and visionaries, and collectively foster debate and dialogue around the industry’s most pressing topics.
Exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities are also still available.
Fuel the Future at SCTE TechExpo
“TechExpo will deliver an unparalleled opportunity to engage with industry CEOs, CTOs and decision-makers and to see emerging technologies and applications that will transform the industry,” says SCTE President and CEO Maria Popo. She will kick things off on the main stage, sharing the strategy and vision for SCTE.
Opening day headliners will set the bold vision to shape the world of broadband connectivity and the workforce powering it, featuring CableLabs President and CEO Phil McKinney and the co-chairs of this year’s TechExpo, Cox Communications President Mark Greatrex, and President and CEO of Liberty Latin America Balan Nair.
Appearing together to discuss workforce development, following Greatrex and Nair, will be the CEO and COO of Cable One. Rounding out the headliners on day one will be Deloitte’s global Future of Work leader, who will share her passion for making work better for humans and making humans better at work, using technology to enable and elevate human experiences, performance and outcomes.
Taking to the main stage on Wednesday, September 25, will be a CTO Town Hall set to include executives from Charter Communications, Comcast Cable and Cox Communications. Day two will also feature a Chief Strategy Officer panel featuring Liberty Global, Liberty Latin America and Rogers Communications executives.
Where Ideas Become the Blueprint for the Future
For over 40 years, SCTE TechExpo has been bringing the broadband community together to share, inspire and innovate. Join thousands of global attendees at TechExpo in Atlanta, Georgia, September 24–26, 2024, to discover cutting-edge innovation and experience thought leadership that unlocks new possibilities, ignites change and energizes the industry around a shared vision of advancing the way we connect the world.
Technology Vision
An Inside Look: Revolutionizing Connectivity with Dr. Curtis Knittle
Key Points
- Explore the breadth of innovation taking place in our Wired and Optical Center of Excellence labs — from DOCSIS®️ technologies to passive optical networking and advanced optics.
CableLabs is continuing its march toward achieving ubiquitous, context-aware connectivity that seamlessly integrates into our daily lives. With ever-increasing demands for intelligent and adaptable networks, CableLabs and our member and vendor community are at the forefront of this transformation for the broadband industry.
One way we’re helping drive the future of broadband beyond speed and toward greater reliability is by prioritizing advancements in fiber to the premises (FTTP), DOCSIS technologies, hybrid fiber coax (HFC), passive optical networking, advanced optics and other wireline technologies.
In a new “Inside Look” video from CableLabs, Dr. Curtis Knittle, VP of Wired Technologies, walks through his group’s work to advance CableLabs’ Technology Vision. Focusing on four focus areas outlined within the Tech Vision — Interops & Vendor Ecosystem, Fixed Network Evolution, Specifications & Standards and Advanced Optics — the Wired Technologies team is developing solutions to deliver lightning-fast, symmetrical speeds and increased reliability.
Check out the short video above to learn more about their projects, our state-of-the-art labs and how our members — along with the vendor community — can collaborate with us in this transformative roadmap for the broadband industry.
“It’s their opportunity to define what they believe they will need in the future for their networks,” Knittle said.
Join us!