Comcast EVP Schanz Previews Expo
The chairman of this year’s Cable-Tec Expo program subcommittee is EVP National Engineering & Technical Operations, Comcast Cable John Schanz. CT Editor Jonathan Tombes spoke with Schanz recently on a range of topics.
For an edited transcript of that interview, see CT’s Communications Executive, posted on our homepage under “CT Extras.” Here’s more from that conversation:
CT: Could you give us a preview of what to expect this year at Expo?
Schanz: I think the theme of the Expo is crisp, but it also says a lot. The theme of the Expo this year is the extensible competitive fiber network. And we picked that because it’s exactly what we have, it’s exactly what we intend to keep doing.
As far as the conference goes, we want to spend a lot of time on the extensibility of the network, and with a particular focus on the customers and where the technology and operations are going.
We’ll spend a considerable amount of time on all digital, because I think all digital’s not only a big part of our strategy, but it will continue to be for the industry and other MSOs. DOCSIS 3 is starting to roll across lots of infrastructures outside of Comcast. You’ll see a lot on EBIF and interactive TV, and that is obviously something that we’re just starting to do through a number of capabilities here. You’ll see a particular focus on business services, as we move more aggressively into the cell backhaul and Metro-E space.
We believe we’re going to get a great turnout with this theme and focus on customers, and where the technology and operations is going. It’s a lot of very meaty and I think interesting content in terms of where the industry is at the moment, and what we’ll be doing with these technologies to design, build, and operate services that customers want and have an incredible thirst for.
So we’ll have the MSO technology and architecture and capabilities flag flying high, and I think the content that’s coming together via the Expo is really outstanding. Some of the folks on the committee have commented on quality of the content as well as the breadth that we’ve put into the Expo this year. It should be real exciting.
