2019 Cable-Tec Expo Recap

By Ron Hranac

During the week of September 30th, industry technologists made their way to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for 2019’s SCTE·ISBE Cable-Tec Expo. Known for Cajun and Creole cuisines — there are differences — and great music, The Crescent City also is a great place for conventions, the record heat during Expo week notwithstanding. This year’s Expo theme was “Raising the Bar,” and the confab certainly lived up to that and then some. A big thanks to those who made Expo a success this year: program co-chairs Bill Warga from Liberty Global and Tom Adams from Charter; members of the Program Committee; exhibitors; moderators and speakers; the attendees; and especially the hard-working staff from SCTE·ISBE.

Expo was bookended by a pre-conference session on 10G (more on this in a moment) and two post-conference sessions. There were a record 55 technical workshops with 115 speakers (the papers can be downloaded here: https://www.nctatechnicalpapers.com/Paper/2019). On top of that, there were several great presentations in the Innovation Theater, a fantastic opening general session, and an enjoyable keynote during the Awards Luncheon.

My week in The Big Easy started Sunday afternoon when I picked up my badge and ribbons in the convention center. I was debating whether to attend the next morning’s half-day 10G pre-conference session, mostly because it was in an off-site venue — the Hilton New Orleans Riverside — and started at 7:00 a.m. Even though my internal clock was still on Denver time, I got up early Monday morning, fueled up on a cup of coffee, and headed for the Hilton. Thinking the 6:30 a.m. one-mile walk would be no big deal, the heat and humidity made that walk feel like a sauna — especially in a sport jacket. Well, I’m glad I attended the session. It was information overload, but top-notch information.

The rest of my week’s schedule was packed to the rafters with customer meetings, an SCTE·ISBE Engineering Committee meeting, Annual Membership Meeting, speaking in the “Getting the Most Out of DOCSIS 3.1” workshop (and attending a couple other workshop sessions), attending the Loyal Order of the 704 Reception, Chapter Leadership Breakfast, Chairmen’s Reception, and Circle of Eagles Dinner; emceeing the Ham Radio Reception; and participating in the Awards Luncheon. Despite a busy schedule, I did manage to spend some time in the exhibit hall, including discussions with a few test equipment vendors about ideas related to performing tests and measurements in some of our future network architectures. As is usually the case, I barely scratched the surface of Expo activities, and could have used a cloning machine.

A fun but competitive part of Expo is the Cable-Tec Games, held this year in the Innovation Theater. Charter’s Greg Babinski (Central Florida Chapter) won a second straight and fifth overall gold medal in 12 years. TJ Diplacido, also from Charter (and the North Central Texas Chapter), took home the silver medal, and Madison Communications’ Jeremy Maggart (Gateway Chapter), won bronze. Ritter Communications’ Shannon Cameron (Razorback Chapter) set a new record in the optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) event at 54.029 seconds, and Charter’s Jim Egloff (Buckeye State Chapter) won Cable Jeopardy.

Recognizing the best

Each year at Cable-Tec Expo, the Society recognizes its exemplary achievers. 2019’s Women in Technology award recipient was Zenita Henderson, SCTE·ISBE’s VP, Marketing and Business Development. Co-winners of Chapter Leader of the Year were Comcast’s Mike O’Dell (Penn-Ohio Chapter) and CommScope’s Karen Torrenti (New England Chapter). The International Engineering Professional award recipient was Eduardo Miguel Panciera Molanes, Head of Architecture and Technology for Access and Service Platforms, Telecom Argentina.

Synamedia took home the Innovators award. Rich LaPat, Comcast University’s VP, Technical Operations College, received the Excellence in Learning and Development Award. The Spirit of the Games Award went to Bob Razem, a longtime member of the Cable-Tec Games subcommittee.

John Dolan, Senior Engineer for Network Facilities in Rogers Wireline, was recipient of the Excellence in Standards Award. Chris Zydel, Principal Engineer, Altice USA, was recognized with the inaugural Wilt J. Hildenbrand Jr. Rising Leader Award, presented by Mandy Hildenbrand, daughter of the longtime Cablevision Systems technology pioneer and innovator who passed away last year. Andy Parrott, EVP and COO of Mega Broadband Investments was inducted into the Society’s Hall of Fame. The Chairman’s Award went to Steve Williams, VP, DOCSIS, Charter. And the best was saved for last (and a secret until its presentation): The prestigious Member of the Year went to Net Insight’s Director of Strategic Accounts, Cliff Simpson.

Networking

As I’ve mentioned in the past, one of my favorite things about Cable-Tec Expo is the opportunity to get together with friends and colleagues — new and old. Those get-togethers happen in the hallways, during receptions and technical workshop sessions, in the exhibit hall, and in customer and other meetings. One such encounter was with John Wong, a long-time friend who has been with the Federal Communications Commission seemingly forever. Well, that forever part is coming to an end; John told me he’s retiring in January. A tip o’ the hat to you, Mr. Wong, for your long service with the FCC and everything you’ve done for the cable industry!

It was also nice to see Ted Hartson, Nicholas Olson, and Rex Porter, part of the original group of 79 individuals who founded SCTE 50 years ago. I’m glad they were able to make it to New Orleans.

For more images from Cable-Tec Expo visit: https://expo.scte.org/expo-2019-highlights/

Ron Hranac

Technical Marketing Engineer,
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 and co-founder and Associate Board Member of the organization’s Rocky Mountain Chapter, 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