As we progress toward a future of context-aware connectivity and adaptive networks, what will ultimately move the needle for the industry is a collaborative ecosystem built on a shared vision of interoperability. Our Technology Vision, developed in collaboration with member operators, provides a strategic framework to accelerate the delivery of next-generation connectivity and beyond — unlocking agility, facilitating industry alignment and creating solutions at scale.

Collaboration is vital to the success of the Technology Vision. At Winter Conference 2025, we will convene industry leaders and other experts to work together to collectively discuss and solve key challenges for our organizations. Together, we can deliver network solutions that are flexible, reliable and capable of enabling new services and seamless user experiences.

Shaping the Discussion at CableLabs Winter Conference

Our keynote Zach Kass, AI futurist and former head of go-to-market at OpenAI, will kick off with his vision of a future powered by AI. He will shed light on the technologies driving its evolution and guide organizations on how to effectively leverage AI’s transformative power to accelerate innovation and streamline operations.

Each session of Winter Conference will focus on a different component of the Technology Vision framework and explore next steps for building and evolving the network of the future together. Some highlights include:

• In a two-part series, The What, Why and How of Future HFC Solutions sessions will explore how future DOCSIS®️ generations align with next-gen networks to boost capacity, reliability and security as well as 6G development by 3GPP, leveraging MSO scale and using HFC assets for mobile offload, small cells and future optionality.
• In Balancing Economic Trade-Offs in the Last Mile, we’ll examine use cases for various access technologies based on market needs, existing infrastructure and competition. Learn how operators can integrate these technologies to craft unique connectivity solutions.
• The Shaping the Security Evolution: Strategies from Industry CISOs session brings industry security executives together to discuss network protection, cyber policy, incident response and collaborating with governments to counter persistent threats. Discover how their strategies shape secure, differentiated services.
• Learn how context-aware network technologies help operators deliver tailored services in Context is King: Unlocking Differentiated Services with Smart Networks. Explore how adaptive responses to customer location, device type and network conditions can optimize performance, prioritize traffic, boost satisfaction and drive revenue.

Collaborate to Impact the Future

Join us at CableLabs Winter Conference 2025, March 10–13 in Orlando, Florida, for an action-packed two days of conference sessions followed by member-exclusive project meetings. Connect and collaborate with CableLabs members, approved vendors and industry thought leaders to strategize on the future of the industry and explore the latest technology innovations at the exhibition.

The days of measuring network performance by speed alone are long gone. Nearly six years ago, the broadband industry launched its 10G initiative, setting in motion significant achievements toward the widespread availability of a future-ready network capable of much more than multi-gigabit speeds. CableLabs has delivered on every commitment of the initiative since, and we continued that momentum in 2024.

As we move forward into the next era of seamless, context-aware connectivity and intelligent networks, users will expect more than just faster speeds — including more reliability, lower latency and enhanced security from their network connections in addition to faster speeds.

“Digital transformation demands a future-ready network that is not only fast but smart, reliable and adaptive to the user’s needs at any moment,” said CableLabs President and CEO Phil McKinney.

This year, CableLabs and its members have achieved multiple milestones on our path toward a 10G platform that supports all of these goals. These milestones include breakthroughs that will accelerate the transition from the pursuit of ultrafast speeds to an emphasis on creating adaptable networks that can meet the dynamic needs of users and devices in real time.

Among these breakthroughs are advancements in Network as a Service (NaaS); Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput (L4S) equipment; interoperability events and the release of new security frameworks.

Building the Future of 10G

The 10G platform of the future is defined by four themes: increased reliability, lower latency, enhanced security and faster speeds. These themes align with the Technology Vision’s core pillars of seamless connectivity, network platform evolution, and pervasive intelligence, security and privacy.

Reliability: NaaS and Operational Practices

Complex application needs require dynamic network solutions. But without a standardized approach, operator capabilities are limited in potential innovation and user experience advancements.

Earlier this year, CableLabs unveiled NaaS to meet this need for a standard solution. In essence, NaaS enables third-party developers to connect directly to network services and data through a common set of APIs. It closes gaps between application needs and network capabilities, supporting faster development at industry scale.

Collaborating with experts from CableLabs and our operator and vendor communities, CableLabs subsidiary SCTE released an operational practice document specifically intended to guide the industry toward improved network reliability. The publication, released in July, serves as a guide for operators and vendors to help achieve the highest network and service reliability through measurement and management of key performance indicators while also lowering operations costs.

Latency: L4S Interoperability

Latency is the key to better user experiences with real-time communication applications. Over the course of 2024, CableLabs facilitated and hosted a series of events focused on improving interoperability between the next-generation applications that implement L4S and the networking gear (including DOCSIS® 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 equipment) that provides the necessary L4S congestion signaling.

At these events, application and operating system developers worked to enable future immersive experiences that require low latency at high data rates. Operators were also able to test network configurations for field trials and deployments of Low Latency DOCSIS (LLD) technology.

CableLabs also facilitated a series of L4S interoperability events this year in coordination with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The goal of these events was to provide further opportunities for application developers and network equipment developers to collaborate.

In another significant milestone, CableLabs secured a Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) value from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority to mark non-queue-building (NQB) traffic. After years of consensus-building at the IETF, this assignment helps reduce delays and improve the user experience for latency-critical applications such as voice calls and gaming.

Security: Advanced Cybersecurity Standards and Zero Trust Practices

Because intelligent networks have many points of access, they need a comprehensive security framework that can safeguard against threats at each of those points. This framework should emphasize credential protection, supply chain risk management, policy-based access and consistent control.

In January 2024, CableLabs released the Routing Security Profile, or RSP, an actionable and adaptable guide to enhancing internet routing security. The RSP focuses on helping organizations better identify, protect, detect, respond to and recover from cybersecurity events using the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 1.1’s core functions.

On Oct. 1, 2024, CableLabs released version 2.0 of the RSP, incorporating feedback from stakeholders.

Speed: DOCSIS 4.0 Interoperability

CableLabs also facilitated and hosted a series of events focused on multi-supplier interoperability across the DOCSIS 4.0 ecosystem this year. These events brought participants from various companies together to advance preproduction and development versions of network hardware and application software.

The April event highlighted developments in virtualization and speed, setting new records in downstream speeds — over 9 gigabits per second through a DOCSIS 4.0 modem. The August event focused on advancing upstream capabilities.

In another key milestone for the industry, CableLabs made strides toward further innovation across technology and business models and from multiple suppliers by advancing DOCSIS 4.0 technology with Full Duplex DOCSIS, or FDX, now extending operation to 1.8 gigahertz.

Also this year, SCTE worked with industry and CableLabs experts to publish operational guidelines to aid operators in their transition from DOCSIS 3.1 to DOCSIS 4.0 networks. The December release, which focuses on optimizing the network for the extended spectrum ranges for both upstream and downstream transmissions, is designed to ensure that operators are well-prepared for the upgrade.

CableLabs Members Reach 10G Milestones

Progress toward functional 10G technologies is at the forefront of innovation and development among CableLabs members. Over the past year, several of our members made key advancements:

Charter Communications and CableLabs: Bryte IQ

In September, Charter Communications collaborated with CableLabs to launch a NaaS platform called Bryte IQ. Based on Linux Foundation's open-source CAMARA project, the platform streamlines and secures access for developers on Spectrum’s wired and wireless networks. Bryte IQ will foster innovation through easy-to-use, interoperable APIs, accelerate application development and broaden service possibilities for business-to-business clients.

CableLabs, Charter, Cox Communications, GCI and Rogers Communications: Security and Infrastructure

September also saw the release of the Zero Trust and Infrastructure Security (ØTIS) Best Common Practices (BCP), which aligns CableLabs’ RSP to zero-trust implementation for core and access network infrastructure. ØTIS is a joint initiative with Charter, Cox Communications, GCI and Rogers Communications and focuses on credential protection, secure storage, secure automation and other key security controls.

Comcast and Cox: Speed and Infrastructure

This year, Comcast and Cox both made advancements that will move the industry closer to a 10G platform. Comcast introduced DOCSIS 4.0 and met their goal of reaching 10 million premises with multi-gigabit speeds. Cox committed to a multibillion-dollar annual infrastructure investment in a 10G network.

Comcast: Latency

In November, Comcast successfully completed its field trial of LLD and is now deploying the technology.

Midco: Latency

Midco presented a technical paper at SCTE TechExpo 2024 showing that high-speed data services can be delivered on HFC networks with latency levels comparable to or better than PON performance for NQB traffic.

Midco: Speed and Reliability

As part of its Fiber Forward initiative, Midco is expanding and upgrading its next-generation fiber network its entire footprint which includes Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The $500 million investment is on track to deliver 10G speeds to this region by 2030. As a milestone of this next-gen fiber expansion and upgrade, Midco launched multi-gig speeds to all eligible passings and continues to see improved performance, as verified by Ookla Speedtest Intelligence for the fastest internet speeds and highest network Consistency Score.

Rogers: Speed

Also this year, Rogers started trialing DOCSIS 3.1+ cable modems in select neighborhoods in Canada to deliver speeds of 4 Gbps downstream and 1 Gbps upstream, enabled by new DOCSIS 4.0 modem technology, a global first.

Envisioning the Future

The future of context-aware connectivity and intelligent networks is closer than we think.

Heading into a new year, CableLabs continues its commitment to realizing that future through our Technology Vision for the industry. Together with our members and other industry partners, we will work to deliver network technologies that bring us closer to that vision — all made possible by the power of the 10G platform.

Smart networks of the future will be characterized by their ability to adapt to the ever-changing needs of businesses and consumers. Powered by advanced network telemetry and automation, these networks will be highly visible and resilient, able to withstand disruptions and attacks without compromising performance. 

Achieving the goal of pervasive intelligence, security and privacy across networks will ensure information and data security, unmatched performance and reliability in any connectivity context. Security will be built into the network from the ground up, and security policies will be defined and implemented using scalable solutions that evolve with the network.  

Watch the video below to learn how pervasive intelligence, security and privacy — a core pillar of the CableLabs Technology Vision — will ensure that users are always protected, even as the network changes. 

Networks of the future will protect users with intelligence at every point, using AI and machine learning to identify and resolve problems before they impact users. CableLabs fosters collaboration across the industry to achieve these goals, driving industry alignment and prioritizing interoperability.  

Explore our working groups and learn how you can get involved in architecting the future. 

Did you know that there is more to Wi-Fi than plugging in your router and choosing your internet service provider? To unlock faster speeds and get the best connection, it’s helpful to understand how Wi-Fi works and what you can do to improve performance in your home.

Wi-Fi operates using a complex system of radio waves. Like sound waves, these waves can experience interference from environmental factors. Signals can bounce off or be absorbed by walls, metal appliances and even water-filled items like aquariums. This interference weakens the signal leading to slower speeds and connectivity issues, especially as the distance from the router increases.

For most users, simple adjustments like moving your router to a different location in your home can improve signal strength and connection quality.

Watch our video, “How Does Wi-Fi Really Work?,” to learn more about how you can reduce interference and enjoy a better Wi-Fi experience.

What would a future built on seamless network connectivity look like in the real world? For users, it would create seamless experiences that never require switching from one network to another due to dropped connections.  

For operators, seamless connectivity means delivering context-aware networks that are self-learning, self-healing and self-securing. Built on fixed mobile convergence, managed Wi-Fi and profile management applications, these networks will create reliable, stable connections across all networks anywhere and on any device.  

Watch the video below to learn how seamless connectivity plays a key role in the CableLabs Technology Vision as one of the three pillars needed to build adaptive networks. 

Achieving this vision will require collaboration across the industry to ensure alignment and interoperability. CableLabs fosters these connections through working groups that bring together our members, vendors and industry peers to develop future-ready solutions. We invite you to join us as we work together to advance connectivity. 

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.

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!

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.

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.