SCTE
New Technologies Show Draws More Attention
Western
Show's Demise Fuels Higher ET Attendance, More Product Demos
FEBRUARY 01, 2005
By Alan Breznick, editor,
Cable Digital News
Huntington Beach, California - New cable technology is a
hot topic again, at least in engineering circles.
That much seemed evident during last month's Society of
Cable Telecommunications Engineers' (SCTE) Emerging
Technologies (ET) conference in Huntington Beach, CA. In a
rare bounce for a cable industry show recently, the ET
conference drew substantially more attendees for at least
the third year in a row, despite taking place less than a
week after the huge International Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) in Las Vegas.
Show planners said the new cable technology confab drew
935 attendees, up 20% from the 782 people who attended in
Dallas last year. Plus, show organizers said, the conference
attracted 38% more attendees than the 2003 gathering in
Miami Beach.
SCTE officials credit the higher ET attendance to a surge
of interest in new cable technologies, standards and
services, including voice-over-IP (VoIP), IP video, switched
broadcasting, digital simulcasts, OpenCable, PacketCable
Multimedia and mobile telephony. "It is clear after being
surrounded by the brightest technologists and visionaries in
our industry this week in Huntington Beach that enthusiasm
for the future of broadband technology continues to mount,'
said SCTE President & CEO John Clark in a prepared
statement.
The demise of the Western Show appears to be a factor as
well. For years a showcase for new cable technologies, the
Western Show bowed out in Dec. 2003 because of plummeting
attendance and exhibitors. So cable engineers lost their
prime place to demonstrate, discuss and debate their new
projects and achievements.
While there was still no exhibit floor at the ET show,
several companies set up shop in adjoining hotel convention
center rooms and suites to show off their latest
technologies. Cisco Systems, Arroyo Video Solutions and
Ciena all featured displays to demonstrate new products or
prototypes.
Several tech vendors also timed product announcements for
the show. Besides Arroyo and Ciena, the list includes
OpVista, Xtend Networks, BigBand Networks, Narad Networks,
Cedar Point Communications, Radiant Comunications and
Paradigm Telecom. At the same time, C-COR played up its
recent acquisitions and new strategic direction.
In the most ambitious effort at the show, Cisco
executives held a morning breakfast for reporters and
analysts and staged technical demonstrations and briefings
in a separate suite to promote their proposed "wideband
protocol" for DOCSIS. Using a prototype Linksys cable modem,
they sought to show that their wideband concept could enable
cable operators to deliver up to 640 Megabits per second
(Mbps) of bandwidth using 256-QAM modulation, without any
changes to the existing cable HFC plant (see separate story
in this issue).
"It's certainly practical in the sense that it works,"
said John Mattson, director of Cisco's cable product
business unit. "The wideband cable modem today is basically
designed for the DOCSIS 2.0 modem with a little bit of extra
silicon... This is first generation for this technology. We
could be in 3 Gbps five years from now."
Cable Officials See Greater Broadband
Competition Ahead
SCTE Panelists Eye Looming
Threats from DSL, Telco Fiber Builds and Wireless
FEBRUARY 01, 2005
By Alan Breznick, editor, Cable Digital
News
Despite their brazen boasts about broadband superiority
and pointed putdowns of the phone companies' latest video
plans, cable executives are definitely eyeing their
rear-view mirrors these days.
That message came through loud and clear at the Society
of Cable Telecommunications Engineers' (SCTE) annual
Emerging Technologies (ET) conference in
Huntington Beach, CA last month.
Cable engineers, consultants and tech vendors warned
attendees that, despite several false starts over the past
two decades, the phone companies really are committed to
competing with cable in the video market this time around.
Moreover, they said, the phone companies may finally have
the means to carry out their long-stated ambitions.
David Reed, executive vice president and chief strategy
officer of CableLabs, said the regional Bells seem deadly
serious about using a mix of advanced DSL systems, costly
fiber network builds and new IPTV technology to match or
even surpass cable's video offerings. He argued that the
phone companies, driven by the need to protect their core
voice business and generate fresh revenues, will plunge into
video even if they don't see it as a very profitable
venture.
"The telcos view it (video) as a competitive necessity,"
Reed said. "They may choose to enter [the market] on a
breakeven basis to compete with cable and maintain the
viability of their other services."
Reed noted that SBC Communications, BellSouth Corp. and
others are investing heavily in ADSL2+ technology, largely
so they can move into the video business. He also noted that
some of the Bells are shortening the length of their copper
loops to boost the capacity of the rest of their networks.
"It is now video-over-DSL that is driving a lot of the
strategic planning at the telcos," he said.
While Reed doesn't view video-over-DSL as a "disruptive"
economic force due to DSL's relatively high cost, he
believes that the phone companies won't stop there. In
particular, he thinks that they will try to seize the
technological edge with IPTV technology and all-fiber and
mostly-fiber networks, thanks in part to the declining cost
of these new technologies.
"I anticipate that the telcos will try to use IPTV to
leapfrog cable," he said. "The emergence of IPTV is certain,
although the timing and exact [business] model are not."
Other show speakers agreed. "Competition will intensify
over the next 24 to 36 months," stated panel moderator
Anthony Werner, senior vice president and CTO of Liberty
Media Corp. Although he, Reed and other speakers contended
that cable will ultimately triumph because it has the best
technology and infrastructure, they urged the industry not
to be complacent.
