SCTE® and CableLabs® Unleash the Power of Limitless Connectivity
By Mark Dzuban
SCTE® Cable-Tec Expo® 2021 Delivers Unparalleled Industry Insights
As an industry and a community, it is clear that we are moving forward successfully with the power of limitless connectivity. That collaborative innovation was apparent last month at SCTE® Cable-Tec Expo® 2021, the largest cable telecommunications and technology trade show in the Americas. It was also the first major industry event since SCTE joined forces with CableLabs®. We pivoted from a hybrid to a virtual event in order to keep our community safe, yet the breadth and scope of engagement was impressive. We can all celebrate the strength and resiliency of the cable telecommunications industry.
Expo demonstrated the myriad benefits that CableLabs and SCTE together deliver to the industry and to society overall. Primarily, it’s about collaboration to create innovation. Our partnership is about aligning scientific research and development with the practical, hands-on application, deployment and operations — with the goal of building a more connected future.
To ensure products are interchangeable and interoperable across the ever-changing broadband landscape, SCTE and CableLabs are leveraging strategic, technical and operational resources, in addition to global member and vendor relationships, to create efficiencies across the industry. It’s something we’re working on every day.
For example, we recognize that cable is no longer a single technology. Our collective mission is to create opportunities for our members to be the providers of choice in the markets they serve. Some member companies deploy PON; others are focused on HFC and expanding work on DOCSIS® 4.0 technology, while other providers have also added mobile services in their markets. We’re also working on convergence and how effectively we can architect, engineer and operate wireless and wired networks. This is driving us toward the cable industry initiative of 10G. We are building the foundation for a differentiated network that has significant capabilities far beyond entertainment.
CableLabs is the ideation and SCTE is the applied science execution. Ideation and production realization working together to accelerate our ability to deliver products and services out to the market. This vision was on display at Cable-Tec Expo 2021. Attendees got to see not only what’s on the verge of being deployed in science, they were able to see the implementation: a continuum of thinking about ideation into product development. We are excited by the limitless possibilities of everything we shared at this year’s Expo.
Focus on Standards and Excellence
The SCTE standards program continues to pave the way for our industry and was front and center at Expo. As the only ANSI-accredited platform for developing technical specifications supporting cable telecommunications, SCTE made a huge step this year in releasing the GAP (Generic Access Platform) standard for nodes. One of our goals with GAP is to help direct the industry toward a standard and evolvable package.
Overall, we are focused on establishing specifications and providing test methods and procedures that promote the long-term reliability of broadband communications facilities. The initial GAP standards address the needs of the North American cable market but going forward, we will increasingly accommodate the global growth of our markets and will cultivate projects on a more international scale.
Our outcomes clearly indicate that standards matter. In recognition of the work we are doing in the development of the Event Signaling and Management (ESAM) API standard, we received our second Technology & Engineering Emmy® this year from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). The development of the ESAM API standard has already had a significant impact on operators and will continue to create opportunities by allowing for interoperability of products regardless of function or supplier. By establishing specifications and providing test methods and procedures, we can promote the long-term reliability of broadband communications facilities.
The direction of our work for standards and excellence in the industry is being guided and supported by an exemplary new board that was appointed earlier this year. At its head is chairwoman Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Charter Communications. Our careful selection and development of the newly structured SCTE board of directors will build upon the crucial work the previous members put in place and set the Society on a strong course for the next 50 years.
An Expo of Innovation and Connection
Expo 2021 was launched with Kevin Hart, executive vice president and chief product and technology officer at Cox Communications, who inaugurated the general session. He was joined by powerhouse technology executives whose organizations play a key role in moving the industry forward: Wendell Weeks, Corning’s chairman and CEO, and Eric S. Yuan, the CEO and founder of Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Their insights help us as an industry to build on key pandemic-era learnings and continuously move toward revolutionizing the way we live, work, learn and play.
During Expo, we projected an immersive video experience that rallied viewers to “Unlocking The Limitless Network,” with commentary from us and our partners. Our message was that SCTE makes big ideas possible. We conveyed the essence of SCTE as a whole, which is to develop, engage, and deploy.
The virtual experience did not mean the lessons and insights were any less impactful. All attendees were able to connect with the experts leading the transformation of connectivity and convergence. The 2021 online program posed a structured and in-depth approach to the ideation for improving consumers’ lives and generating outstanding business results. We did this through a rich selection of live content, 98 thought-leadership sessions, 200 speakers, and 53 Fall Technical Forum Workshops that covered a wealth of topics, including wireline and wireless access networks; converged networks and mobility; energy management and sustainability on the road to 10G; operational transformation; workplace of the future; cloud and virtualization; security and privacy; and video services.
Learning and development took a central role at this year’s Expo with the theme Unleash the Power of Limitless Learning. We recognize that the most important element for any organization seeking to keep its workforce skilled and informed is to strategize an effective L&D program. We were fortunate to have an experienced lineup of professionals who are at the top of the L&D field and introduced by our chairwoman Nancy Murphy, executive director, Learning & Workforce Capability, Cox Communications.
Dr. Jim Kirkpatrick, senior consultant with Kirkpatrick Partners, who is renowned as a visionary and an expert in training evaluation and as the creator of the New World Kirkpatrick Model, shared how to structure initiatives so they enhance on-the-job performance and impact the bottom line.
Julie Hiipakka, vice president, Learning & Leadership Research Leader for Deloitte Consulting, delivered the keynote and shed a light on how businesses can connect learning, talent, and organizational change efforts to organizational goals and strategy. Our illustrious panel emphasized that the most important element for any organization seeking to keep its workforce skilled and informed is to incorporate the latest technological advancements into an L&D strategy that factors in the human experience.
In conjunction with the human element, technology makes it possible for organizations to pivot and remain relevant by delivering emerging technologies both for employees and customers. And to that end, we will continue to challenge our membership and innovators to develop new solutions. A great example of this is the 10G Challenge, which Phil McKinney, CableLabs CEO, and Michael Powell, former FCC chairman and NCTA CEO, launched during Expo. The purpose of the 10G Challenge is to inspire innovators to leverage the emerging 10G network. This is an initiative that really highlights how we’re talking about 10G and the applications that are riding on it and will continue to grow and evolve and build.
What’s Next?
Planning for 2022 of course!
The team is already gathering insights to create an exceptional SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2022 hybrid event in Philadelphia, PA, September 19-22. We look forward to working with our show chair, Comcast President and CEO David Watson, to produce what we expect to be an increasingly international event to elevate the industry.
Mark L. Dzuban
President and CEO, SCTE® a subsidiary of CableLabs®
mdzuban@scte.org
Mark Dzuban is president and CEO of SCTE, a global not-for-profit member organization driving the acceleration and deployment of technology in the cable industry. With a career spanning more than 50 years, Dzuban has been named a Cable TV Pioneer and Cable Center Innovation Laureate, and received the Vanguard Award for Cable Operations Management. Since joining SCTE, Dzuban has transformed the organization into the industry’s applied science leader and has expanded its training, standards, and energy management programs.
