Cable-Tec Expo Recap 2018

By Ron Hranac –

First and foremost, a tip o’ the hat and a big thanks to Expo Program Chair Kevin Hart, Executive Vice President and Chief Product and Technology Officer for Cox Communications; members of the Program Committee; the Society’s Board of Directors and Regional Representatives; SCTE·ISBE headquarters staff; exhibitors; and moderators and speakers for another over-the-top confab.

If you weren’t in Atlanta for 2018’s Cable-Tec Expo, you missed an absolutely fantastic event. And a busy show it was: exhibits; 48 technical workshops — now called the Fall Technical Forum – featuring 104 speakers (the papers are available at https://www.nctatechnicalpapers.com/Paper/2018); meetings, meetings, and more meetings; the 27th annual golf tournament; receptions (I emceed the ham radio operators’ reception, something I’ve been doing since the late 1980s); International Cable-Tec Games; IP Challenge; events such as the Cable TV

Pioneers Annual Banquet (more on that later); and so much more.

My Monday at Expo started out with the half-day distributed access architecture pre-conference session that featured (if I counted correctly) 19 presentations by industry experts on everything DAA. There were more than 600 people in attendance! Compare that to 2017’s remote PHY (a subset of DAA) pre-conference seminar, which drew a then record setting 400 people. Methinks DAA might be a popular topic.

After a quick lunch, I headed for the SCTE·ISBE Annual Membership Meeting, followed by an Engineering Committee meeting. Wrapping up the day was a CableLabs get-together. And all of that was just the first day! The rest of the week had pretty much the same kind of hectic schedule.

Speaking of schedules, the Expo 2018 mobile app, available from the respective app stores for Android and iOS platforms, was a big help keeping track of the goings-on. The Society has had a free app each year for the past few years (and it gets better every year); they are must-haves for attendees.

Prior to the SCTE·ISBE Board of Directors meeting held during Expo, Bill Warga, Vice President, Technology for Liberty Global, and Tom Adams, Executive Vice President, Field Operations for Charter Communications, were re-elected as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, for the 2018-2019 term. Other officers include treasurer Meena Soleiman, Vice President of Finance and Business Operations, Technology, Comcast, and secretary Steve Williams, Director, DOCSIS, Charter Communications. A full list of the Board of Directors and Regional Representatives can be found on page 6 and at https://www.scte.org/ under the ABOUT tab.

Attendance at Tuesday morning’s Opening General Session was packed, and included not-to-be missed conversations with industry leaders and a thought-provoking keynote by Cox Communications President Pat Esser. SCTE·ISBE President/CEO Mark Dzuban’s “Follow the Leader” column on page 7 highlights the Opening General Session panel featuring NCTA’s Michael Powell, CableLabs’ Phil McKinney and Mark.

Crème de la Crème

An important part of Cable-Tec Expo is recognizing what the Society calls exemplary achievers. Deserving recipients (see the accompanying table) were celebrated in a variety of venues and meetings during Expo week, including the Annual Awards Luncheon. The Society’s top recognition is SCTE·ISBE Member of the Year, and the name of the winner is kept under wraps until the award is actually presented. 2018’s Member of the Year was a humbled and very surprised Comcast Fellow Larry Wolcott.

The Annual Awards Luncheon’s keynote speaker was Vernice “Flygirl” Armour, the first African-American female naval aviator in the Marine Corps and thefirst African-American female combat pilot in the U.S. Armed Forces. I had a chance to meet her backstage at the luncheon, and she definitely ranks at the top of my “cool” list. Her keynote was arguably the best I’ve seen at Cable-Tec Expo.

Cable TV Pioneers

Held in conjunction with Cable-Tec Expo, the 52nd Annual Cable TV Pioneers Banquet celebrated its Class of 2018. Of note was the induction of Cisco’s Shawn Tylka, marking what may be the first time that a daughter-father pair are members of the Pioneers (Shawn’s father, Pat Tylka, is a member of the Class of 2010). For a

full list of the Cable TV Pioneers Class of 2018, see http://cabletvpioneers.com/class_of_2018/

Want more?

SCTE·ISBE’s online Pressroom includes official press releases related to 2018’s Cable-Tec Expo, and even more information about the Atlanta show. Here’s a link: https://bit.ly/2FfMV3D

Ron Hranac
Technical Leader,
Cisco Systems
rhranacj@cisco.com

Ron Hranac, a 46-year veteran of the cable industry, is TME for Cisco’s Cable Access Business Unit. A Fellow Member of SCTE, Ron was inducted into the Society’s Hall of Fame in 2010, is a co-recipient of the Chairman’s Award, an SCTE Member of the Year, and is a member of the Cable TV Pioneers Class of ’97. He received the Society’s Excellence in Standards award at Cable-Tec Expo 2016. He has published hundreds of articles and papers, and has been a speaker at numerous international, national, regional, and local conferences and seminars.

Photo Credit: Robb Cohen Photography & Video