| Vol. 17, No. 3 — May–August 2005 | ||
Summer Conference Survives I-70 Rock Slide, Sets New Attendance Record with 27% Growth |
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About 870 people attended the annual CableLabs Summer Conference held August 15–17 at the Keystone Resort & Conference Center in Keystone, Colo. The 2005 conference had a 27% increase in attendance compared with the 2004 sessions, which attracted 710. This marks the fourth consecutive year of record-setting attendance at the Summer Conference. CableLabs and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association also co-hosted a Smaller Market Conference in Keystone August 14 and it attracted nearly 100 attendees. CableLabs' next conference is its Winter Conference, to be held February 27–March 1, 2005, at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Summer Conference suffered slightly from three rock slides that closed portions of Interstate 70 west of Denver beginning the evening of August 13 and for portions of the following three days. The extensive closures resulted from Colorado Dept. of Transportation crews blasting mountain sides in order to remove any loose debris. The conference began on August 15 with concurrent track sessions. One session was “Cable: For Here or to Go” and was moderated by Balu Ambady, a Senior Security Architect for the Advanced Platforms & Services group at CableLabs. Speakers: John Carlucci, Chief Network Architect, Time Warner Cable; Jim Fahrny, Comcast Fellow, Comcast Cable; and Jonathan Greenfield, Vice President, Technology Development, Cablevision Systems Corp. The other track kicked off with a session entitled“Technology for Quadruple-Play Convergence: Are We There Yet”, and was moderated by Eric Rosenfeld, Director, PacketCable Architecture, Advanced Network Systems group, CableLabs. Speakers: Matt Cannon, Manager, Voice Engineering, Advanced Technology Group, Time Warner Cable; John Coppola, Director, DOCSIS® Technology and Engineering, Cox Communications, Inc. The next track sessions included one entitled“Bandwidth Hogs… Let's Make Some Bacon”, and was moderated by Terry Shaw, Director, Network Systems in the CableLabs Strategic Assessment Department. Speakers: Jerry Bennington, Executive Consultant to CableLabs; Dan Brenner, Senior Vice President for Law & Regulatory Policy, NCTA; and Gene Lewis, Director of Marketing: Hi-Speed Internet, Rogers Cable. Concurrent with that session was one titled“OCAP™ Download Lowdown: Reliability, Robustness, and Timeliness of OCAP Download Methods,” moderated by Allen Gordon, Senior Software Engineer, Advanced Platforms & Services, CableLabs. Speakers: Steve DiDomenico, Director of OCAP Software, Comcast Cable; Bill Helms, Senior Director of Advanced Technologies at Time Warner Cable; and Mark Jensen, iTV Systems Engineer, Cox Communications. The next set of sessions featured a panel titled“Preparing for Wireless Service,” moderated by Glenn Russell, Director of Multimedia Applications for the Advanced Network Systems Department at CableLabs. Speakers: Alexander Brock, Vice President Business Development for Rogers Communications Inc.; Richard Dowling, senior vice president of corporate development, GCI, Inc.; and Greg Horn, Director of Business Development for Comcast Voice Services. Paired with that session was a panel entitled“What Will Tomorrow Look Like?—The Changing Face of TV”, and moderated by CableLabs' Executive Consultant Bennington. Speakers: John Callahan, Senior Vice President in Time Warner Cable's Advanced Technology Group; Nick Hamilton-Piercy, Senior Technology Advisor, Rogers Cable Inc.; and Gerard Kunkel, President of GuideWorks, LLC, and Vice President of Business Development for Comcast Cable. The afternoon sessions began with“DOCSIS 3.0: The Speed of Life” moderated by Michelle Kuska, Vice President of Broadband Access, CableLabs. Speakers: Ben Bekele, Senior DOCSIS engineer at Cox Communications; Mike Emmendorfer, Corporate Senior Director of Advanced Engineering—IP, Charter Communications; and John Treece, Senior Director of Access Networks for Comcast's Advanced Engineering Group. Held concurrently was a session titled“Do I Know You?” moderated by Oscar Marcia, Vice President of Security for CableLabs. Speakers: Stuart Cassell, Director, New Product Development, Cox Communications, Inc.; Alex Deacon, a Principal Engineer, VeriSign's Advanced Products and Research Group; and Bruce Kaalund, Director of Network Security for Comcast Cable National IP Engineering and Operations. August 15 concluded with a general session with cable operator chief technology officers and was moderated by Leslie Ellis, analyst and author. Speakers: Wayne Davis, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer for Charter Communications, Inc.; Marwan Fawaz, Chief Technology Officer for Adelphia Communications; Dave Fellows, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the Cable division of Comcast Corporation; John Hildebrand, Vice President of Multimedia Technology and a Corporate Officer at Cox Communications, who filled in for Cox CTO Chris Bowick; and Mike LaJoie, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer at Time Warner Cable. The first of two concurrent sessions on August 16 were“eTV Update” moderated by Arthur Orduña, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Advance/Newhouse Communications. Speakers: Time Warner's Callahan; Craig Smithpeters, Manager, Advanced Technology and Standards, Cox Communications, Inc.; and Scott Wurman, Director of Product and Business Development for Comcast Cable. Second session at this time was“CableHome®, UPnP & PCMM—Bringing It All Together”, and was moderated by CableLabs Chief Technology Officer Ralph Brown. Speakers: Mark Bell, Director of Data Development and Support within the Strategy and Development group of Cox Communications, Inc.; Narm Gadiraju, System Architect in the Consumer Electronics Division of Intel Corporation; and Jason Gaedtke, Comcast Fellow, Comcast National Communications Engineering. The next set of sessions included“IPTV: Over-the-Top Services and the Bottom Line,” moderated by Joe Weber, Director, Digital Video Platforms for CableLabs' Strategic Assessment department. Speakers: Louis Williamson, Vice President, Network Architecture and Advanced Engineering, Time Warner Cable, Advanced Technology Group; and Allen Broome, Director, Video Architecture, Advanced Video and Media Engineering, Comcast Cable. The accompanying session was“Cable VoIP: Over 1 Million Served” and was moderated by Ed Miller, Vice President of the Advanced Network Systems Department at CableLabs. Speakers: Chris Kennedy, Director of New Technology Introduction for Comcast National Communications Engineering and Operations; Gary Lane, VP Deployment Operations, Time Warner Cable; and Mimi Thigpen, Vice President of Strategy for Cox Communications, Inc. A general session on business development followed, moderated by CableLabs Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer David Reed. Speakers: Dallas Clement, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Development for Cox Communications Inc.; Mark Coblitz, Senior Vice President Strategic Planning for Comcast Corporation; and Mike Lee, Vice President of Strategy and Development for Rogers Cable Communications Inc. The afternoon sessions began with one entitled“IPv6—Addressing the Future” that was moderated by Jean-François Mulé, Vice President, IP Technologies and Services at CableLabs. Speakers: Alain Durand, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.; Lorenz Glatz, Senior Vice President, Network and Systems Design & Architecture, UGC Europe; and Chris Williams, Time Warner Cable. Concurrent with this panel was a session titled“Broadband Wireless: The Hot Spot to be in,” moderated by Peter MacCormack, Director of Advanced Digital Technologies for CableLabs' Strategic Assessment Dept. Speakers: Victor Black, Director of Network Architecture and Strategy at Advance/Newhouse Communications; David Waks, co-founder of System Dynamics Inc.; and Darryl Ladd, Director of Network Architecture, corporate Telephone and Data Engineering Department, Cox Communications Inc. Final concurrent panels of the conference included“Networked Set Tops: Where Are They Going?” which was moderated by Steve Saunders, Project Director of Home Networking Strategy in the CableLabs Broadband Access Dept. Speakers: John Canning, Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Windows eHome Division; and Jim Poder, Senior Engineer—Advanced Technology Projects, Comcast New Media Development. The other session was“FTTP-Technology Potential and Deployment Reality” and was moderated by Bob Lund, Director of Advanced Network Technologies in the Strategic Assessment group of CableLabs. Speakers: Mike Lee of Rogers and Tony Werner, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Liberty Global, Inc. Accompanying the conference was a separate but adjacent exhibition area that included demos from approximately 80 companies. These demonstrating companies included the following:
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