INTX Week: Hot Topics

It’s been a year since cable show was rebranded as INTX as the industry focuses more on the digital media and entertainment economy. Execs shared their thoughts on this year’s hot topics and the evolution of the show with us. “We’re going to see an evolution of the hot topics last year: 4K, cloud services, nDVR (network DVR) and IoT,” said Duncan Potter, svp of marketing at Arris. These highlight the need for technologies like DOCSIS 3.1, which will be a hot topic during the show, he said. In addition, “I expect a lot of attention on virtual reality, Wi-Fi everywhere and multichannel 4K. They all demonstrate the need for new network and bandwidth technologies to enable more immersive and powerful entertainment experiences,” Potter said. Meanwhile, the show will look and feel much different this year than it has in the past few years. This year, “I believe there will be more action on the show floor, which will put content and entertainment front and center with interactive demos, games and entertainment,” said Potter. He said that over the years the show has focused more on millennials as an end-user audience: “Millennials are an important and growing base of subscribers for MSOs and technology providers, so demonstrating how we bring value to millennials is key.” Arris chmn/CEO Bob Stanzione will be inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame in INTX. Cisco will demonstrate the ability to provide greater than 1Gbps down and 700 Mbps upstream speeds at INTX. Todd McCrum, sr dir of strategy & product management, expects DOCSIS 3.1 to be a popular topic because of ongoing speed competition and consumer demand for faster data rates. Specific 3.1 issues that could come up include spectrum availability, co-existence of 3.0 and 3.1, vendor hardware and software readiness and scalability, he said. CSG International’s product management vp Chad Dunavant said he likes the show’s theme of disruption, particularly as INTX attendees discuss the future of video delivery and consumption. Combining this with new technologies like DOCSIS 3.1, “we are on the cusp of speeds that will enable new interactive services that no other network, or industry is capable of supporting. Seeing how these new network technologies will support developments in virtual reality and connected devices are exciting and will drive this industry for years to come,” he said. Looking at how the show has changed over the years, Dunavant said the show has shifted from one that was dominated by big programmer booths and content to “one that has infused a new focus on technologies that help operators and programmers better reach customers across platforms and devices ecosystems.” Casa Systems CEO Jerry Guo expects conversations around distributing access to turn toward virtualization of access networks. “A lot of discussion about the possibilities once network functions are virtualized has been going on, because those possibilities are quite exciting. The debate becomes about when and how,” he told us. On the content and content delivery front, “I think a theme we’ve seen before and will continue to hear is personalization and how big data and analytics can make the user experience more relevant and enjoyable,” he said. Regarding how consumers watch, the key word will be “immersive,” said Guo. WiFi tech firm AirTies’ North America Business evp/gm Oz Yildirim tagged in-home broadband and WiFi as a hot topic, especially as broadband subs start to surpass video subs for many ops. “Notably, operators are focused on improving the consumer experience, exploring new financial opportunities, and designing next-gen video distribution platforms that can better serve both managed and unmanaged devices inside the house,” he said. Regarding how the show has evolved, he said “today’s INTX is every bit as much about broadband as it is video.” AirTies will release and demo AirTies Remote View 1.0, a new in-home Wi-Fi performance monitoring system that provides insights into ways to improve quality of service within subscribers’ homes.