400 Attend CableLabs^® 13th Annual Summer Conference

On August 12, Lammers also hosted at Keystone, an all-day Smaller Market Conference aimed at smaller market cable operators, which attracted 45 attendees.

A highlight of the CableLabs Summer Conference was a general session entitled "Views from the Top: A Perspective from Cable CTOs." Leslie Ellis, technology analyst and writer, moderated. Panelists included: Chris Bowick, Senior Vice President Engineering and Chief Technical Officer, Cox Communications; Greg Braden, Executive Vice President, Broadband Services and Chief Technology Officer, AT&T Broadband; Jim Chiddix, former Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Time Warner Cable; and Brad Dusto, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.

A follow-on general session was on "Business Strategy: What’s Next?", moderated by CableLabs Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning. David Reed. Panelists were: Mark Coblitz, Senior Vice President Strategic Planning, Comcast Corporation; Susan Marshall, Senior Vice President of Broadband Services, AT&T Broadband; and James Rigas, Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning, Adelphia Cable Communications Corp.

The conference began on August 13 with a general session updating on activities in Washington, D.C. NCTA Senior Vice President Law & Regulatory Policy Dan Brenner moderated the session. Panelists were AT&T Broadband Vice President Betsy Brady, Steve Effros, President of Effros Communications, and Marvin Rappaport, Vice President of Public Policy for Charter Communications, Inc.

CableLabs’ Summer Conference 2001 attendees (including, from left, Tom Jokerst, Charter Communications, Inc., David Fellows, Pilot House Ventures Group, and Nick Hamilton-Piercy, Rogers Cable Inc.) listening to panel discussion.

A panel discussing investments in new revenue opportunities followed. Julian Brodsky, Vice Chairman of Comcast Corporation, moderated. Speakers included: David Fellows, Principal, Pilot House Ventures Group; Geoff Yang, Partner, Redpoint Ventures; Gary Lauder, Managing Partner of Lauder Partners; and Rouzbeh Yassini, President and CEO of YAS Broadband Ventures.

Following these two general sessions, the conference broke into concurrent Technical and Business tracks.

1) "Digital Rights Management: Securing Competitive Content, Enabling New Services," was moderated by Paul Whitehead, Vice President of Strategic Assessment. Panelists: Jeff Albertson, Product Manger, Media Systems, RealNetworks; Lark Allen, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Wave Systems; and John Vartanian, Senior Vice President, Technology and Operations, iN Demand.

2) "Profiting from ITV: Services Most Likely to Succeed… or Fail," moderated by CableLabs Vice President of Advanced Platforms and Services, Don Dulchinos. Speakers: James Ackerman, CEO of OpenTV, Inc.; Alex Blum, Vice President, AOLTV; and Melinda White, Executive Vice President of National Accounts and Business Development, Wink Communications.

3) "Digital Storage: Is Local or Central the Way to Go?" CableLabs Senior Technologist, Joe Weber, moderated a panel with Gary Lauder, Managing Partner, Lauder Investments; Thomas Carhart, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy, ReplayTV; Karl Ossentjuk, Vice President, New Product Development, AT&T Broadband; and Mike Pohl, President of nCUBE.

4) "The Business Challenge of Shared Access and the Internet," moderated by Paul Glist, partner with Cole, Raywid & Braverman. Panelists: Chris Bogart, President and CEO, Time Warner Cable Ventures; Janet Brearton, General Manager, Third Party Access, Rogers Cable Inc.; Dale Butler, Director, Regulatory Affairs, Shaw Communications, Inc.; and Rob Norcross, Vice President, New Product Development, Comcast Corporation.

5) "Envisioning the Broadband Home," with Mark Coblitz, Senior Vice President Strategic Planning of Comcast Corporation, as moderator. Panelists were: John Ellis, Director, Broadband Products, EarthLink; William Glasgow, President and CEO, @Security Broadband Corporation; Roy Johnson, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development with 2Wire, Inc.; and Tricia Parks, President and Founder of Parks Associates.

1) "Provisioning and Integrating ITV Services: Solving the Back-End Dilemma", moderated by Ken Freed of Ken Freed Communications. Panelists: Randall Cardinal, Chief Technology Officer, CSG Systems International; Patrick Forde, Vice President, New Technology Integration, Insight Communications; and Jean-Pol Zundel, Chief Software Architect, Comcast Corporation.

2) "Digital Rights Management: Keys to the Broadband Castle," moderated by Jim Fahrny, Senior Security Architect, CableLabs. Panelists: John Droge, Vice President, Emerging Technology Applications, Rainbow Technologies, Inc.; David Maher, Chief Technology Officer, InterTrust Technologies Corporation; and Bill Wall, Technical Director, Subscriber Networks, Scientific-Atlanta.

3) "PacketCable™: MSO’s Technical Trials," moderated by Glenn Russell, CableLabs Director, PacketCable. Panelists: Mike Giobbi, Vice President, New Technologies, Armstrong Cable Services; Rich Higgins, Director, Telecommunications Engineering, Time Warner Cable; and Jim Rice, Vice President, Commercial and Residential Telecommunications Services, Charter Communications, Inc.

Charter Communications Vice President of Public Policy Marvin Rappaport, left, watches Steve Effros of Effros Communications make a point during the Washington Update panel.

4)"Network Architectures: What’s on Your Competition’s Drawing Board?," moderated by Tony Sachetti, Director of Strategy Development at CableLabs. Panelists: Mark Cannata, Vice President, HFC Global Business Unit, Marconi Access; James Farmer, Chief Technical Officer, Wave 7 Optics, Inc.; Patrick Harshman, President, Broadband Access Networks Division, Harmonic, Inc.; and Bill Weeks, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Next Level Communicatinos.

5) "DOCSIS™ 1.0 to 1.1 Transition to New Data Services," moderated by Rouzbeh Yassini, President and CEO, YAS Broadband Ventures. Panelists: Doug Jones, Principal Architect, YAS Broadband Ventures; and Greg White, Senior Broadband Data Communications Engineer, CableLabs.

1) "Integrating DOCSIS Functionality", moderated by Doug Semon, Principal Internet Systems Architect, Advanced Services Group, Time Warner Cable. Participants: David Fellows, Principal, Pilot House Ventures LLC; Brian Field, Executive Director, IP Architecture, AT&T Broadband; John Hildebrand, Vice President, Multimedia Technology, Cox Communications; Doug Jones, Principal Architect, YAS Broadband Ventures; and Dan Liberatore, Vice President, Engineering, Adelphia Communications Corp.

2) "Home Networking Trials Feedback: The Roadmap to CableHome™", moderated by Bernd Lutz, CableHome™ Director, CableLabs. Participants: Jeff Henry, Vice President, Retail Product Development, Time Warner Cable; Richard Hertz, Director, Technology Intelligence, AT&T Broadband; and Steve Saunders, Project Director, Home Networking Software, CableLabs.

3) "Digital Rights Management: Whose Ox is Being Gored," moderated by Joe Waz, Vice President, External Affairs and Public Policy Counsel, Comcast Corporation. Participants: Chris Cookson, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Warner Brothers; Bob Plummer, Senior Director, Advanced Technology, DirecTV; and Bruce Turnbull, Partner, Trade Practices & Regulatory Law Department, Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

4) "PacketCable: Beyond Voice", moderated by Maria Stachelek, CableLabs’ Director of Business Development and Standards for PacketCable. Participants: Steve Craddock, Senior Vice President, New Media Development, Comcast Communications Corporation; Tony Sachetti, Director of Strategy Development at CableLabs; Terry Shaw, Director, Network Systems at CableLabs; and Jim Starr, Vice President Engineering and New Technology, AT&T Broadband.

"Views from the Top: A Perspective from Cable CTOs" panelists included Jim Chiddix, President, Interactive Personal Video Group, AOL Time Warner Interactive (formerly Senior Vice President and CTO, Time Warner Cable); Chris Bowick, Senior Vice President Engineering and CTO, Cox Communications; Greg Braden, Executive Vice President Broadband Services and CTO, AT&T Broadband; and Brad Dusto, Executive Vice President and CTO, Comcast Cable Communications Inc.

In addition, the conference featured demonstrations and exhibits from the following companies: ADC, AP Engines, BigBand Networks, BridgeWave Communications, Broadband Innovations, Gist Communications, Go2BroadbandSM, Gotuit Video, Inc.; HighSpeed Surfing, Inc.; ICTV, Intel, Intoto Inc., Lumenati, Mentis Broadband Solutions, MetaTV, Motorola Broadband Communications Sector, Narad Networks, Navic Networks, PacketStream, Pacific Broadband Communications, Qariba, RiverDelta Networks, ShareWave, Inc; SkyStream Networks, Terayon, and Xanboo, Inc.

The Smaller Market Conference agenda began with a discussion of network management strategies by Jeff Strout, Director of IP Services for Cox Middle America. The next session was a case for cable phone provided by Patrick Knorr, General Manager of Sunflower Cablevision. The morning concluded with a panel session on digital video services and was moderated by CableLabs’ Chris Lammers. Participants: Steve Benda, Senior Director, Business Development, AT&T Digital Media Center; Ben Hooks, Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Buford Media Group, LLC; Kim Lawrence, Director of Cable Affiliate Sales, WSNET; and Shannon Osborne, Director HITS2Home/QAM Sales, Motorola.

From left: Leslie Ellis, technology analyst and writer; Jim Chiddix, President, Interactive Personal Video Group, AOL Time Warner Interactive (formerly Senior Vice President and CTO, Time Warner Cable); Greg Braden, Executive Vice President, Broadband Services and Chief Technology Officer, AT&T Broadband; Chris Bowick, Senior Vice President Engineering and Chief Technical Officer, Cox Communications; Richard R. Green, President and CEO, CableLabs; and Brad Dusto, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.

The afternoon included a brief on Washington matters by Matt Polka, President of the American Cable Association. Then, Bill Bauer, CEO of WindBreak Cable, discussed some of the operations and logistic issues in making advanced services work. CableLabs’ Director Network Systems Dr. Terry Shaw provided a presentation on high-speed data bandwidth management, and CableLabs Project Director Mark Guzinski provided some technology demonstrations.