150 Attend OpenCable Briefing for Consumer Electronics Firms
ableLabs® hosted a one-day briefing on OpenCable
June 30 for the consumer electronics industry. The session attracted 150
attendees from about 60 companies, including CableLabs members.
The conference marks a key step in the cable industry's program of working with companies in related segments of the telecommunications industry in order to create a successful OpenCable effort. For example, companies in the computer industry have been involved extensively in OpenCable for some time.
The one-day session followed, by a few days, the FCC's release of its rulemaking on digital navigation devices. The rulemaking was based, to a great degree, on the cable industry's OpenCable process. Among its requirements is a mandate for cable set-top availability at retail stores by mid-year 2000.
Pictured are participants from a CableLabs
press conference that was held in conjunction with the OpenCable conference
June 30. From left, front row: Bill Schleyer, head of the OpenCable project
and a member of the CableLabs Board of Directors; Miles Circo, senior vice
president and chief technology officer of Divx, a subsidiary of Circuit
City stores; Gary Myers, president of digital network solutions of America,
Sony Electronics Corporation. Standing, from left: Dr. Richard R. Green,
president and CEO, CableLabs; Jim Chiddix, senior vice president and chief
technology officer, Time Warner Cable; and David Beddow, senior vice president,
TCI Technologies. Not pictured is Chris Cookson, executive vice president,
technical operations, Warner Brothers Studios.OpenCable Chairman William T. Schleyer, a member of the CableLabs Board of Directors, started the June 30 conference by noting the cable industry's strong interest in communicating directly with consumer electronics companies and in working with those companies on consumer premises equipment. CableLabs General Counsel, Dorothy Raymond, also helped kick off the conference.
Miles Circo, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Circuit City Stores, and Chris Cookson, executive vice president-technical operations for Warner Brothers Studios, delivered messages of support from their companies for OpenCable. Broadly-based cable industry commitment to OpenCable was underscored by remarks from David Beddow, senior vice president of TCI Technology Ventures and by Jim Chiddix, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Time Warner Cable.
Laurie Schwartz, CableLabs director of advanced platforms and services, provided an overview of the OpenCable process and a review of its status. The writing of the OpenCable specification continues with key elements to be completed by the end of this year.
CableLabs Director of Laboratory Testing, David Eng, gave a presentation on set-top functional requirements. Michael Adams, Time Warner Cable senior project engineer, networking, discussed the importance of the point-of-deployment security module interface - a critical component of set tops that would be sold to customers.
CableLabs senior vice president of internet technology, Dr. Jerry Bennington, gave a presentation on the interface between cable set-top boxes and digital television receivers including high definition television. Ralph Brown, chief software engineer of Time Warner Cable, followed with a presentation focusing on the OpenCable software architecture.
Eng gave a second presentation on the interface between OpenCable set tops and the cable network. All speakers emphasized the importance of developer support of OpenCable and invited active support from the companies represented at the conference. Schwartz concluded the day with a review of what is planned next for OpenCable.
