Financial Analyst Briefing
The keynote address featured Brian Roberts, president of Comcast Corporation. Roberts focused his speech on the technology evolution of the cable industry, calling CableLabs "vital in transforming the industry from ideas to reality." Comparing today’s cable transition, Dr. Richard R. Green, president and CEO of CableLabs, kicked off the briefing by welcoming the attendees and providing an overview of the process for forming technical specifications.
The first speaker of the day was Rouzbeh Yassini, executive consultant to CableLabs and founder of LANcity. Yassini offered the audience some insight into the data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) cable modem project, focusing on the new generation of broadband applications made possible by cable modems. Yassini provided an overview of the key timeline benchmarks that have been met by the DOCSIS project team, and gave a detailed update on the certification process.
Following the DOCSIS project update, attendees were treated to a panel discussion that featured Yassini; Bruce Stone, corporate vice president and general manager for Motorola’s Multimedia Group; Mark Stubbe, vice president, networks division, Samsung; and Carl Bruhn, general manager for RCA Broadband Products. All of the panel speakers concentrated their presentations on the advantages that DOCSIS modems offer, as well as the issues faced by cable operators, manufacturers, and retailers as the project continues to move toward vendor certification.
Next on the agenda was Laurie Schwartz, CableLabs’ vice president of advanced platforms and services, who provided a detailed overview of the history, the accomplishments, and the goals of the OpenCable
™ project. Schwartz educated the attendees on the multiple interfaces that make up the OpenCable specifi-cation, and outlined the importance of set-top box portability, point-of-deployment (POD) module availability, and the family of retail devices made possible by the OpenCable specification. Schwartz ended her presentation by outlining accomplish-ments made thus far, and key focus points moving forward, citing POD interoperability testing in July of this year, and the testing of OpenCable devices in the second half of ‘99.Schwartz’ presentation was followed by an OpenCable panel that included Schwartz, Kishore Manghnani, vice president of marketing, TeraLogic, Inc.; Steve Humphreys, president and CEO of SCM Microsystems; and Gary Myer, president, Sony Electronics’ Digital Network Solutions. Myer made it clear that Sony is committed to working with the cable industry and represented the panel’s overall dedication to finalize quickly a "cost-effective, scaleable, and interoperable" platform.
Following Brian Roberts’ luncheon keynote address, the program’s focus shifted to CableLabs’ PacketCable
™ project. Dr. David Reed, CableLabs’ vice president of strategic assessment, began the afternoon session by describing the enhanced services (IP telephony, video conferencing, and multimedia messaging)enabled by the PacketCable project.A PacketCable panel discussion followed Reed’s presentation featuring David Bukovinsky, CableLabs’ PacketCable director; Levent Gun, vice president and general manager for CableAccess; Mike Rich, president and COO for Netspeak; and Mark Bakies, product marketing manager for Cisco Systems. The panel group concentrated on the future of IP telephony and other "killer apps" made possible by packet-based technologies.
The briefing concluded with a CableLabs member CTO panel Q&A session. Moderated by Leslie Ellis, senior technology analyst, Paul Kagan Associates, the panel included Jim Chiddix, Tony Werner, Mark Coblitz, and Bud Wonsiewicz. Attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions on any of the topics discussed during the day’s events. Many of the questions related to growth opportunities for cable operators.
