CableLabs Winter Conference Adds
Innovation Showcase Element;
MSO Attendance Record Set

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CableLabs 2007 Winter Conference, held March 4-6 in Denver, was the best attended enjoyed a 17% increase in cable operator attendance compared with Winter Conference 2006. It also included a first for CableLabs - an Innovation Showcase and an Innovation Pavilion - that included 10 companies presenting cutting edge technology concepts. Many of the companies were venture capital stage firms. Separately, the conference featured an exhibit area that had another 75 companies demonstrating.

Overall the Winter Conference and the annual MSO & Vendor Face to Face meeting attracted 366 cable operator staffers and about 1,025 total attendees, which includes suppliers and CableLabs staff. That compares with 313 MSO representatives and 844 total attendees at Winter Conference 2006.

Keynoting this year's Winter Conference was Liberty Global Inc. CEO Mike Fries, who did a question and answer session with analyst Leslie Ellis. RealNetworks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser also provided a keynote address.

The conference began March 5 with concurrent sessions - "Cellular Services in 2007" and "Switched Digital Video: From Concept to Deployment". The cellular panel was moderated by CableLabs Vice President of Advanced Network Systems (ANS) Ed Miller. Speakers: Steven Bye, Vice President of Wireless Services, Cox Communications; and Billy Stephens, Vice President, Wireless Products, Comcast. Switched Digital panel moderator was CableLabs Chief Technology Officer Ralph Brown. Speakers: Jiong Gong, Senior Advisor - Strategic Assessment, CableLabs Strategic Assessment Dept.; Bob Lee, Vice President for Inside Plant, Cablevision Systems; and Weidong Mao, a Comcast Fellow in National Engineering & Technical Operations (NE&TO) at Comcast Cable.

The Innovation Showcase followed featuring 10-minute presentations and demonstrations from executives with BlackArrow, Radiospire, Casabi, Wyse, DARTdevices, Simple Star, uControl, VUVOX Networks, SupportSoft and OverSi. Conference Chair Marwan Fawaz, Chief Technical Officer & Executive Vice President, Charter Communications, introduced the showcase. The session was moderated by Sam Schwartz, President, Comcast Interactive Capital, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Development, Comcast Interactive Media.

DARTdevices was among the 10 companies that presented to the assembled cable operator audience during the Innovation Showcase at CableLabs' Winter Conference. Pictured on the stage, from left: Dan Ilowsky, founder and CTO; Brian Grega, Vice President of Business Development; and Rich Mirabella, CEO.

Sam Schwartz, President, Comcast Interactive Capital, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Development, Comcast Interactive Media, moderated the Innovation Showcase held for the first time during the 2007 Winter Conference. The showcase featured 10 companies presenting and demonstrating cutting edge concepts in a lightning round fashion.

Following lunch, the first set of concurrent sessions included "DOCSIS 3.0: Benefits and Issues for Supporting Video Services", moderated by Lakshmi Raman, Director, Advance Technology, Broadband Access, CableLabs. Speakers: John Coppola, Director, DOCSIS Technology, Cox Communications; Mark Francisco, a Comcast Fellow, and Mike Patrick, Data Networking Architect, Motorola Connected Home Solutions. The other session was "Security Strategy for Integrated Services", and was moderated by Oscar Marcia, Vice President of Security at CableLabs. Speakers: Jeff Hartley, Director of Security and Abuse, Cox Communications; Bruce Kaalund., Director Product Security, Comcast Cable; and Clarke Stevens, Sr. Architect in the Advanced Platforms and Services Department at CableLabs.

Next was a set of concurrent sessions featuring "Transitioning to M-CMTS and DOCSIS 3.0", which was moderated by Greg White, Senior Architect - Broadband Access Lead, CableLabs. Speakers: Thomas Ee, Senior Vice President, Cable, Fixed & IP Services, StarHub Cable Vision Ltd.; Doug Jones, Chief Architect, BigBand Networks; and Saif Rahman, Principal Engineer, Comcast. The other paired session was "Can Cable Leverage Internet Content?" which was moderated by Bob Lund, Director, Advanced Network Technologies, CableLabs. Speakers: Nyla Ahmad, Senior Director, Strategic Partners, Rogers Communications Inc.; Ray Starbird, Director, Strategy & Product Management, Cox Communications.

The final set of concurrent sessions for March 5 included "Video on Home and Personal Networks", moderated by Clarke Stevens of CableLabs. Speakers: Chris Cholas, Senior Engineer, Time Warner Cable; Vince Groff, Executive Director, Corporate Development, Cox Communications; and Charlie Kennamer, Vice President Engineering, Standards & Industry Affairs, Comcast Cable Communications. The other session at this time wsa "Meeting the Surveillance Compliance Deadline" and was moderated by Ralph Brown, CableLabs. Speakers: Bill Kostka, Director, Broadband Integration, CableLabs; Simon Krauss, Deputy General Counsel, CableLabs; and Maura Quinn, Unit Chief, CALEA Implementation Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Tuesday March 6 began with concurrent sessions. Those panels were "Enabling New Applications with PacketCable 2.0" moderated by Mark Kaish, Vice President, Voice Product Management, Cox Communications; and "Reinventing Video and Broadcast", which was moderated by Terry Shaw, Director, Network Systems, in the CableLabs Strategic Assessment Department. Kaish's speakers: Scott Hoffpauir, Chief Technology Officer, BroadSoft; Michael Khallilian, Chairman & President, IMS Forum; Steve Mannel, Cable & Broadband Solutions Executive, IBM; and Michael Morris, Chief Technology Officer, Convergence Business Group - North America RSC, Alcatel-Lucent. Speakers on Shaw's session: Andrew Olson, Senior Vice President, Comcast Interactive Media; and Eric Manchester, Manager Digital Media Delivery, Time Warner Cable.

The next block of concurrent sessions featured "Understanding how to Track Multi-Service Usage in Real or Near Real Time", and was moderated by Eduardo Cardona, Senior Operations Support Systems Engineer, CableLabs Broadband Access Department. Speakers: Ben Bekele, Senior DOCSIS Engineer, Cox Communications; Amit Kleinmann, Director of Advanced Technologies, Amdocs representing the IPDR.org; and Dan Rice, Vice President, Assurance Solutions, C-COR Inc. The accompanying session was simply titled Integration Ban and was moderated by Jud Cary, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, CableLabs. Speakers: Paul Glist, partner in Davis Wright Tremaine, LLF; and Neal Goldberg, Vice President and General Counsel, National Cable & Telecommunications Association.

Two keynotes followed, first Glaser of RealNetworks and then Fries of LGI.

RealNetworks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser addresses the record attendance at the 18th annual CableLabs Winter Conference held March 4-7 in Denver, Colorado.

Leslie Ellis and Liberty Global Inc. CEO Mike Fries pictured during their March 6 keynote question and answer session during the annual CableLabs Winter Conference.

Afternoon sessions began with concurrent tracks featuring a panel on Digital Advertising moderated by Frank Sandoval, Director, OCAP Specifications, CableLabs. Speakers: Michael McCarthy, Director Technical Operations, Advanced Media, Cox Media; Walt Michels, Senior Director - System Architecture and Design, Comcast - Spotlight and Steve Riedl, Principal Architect, Time Warner Cable. The other session at this time was "Mobile Video Entertainment", moderated by Dave Waks, Co-Founder, System Dynamics Inc. Speakers: Marty Glapa, Director of Research, Alcatel-Lucent; Anil Kripalani, Senior Vice President, QUALCOMM; and Hervé Utheza, Vice President, TV Properties, ORB Networks.

Next was a session on the enhanced TV roadmap and some early deployment plans, moderated by Arthur Orduña, Senior Vice President of Product & Policy, Advance Newhouse Communications. Speakers: Ryan Currier, Director, Product Management, TVWorks; David Hooley, Senior Software Engineer, CableLabs Advanced Platforms and Services (APS) Dept.; Will Kreth, Director - Product Management, ITV, Time Warner Cable; and James Mumma, Director, iTV Product Development, Comcast. The other session was "The OCUR Has Landed" and was moderated by Kevin Flanagan, Software Engineer, in CableLabs APS Dept. Speakers: Joe Chauvin, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation; Jim Clardy, Office of the CTO, Dell Inc.; Ron Pessner, General Manager in Microsoft's eHome Division and Bill Warga, Director Digital Technology & Standards, Comcast.

The final set of sessions for the conference included "Home Monitoring and Automation Opportunities for Cable" and another session, "Quad Play Blending - Applications That Time Together Video, VoIP, Broadband and Wireless". The home monitoring session was moderated by Roy Perry, Director, Technology Integration, CableLabs ANS group. Speakers: Ian Pattinson, Vice President, Product Development, Rogers Cable Communications Inc. and Grace Toncich, Director, Business Assessment, Comcast New Media Development. The quad play panel was moderated by Bob Mechler, Software Specification Engineer, CableLabs APS group. Speakers: Mark Hess, Mark Hess, Senior Vice President, Business & Product Development - Digital TV, Comcast; Mark Jensen, Advanced Services Architect, Cox Communications; and Lisa Pickelsimer, Director, Video Product Development, Cox Communications.

Wednesday, March 7, featured the annual MSO & Vendor Face to Face meeting that is coordinated by CableLabs. The half day event opened with a general session of leading technology executives from the cable operating companies. It was moderated by analyst Leslie Ellis. Speakers: Jim Blackley, Senior Vice President, Corporate Engineering and Technology, Cablevision Systems Corporation; Chris Bowick, Senior Vice President, Engineering & Chief Technical Officer, Cox Communications, Inc.; Marwan Fawaz, Chief Technical Officer & Executive Vice President, Charter Communications, who was chair of the face to face meeting; Mike Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.; and Tony Werner, Chief Technology Officer, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.

A highlight of the annual MSO & Vendor Face to Face meeting was the CTO general session moderated by analyst Leslie Ellis. Speakers, pictured left to right: Tony Werner, Chief Technology Officer, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.; Marwan Fawaz, Chief Technical Officer & Executive Vice President, Charter Communications, who was chair of the face to face meeting; Chris Bowick, Senior Vice President, Engineering & Chief Technical Officer, Cox Communications, Inc.; Jim Blackley, Senior Vice President, Corporate Engineering and Technology, Cablevision Systems Corporation; and Mike Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.

Following the general session, attendees broke into four concurrent panel sessions.

Business Services, moderated by Blackley. Speakers: Andrew Audet, Vice President and General Manager of the Cable & IPTV Products Business, Juniper Networks; Rick Mallon, Vice President Product Management, Sigma Systems; Andy Randall, Vice President Marketing, MetaSwitch; and Will Rotch, Chief Technology Officer, Americas, Comverse.

PacketCable 2.0 - 3GPP/IMS, moderated by Werner. Speakers: Paul Mankiewich, CTO, North America, Alcatel-Lucent; Sri Ramachandran, Co-founder, NexTone Communications; Dan Sheinbein, Vice President & Chief Technology Advisor, Networks Division, Siemens Communications, Inc.; and Torben Warming, Vice President Strategy & Market Dev, IP-Communications, Ericsson.

Set-Top Box Roadmap to Retail, moderated by Bowick. Speakers: Nick Chakalos, Senior Director, Software Product Line Management, Connected Home Solutions, Motorola, Inc.; Michael Hawkey, Executive Vice President, ADB Americas; Ron Pessner of Microsoft; Thomas Rhee, Senior Vice President, New Business Development Group, Samsung and Richard Strabel, Vice President, Cable Products Group, Panasonic.

Switched Digital Video Architectures, moderated by Fawaz. Speakers: Charles "Kip" Compton, Senior Director & General Manager, Video & Content Networking Business Unit, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Mark Davis, Vice President of Network Solutions, BigBand Networks; and Joseph Matarese, Senior Vice President, Advanced Global Technology, C-COR Inc.

Accompanying the conference was an exhibit area in which the following companies participated: 1394 Trade Association; Acme Packet; ADB; Alcatel-Lucent; Alticast; ARRIS; Advanced Micro Devices; AudioCodes; Aurora Networks; Auspice; BigBand Networks; Broadcom Corporation; BroadLogic Network Technologies; BTI Photonic Systems, Inc.; Camiant; C-COR; CedarPoint Communications; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Clique Communications; Ditech Networks, Inc.; EGT; Empirix; Ensequence; Entriq; Ericsson Inc.; eTV; F-Secure; Gallery IP Telephony; Harmonic, Inc.; High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance; IBM; ICTV; Imagine Communications; Incognito Software; Integra5; JacobsRimell; Level3; Motorola CHS; Mu Security, Inc.; Multimedia over Coax Alliance; NagraVision; NDS; NetNumber, Inc.; NeuStar; Next Generation Broadband; NexTone Communications, Inc.; Nominum; Nortel Networks; OpVista, Inc.; Pace Micro Technology; Panache, Panasonic, Perftech, ReplayTV, RGB Networks, Samsung, Sandvine Incorporated; Scopus Video Networks, SeaChange International, Siemens Networks, Sigma Systems, Simplicita, Softel-USA, STMicroelectronics, Inc.; TANDBERG Television, Terayon Communication Systems, Trilithic, Inc.; UniSoft/Strategy & Technology; Universal Electronics Inc.; VectorMax; Vidiom Systems, Inc.; Vyyo and Widevine Technologies, Inc.