The SCTE Canadian Summit Program Committee, chaired by Bruce Marshall of Shaw Cablesystems G.P., Shaw Hamilton, has selected a workshop program focused on the exchange of technical information for today and tomorrow.
Please note: some sessions are offered both days of the Summit.
Converged Media Applications—My Content, Anytime, Anyplace on Any Device Customers today are more technology savvy than ever. With the widespread adoption of network-capable smart devices in the home, the challenge has become access to the content. Join us as we explore the evolutionary path to the converged home through the use of web tools and applications that enable content to be shared across multiple platforms.
Moderator: Rob Bazilewich, Chief Technology Officer, Westman Communications Group
Speakers: Innovating for Convergence Camille Issa, Director, MSO Business Development, Metaswitch Networks
Using Web 2.0 Tools and Applications to Create the Integrated Digital Lifestyle Mark Tubinis, Chief Technology Officer, Cedar Point Communications
Future Proofing the Upstream to Support DOCSIS® 3.0(This session will be repeated on Day 2, Wed., March 10 from 9:30–10:30 am) Attendees will hear from leading experts as they outline real experiences and concepts for expanding upstream DOCSIS® 3.0 capacity in the network. Andrej Copic and Jason Lowe will share 64QAM experiences acquired at Cogeco Cable while Oleh Sniezko of Aurora will focus on the requirements for the optical return path. These presentations will provide practical advice for operators planning for the future of DOCSIS® 3.0.
Moderator: Wayne Rabey, Vice President Sales, Capella Telecommunications Inc.
Speakers: 64 QAM Upstream Made Easy Andrej Copic, DOCSIS® Architect, Cogeco Cable Inc. Jason Lowe, Director, Access Network Engineering, Clearcable Networks
Reverse Optical Links From Nodes in DOCSIS® 3.0 Environment Oleh Sniezko, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Aurora Networks, Inc.
RFoG—A Sensible and Economical Approach for Fibre to the Premises Deployments Plus a Unique Canadian Customer Perspective(This session will be repeated on Day 2, Wed., March 10 from 8:15–9:15 am) In Canada, RFoG is moving from the strategic planning phases into the early deployment phases. In this session, presenters will discuss the revenue-generating benefits and implementation efficiencies of RFoG, along with common deployment considerations such as subscriber density and the proximity of areas served to the headend. OPEX reductions and Quality of Service (QoS) improvements inherent with RFoG architectures also will be discussed. The session will showcase how a cable operator can transform its network from HFC to PON seamlessly, at its own pace, and with a budget that fits its needs.
Moderator: F. Scott Atkinson, Senior Director, Infrastructure Systems, Engineering, Shaw Cablesystems G.P.
Speakers: RFoG/EPON Developments—Sensible and Economical fiber to the Premises Upgrades for Cable Operators Mike Emmendorfer, Senior Director, Solution Architecture and Strategy, ARRIS
The Evolution of RFoG: A Canadian Customer Perspective Ketan Gadkari, Director, RF and Optical Engineering, CTDI
11:30 am-12:30 pm
DOCSIS® 3.0 Deployments and Experiences in the First Year (This session will be repeated on day 2, Wed., March 10 from 11 am–Noon) There were many hurdles on the road to DOCSIS® 3.0 implementation. This session will look at real-life examples of dealing with these hurdles from initial turn-up to widespread deployments. The session will examine how deployment strategies changed and which assumptions were right and which were wrong. An experience-based checklist will be provided for those seeking to deploy DOCSIS® 3.0 services. Specific examples from Cogeco’s DOCSIS® 3.0 roll-out of a 50 Mbps service will illustrate the challenges and solutions found in integrating into the existing cable infrastructure. This will touch on downstream frequencies migration, optimization of CMTS configuration, modular-CMTS infrastructure installation and software levels, DOCSIS® config file modifications, endpoint certification testing, and service verification testing. This session will give you a real look at a year in the life of DOCSIS® 3.0.
Moderator: Stephen Quinn, President, TVC Communications—Canada
Speakers: A Year in the Life of DOCSIS® 3.0: Lessons Learned Steven Krapp, Director, Product Management, ARRIS
DOCSIS® 3.0 Service Launch: Prerequisites, Implementation Experience and Service Verification Kira Gurovskaya, Manager, IP Network Access, Engineering, Cogeco Cable Inc. Robert Ng, CPE Engineer, Cogeco Cable Inc.
RFoG Demonstrates Both Flexibility and Performance as an Alternative to HFC Presenters will highlight the capabilities of RFoG deployment for residential as well as business customers. The future-proof aspect of RFoG will be highlighted, as will some comparative costing elements. Recent technology advances and their application in RFoG upstream links also will be discussed. These advances are a prerequisite for matching and exceeding the capacity of the reverse bandwidth available now in HFC networks. The application to both the design of reverse transmitters and receivers, and the resultant benefits to cable operators, are shown.
Moderator: F. Scott Atkinson, Senior Director, Infrastructure Systems, Engineering, Shaw Cablesystems G.P.
Speakers: Ensuring a Flexible RFoG Network Fritz Amt, Consultant for CommScope, Amt Consulting
RFoG Promise to Deliver High Bandwidth Oleh Sniezko, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Aurora Networks, Inc.
Switched Digital for the Canadian Landscape The days of having spare 6MHz channel slots available are gone. The addition of four to six high-definition channels per year is eating up spectrum at a Pac-Man rate. The requirement to group four DOCSIS® 3.0 carriers for provisioning new Internet services presents a significant new challenge to spectrum management and efficiency. Attendees will become acquainted with the real-world bandwidth savings that can be realized by deploying switched digital technologies.
Moderator: Bruce Marshall, Technical Director, Shaw Cablesystems G.P., Shaw Hamilton
Speakers: Current Activities and Lessons Learned on Switched Digital Video at Rogers Giancarlo Urbani, P. Eng., Director, Video Services & Platforms, Rogers Communications Inc.
Switched Digital Video: Evaluating Opportunity for Canadian Mid-Market MSO Mike Casciano, Vice President, Operations, Clearcable Networks
To Switch or Not to Switch? Small System Business Case Michael Fiorini, Vice President & General Manager, Cable Cable Inc.
Day Two Wednesday, March 10
8:15-9:15 am
DOCSIS® 3.0—Practical Knowledge to Ensure a Successful Roll-Out For many operators who have smaller systems, the deployment of DOCSIS® 3.0 provides an opportunity to add capacity and provide increased efficiency in delivering additional services. This session will provide the operator with information about how to test and prepare for a DOCSIS® 3.0 deployment. Presenters will offer practical guidance on setting service packages as well as methods for troubleshooting and signal quality testing. Participants also will hear about real-world examples of DOCSIS® 3.0 implementations and maintenance strategies after a deployment. Participants will leave this session with a solid understanding of the steps involved in deploying DOCSIS® 3.0 and the testing necessary throughout the process to make their deployment successful.
Moderator: Paul Osmond, Manager, Contracts, Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc.
Speakers: Deploying DOCSIS® 3.0 in Small Systems Jason Lowe, Director, Access Network Engineering, Clearcable Networks
Practical Testing and Maintenance Testing for DOCSIS® 3.0 Steve Windle, Product Manager, Trilithic, Inc.
How to Succeed With Business VoIP Services An informative discussion regarding what business VoIP services cable operators need to offer to compete and succeed. This roundtable will explore real-life scenarios as well as present ideas for the future.
Moderator: Jonathan James Newman, National Sales Manager, Power & Telephone Supply Company—Canada
Speakers: Best Practices in Deploying and Fulfilling Business VoIP Services Michael Campbell, P. Eng., Director, Product Management Solutions, Sigma Systems
PacektCable™ Network Architecture for Business Voice Services Glenn Russell, Director Business Services, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®)
RFoG—A Sensible and Economical Approach for Fibre to the Premises Deployments Plus a Unique Canadian Customer Perspective(This session will be first presented on Day 1, Tues. March 9 from 10:15–11:15 am) In Canada, RFoG is moving from the strategic planning phases into the early deployment phases. In this session, presenters will discuss the revenue-generating benefits and implementation efficiencies of RFoG, along with common deployment considerations such as subscriber density and the proximity of areas served to the headend. OPEX reductions and Quality of Service (QoS) improvements inherent with RFoG architectures also will be discussed. The session will showcase how a cable operator can transform its network from HFC to PON seamlessly, at its own pace, and with a budget that fits its needs.
Moderator: F. Scott Atkinson, Senior Director, Infrastructure Systems, Engineering, Shaw Cablesystems G.P.
Speakers: RFoG/EPON Developments—Sensible and Economical fiber to the Premises Upgrades for Cable Operators Mike Emmendorfer, Senior Director, Solution Architecture and Strategy, ARRIS
The Evolution of RFoG: A Customer Perspective Ketan Gadkari, Director, RF and Optical Engineering, CTDI
9:30-10:30 am
Digital Quality—The Problem With a Solution Digital quality now has become a critical success factor for all operators. As the number of high-definition channels nears 100 and televisions get larger, all eyes easily see the flaws. Without a focus on quality of experience in the digital arena, the operator is destined to live with low satisfaction and ever-increasing customer churn. Today, the industry is looking deeply at solutions that solve a multitude of issues in this maze of technologies. This diverse panel will discuss the background to where the problems occur (from technology to people) and the different approaches to the implementation of end-to-end solutions that can solve this complex problem.
Moderator: Kevin Cuffling, Senior Director, Digital Video Engineering, Cogeco Cable Inc.
Speakers and Panelists: Digital Quality: From the Customer Perspective Mark Shinozaki, Director, Network Quality Assurance, Rogers Communications Inc.
Digital Quality: Human vs. Machine—Practical Guidelines Michel Lapointe, Senior Analyst, Digital Video Technologies Development, Videotron
Digital Quality: The Problem With a Solution Dave Higgins, Vice President, Quality Assurance, Comcast Media Center
Digital Quality monitoring at Cogeco Cable Inc. R. Stephen Shaw, Digital Cable Engineer, Cogeco Cable Inc.
Future Proofing the Upstream to Support DOCSIS® 3.0 (This session will be first presented on Day 1, Tues. March 9 from 10:15–11:15 am) Attendees will hear from leading experts as they outline real experiences and concepts for expanding upstream DOCSIS® 3.0 capacity in the network. Andrej Copic and Jason Lowe will share 64QAM experiences acquired at Cogeco Cable while Oleh Sniezko of Aurora will focus on the requirements for the optical return path. These presentations will provide practical advice for operators planning for the future of DOCSIS® 3.0.
Moderator: Wayne Rabey, Vice President Sales, Capella Telecommunications Inc.
Speakers: 64 QAM Upstream Made Easy Andrej Copic, DOCSIS® Architect, Cogeco Cable Inc. Jason Lowe, Director, Access Network Engineering, Clearcable Networks
Reverse Optical Links From Nodes in DOCSIS® 3.0 Environment Oleh Sniezko, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Aurora Networks, Inc.
The World Is Running Out of Internet Addresses but No Need to Panic The world is running out of available IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Unless addressed now, operators will be unable to serve customer requirements for more Internet-connected devices. IPv6 holds the promise of many more addresses, but transitioning to it from IPv4 comes with its own set of challenges. This session will provide an overview of IPv6, why it is important, and the work that vendors, operators, and CableLabs® are doing to identify possible ways of performing this transition while maintaining support for IPv4.
Moderator: Tony Faccia, Vice President - Wireline Access Networks, Rogers Communications Inc.
Speakers and Panelists: No Need to Panic: Maintaining Internet Access Past IPv4 Exhaustion Chris Donley,Project Director - Network Protocols, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®)
Transition to IPv6 Wayne Allison, Director Network Technology & Service Lifecycle Management, Rogers Communications Inc.
Vendor Perspectives on Supporting IPv6 Kevin Luehrs, Senior Staff Broadband Systems Engineer, ARRIS
11 am-Noon
Cost Models and Case Studies: Lessons Learned From Recent FTTH OSP Deployments—The World of Going Fibre Deep This session will provide a cross-section overview of real-world deployments and case studies on the road to deploying FTTH. Topics covered include costing and deployment models for outside plant. What changes should be considered when deploying DOCSIS® and DTV services via RFoG and PON? All-optical network powering and environmental benefits will be explored. All-optical networks can influence business services as MSOs leverage fibre to replace enterprise LANs.
Moderator: Marco Petraglia, Senior Account Manager, Motorola, Inc.—Canada
Speakers and Panelists: Cost Effective OSP Deployment Strategies for FTTH Carney Claunch II, Senior Product Manager, Charles Industries, Ltd.
The Journey from HFC to FTTx Fred Slowik, Director, Systems Marketing, Motorola, Inc.
Tuning DOCSIS®and DTV for RFoG Jason Lowe, Director, Access Network Engineering, Clearcable Networks
DOCSIS® 3.0 Deployments and Experiences in the First Year(This session will be first presented on Day 1, Tues. March 9 from 11:30 am–12:30 pm)
There were many hurdles on the road to DOCSIS® 3.0 implementation. This session will look at real-life examples of dealing with these hurdles from initial turn-up to widespread deployments. The session will examine how deployment strategies changed and which assumptions were right and which were wrong. An experience-based checklist will be provided for those seeking to deploy DOCSIS® 3.0 services. Specific examples from Cogeco’s DOCSIS® 3.0 roll-out of a 50 Mbps service will illustrate the challenges and solutions found in integrating into the existing cable infrastructure. This will touch on downstream frequencies migration, optimization of CMTS configuration, modular-CMTS infrastructure installation and software levels, DOCSIS® config file modifications, endpoint certification testing, and service verification testing. This session will give you a real look at a year in the life of DOCSIS® 3.0.
Moderator: Stephen Quinn, President, TVC Communications—Canada
Speakers: A Year in the Life of DOCSIS® 3.0: Lessons Learned Steven Krapp, Director Product Management, ARRIS
DOCSIS® 3.0 Service Launch: Prerequisites, Implementation Experience and Service Verification Kira Gurovskaya, Manager, IP Network Access, Engineering, Cogeco Cable Inc. Robert Ng, CPE Engineer, Cogeco Cable Inc.
IPTV—Enabling Next-Gen Service Delivery IPTV holds the promise to deliver not only lower-cost set-top boxes, but also the ability to share feature-rich content in the home. As the cable industry evolves with the adoption of IP content, more emphasis will be placed on signal acquisition, conditioning, and delivery systems to support multiple formats with interactive features and security requirements. This session will focus on the technologies required for the end-to-end architecture of IPTV, the challenges of IPTV delivery, and the in-home network.
Moderator: Rob Bazilewich, Chief Technology Officer, Westman Communications Group
Speakers: Challenges in Migrating Cable Networks to IPTV Jay Chambers, Principal Engineer, BigBand Networks, Inc.
IPTV over DOCSIS® 3.0: An End-to-End Insertion Strategy for the Modern MSO Xiaomei Liu, Technical Leader, Cisco Systems, Inc.
3:15-4:30 pm
Closing Session: Not Just an Environmentally Good Thing, Going Green Can Help Cable Operators Realize Tangible Financial Benefits (panel) These are questions on the minds of cable operators today: What is the realized operational cost savings should we green up our networks? And how can we practically green up operations? This discussion will explore the cost benefits of FTTH networks versus HFC networks as well as the potential to realize cost savings and reduce carbon footprints through several means: Automated network management, improved and paperless workflow management, standby battery replacement management, and ferro-resonant transformer optimization.
Moderator: Jonathan Tombes, Editor, Communications Technology
Reactor: Bruce Bondar, Vice President, Engineering, Access Communications Co-operative Limited
Speakers and Panelists: Going Green With All-Fiber Networks in Canada Shawn M. Esser, Senior Product Manager, Motorola, Inc.
Options for Intelligent and Sustainable HFC Network Powering Rob Anderson, Director, Product Management, Alpha Technologies Inc. Jeff Burgett, President, Seldon Systems
Paperless Orders, So Much More Than Paper Jason Berresford, Manager, Customer Services Delivery, Shaw Communications Inc.
Truck-Roll, CO2 & Energy Reduction Using Network-Integrated Remote Testing Scott Sumner, Vice President, Product Management, Accedian Networks, Inc.
