CableLabs Staff Expands

Louisville, Colorado, May 30, 2000—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) announced today that William Kostka has been promoted to head the CableLabs cable modem project. He will have the title of Director, Broadband Services.

CableLabs also announced a number of personnel additions across its technical projects and service support departments. "We are in a high growth period at CableLabs as we extend ourselves to help cable operators take advantage of cable�s broadband capabilities," said Dr. Richard R. Green, CableLabs president and CEO. "CableLabs staff has a tremendous breadth of experience to focus on these new world-leading opportunities, such as interoperable high-speed, always-connected Internet access, advanced digital video capabilities, and packet switching technologies, which use Internet protocols," he added.

Kostka, who joined CableLabs in 1997, had been a director/senior architect working on the cable modem project. In this role, he was a critical contributor to the development and expansion of the DOCSIS platform, including transport architecture for both DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1, advanced physical layer protocols, computer controlled cable modems (sharing the computer�s processor), and product certification. Most recently, Kostka was involved in developing an integrated cable network architecture consolidating the platforms for high-speed data, digital video and IP multimedia services.

Prior to joining CableLabs, Kostka was a member of the Hewlett-Packard QuickBurst Cable Modem and Kayak Digital Set-top Converter projects. Prior to Hewlett-Packard, Kostka served in the Cable TV industry with Gill Cable TV in San Jose, California for over ten years in various capacities, including Engineering Manager. He received a bachelor�s degree in mathematics with honors from San Jose State University.

Other new employees added recently to the modem initiative at CableLabs include Thomas Gallagher, Greg Matheny, Cynthia Metsker, and Alex Katsnelson. Gallagher, who joined CableLabs in March, is Director, Broadband Test Program for the Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) process. He is responsible for directing the certification and qualification of DOCSIS-compliant products, together with coordinating development of an automated test platform for future CableLabs® Certified™ products. Gallagher has more than 15 years experience in commercial test engineering management. He designed and directed the implementation of hardware/software test processes at General Instrument on set-top boxes, at TV/COM on digital encoders, and at Sun Microsystems on work stations.

He holds a master�s of science degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University, and a Bachelor's in Engineering Technology in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston.

Matheny, who joined CableLabs in May, is Project Director of DOCSIS certification testing, serving as the key liaison between CableLabs and the suppliers seeking certification. Prior to CableLabs he worked at Cielo Communications and before that served as manager of test engineering functions with Quantum and with StorageTek. His educational background is in aerospace and nuclear engineering.

Metsker, who joined CableLabs in April, is Project Manager of DOCSIS specifications where her duties include monitoring DOCSIS 1.1 specification and acceptance test plan development and scheduling. Before joining CableLabs she worked at IBM Boulder. She holds a bachelors of science degree in computer information systems from Regis University, a bachelors of fine arts in studio art from the University of Akron, Ohio, and associate degrees in applied business and science from the University of Akron.

Katsnelson is a network test design engineer, and his responsibilities include DOCSIS 1.1 acceptance test plan verification, and developing the automated test platform for DOCSIS acceptance tests. Prior to CableLabs, Katsnelson worked for Lockheed Martin Astronautics and for XEL Communications, Inc. He holds a masters of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado at Denver, and bachelors of science degrees in electrical engineering from CU and in applied mathematics from St. Petersburg University, Russia.

The OpenCable project also has added staff to keep pace with project expansion. OpenCable is a fast-track initiative sponsored by leading cable television companies, managed through CableLabs, with a goal of attaining interoperable digital set-top boxes and other advanced digital devices manufactured by multiple vendors and available at retail.

David Birks has been named the Director of Advanced Platforms in the Advanced Platforms and Applications Group. His responsibilities include the development of extensions to the OpenCable Specifications. One of the extensions is a specification that will integrate OpenCable and DOCSIS functionalities into one platform; another is the migration of the OpenCable platform into the PC environment.

Birks previously worked for Sarnoff Corporation, formerly The David Sarnoff Research Center. While there, he was responsible for the development of one of the world�s first real-time MPEG 1 video compression systems, used to prove the viability of Digital DBS. He also was responsible for the design of Standard Definition and HDTV MPEG 2 video compression systems and also a number of digital set-top boxes. Birks holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester, England.

David Broberg was named Director, OpenCable Requirements and is responsible for developing and managing the plan and project resources associated with the creation and maintenance of OpenCable specifications. Prior to joining CableLabs he worked for Mitsubishi Electronics America�s Digital Broadcasting Business Project and has more than 23 years of knowledge and expertise in the television industry. He holds an electronics technology degree from Mountain View College.

Michael E. Davis was named OpenCable Vendor Relations Manager for the Advanced Platforms and Services Group. He coordinates schedules for suppliers participating in interoperability and certification events and serves as a liaison between CableLabs and manufacturers in the cable television, consumer electronics, and computer industries. Before CableLabs he worked for Lucent Technologies and for EchoStar Communications Corporation. He holds a master�s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado and a bachelor�s degree in electronics engineering from DeVry Institute of Technology.

Laura Schneider has been hired as Business Development Manager for the Advanced Platforms and Services Group and is responsible for developing and managing the OpenCable product and service requirements based on input from cable operators, device manufacturers, and key retailers. Schneider comes to CableLabs from EchoStar Communications Corporation's Satellite Services Group, where she was Marketing Manager in the New Business Development Group. She holds a master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

PacketCable has increased its professional staffing as well. PacketCable is a CableLabs-led initiative aimed at developing interoperable interface specifications for delivering advanced, real-time multimedia services over two-way cable plant. PacketCable networks will use cable modems and Internet protocol (IP) technology to enable a wide range of multimedia services, such as IP telephony, multimedia conferencing, interactive gaming, and general multimedia applications.

Tom Thompson has been named Project Director for the PacketCable Interoperability Testing Program. In this role, he oversees all aspects of the PacketCable testing and capabilities demonstrations managed and sponsored by CableLabs. Thompson holds a master�s degree in business administration from Arizona State University, a masters in International Management from The American Graduate School of International Management.

Matt Osman joins PacketCable as Director of Multimedia Signaling Architectures, in which capacity he leads teams comprised of suppliers and CableLabs members working on provisioning and signaling protocols. He worked previously for MediaOne High-Speed Data, where he directed the provisioning and deployment of RoadRunner�s broadband service for MediaOne systems in California. He also provided technical support for Cable and Wireless Communications while consulting for Cisco Systems. He holds a bachelor�s degree in electrical engineering from California State University at Fullerton, and a master�s of business administration from the University of LaVerne, California.

David McIntosh is Project Manager for Telecommunications Architectures where he is responsible for evaluation and development of platforms to deliver new packet-based multimedia communications services. Before joining CableLabs, he was a Member of Technical Staff at Hill Associates, a premium provider of technical training and executive course education. McIntosh holds a master�s of science degree in Telecommunications and a bachelor�s of arts degree in Communications from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

J.P. Singh has joined the Go2Broadband project as Project Director, E-Commerce Applications. Go2Broadband is a business-to-business effort that links affiliates, including retailers and PC manufacturers, to a one-stop shop for information about where cable modem service is available. Singh is part of the Strategic Planning Department and is responsible for the G2B initiative created and maintained by CableLabs. Previously he worked for Lucent Technologies in marketing and new business development roles. He holds a master�s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix, a masters of science in Computer Science from University of Denver, and a bachelors of science degree in electrical engineering from New Delhi University, India.

Connie Reding joined CableLabs in March as E-Commerce Operations Manager in the Strategic Planning Department. She is responsible for the coordination of the G2B project, including managing deliverables, schedules, budgets and change control between vendors and members. Reding came to CableLabs from the direct marketing/training industry. Her most recent experiences include managing systems applications development, developing project scopes, budgets, reporting, and change control procedures.

Legal

Simon Krauss joined CableLabs Legal Department in April as Associate Counsel, Intellectual Property. Krauss assists in the co-ordination of intellectual property rights (IPR) issues involving CableLabs projects, including other licensing and protection of intellectual property, in addition to providing general corporate and related legal guidance.

Krauss has worked extensively, both in private practice and as in-house counsel, providing technology companies a wide range of legal services including: negotiation and drafting of licenses, obtaining and protecting copyright, trademark and patents, as well as legal counsel on general corporate and commercial law matters. In addition to his Juris Doctor in law, received from the University of Denver (DU), Krauss has a Master of Arts in International Studies (DU), and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Northwestern University.

Tracy Spillane joined CableLabs as the Human Resources Representative. Her responsibilities include recruitment and retention, assistance with benefits administration and related HR generalist activities. Prior to joining CableLabs, she was with CitiGroup. Spillane holds a master�s degree in Public Administration from the University of New Haven, and a bachelor�s degree in rehabilitation from Assumption College, Worcester, Mass., and has taken numerous courses in Human Resource Management.

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org, www.ebif.tv and www.tru2way.com.

CableCARD™, CableHome®, CableLabs®, CableNET®, CablePC™, DCAS™, DOCSIS®, DPoE™, EBIF™, Go2BroadbandSM, M-Card™, OpenCable™, PacketCable™, PeerConnect™, and tru2way® are marks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.