The most important North American “cable” present left – SCTE’s TechExpo – will get underway subsequent week in Atlanta, the place the present will as soon as once more give attention to what’s on the horizon for the entry community – together with DOCSIS 4.0 and the business’s ongoing pursuit of PON – and the way the rising position of virtualization and AI proceed to shift the dialogue towards community and repair reliability and resilience reasonably than simply mere speeds and feeds.
Janelle Morse, SCTE’s vp of engagement and technique, lately joined the Sign Energy podcast to offer a preview and course of this 12 months’s present, a few of its anticipated prevailing themes, and the place the present shall be hosted within the years to return.
Concentrate on convergence and the client expertise
The agenda is not only about cable and DOCSIS, however will prolong to cowl different areas that operators are targeted on, together with fiber, cell and AI.
Alongside the core technical components of these, the broader dialogue will steer towards what Morse calls the “convergence-powered expertise.” Of word, the present has an “Expertise” monitor that may embrace panels targeted on areas such because the linked residence.
“It is actually turning into [about] the clever layer throughout the community and the way it’s serving to operators predict their points, optimize efficiency and transfer in direction of a very self-healing community,” she defined.
That may also tie into areas such because the autonomous community together with a spread of content-focused tech panels within the present’s “StreamTech” monitor.
Attendance on monitor with expectations amid broader business consolidation
Heading into Atlanta, Morse mentioned TechExpo is anticipating participation from greater than 1,500 corporations and greater than 250 exhibitors. Notably, the complete present, together with the keynotes, breakout periods and cubicles, will match on to the ground (verify the ground map right here).
What’s not identified – and hasn’t been disclosed for years by SCTE – is what number of attendees shall be readily available in what’s clearly a consolidating business as suppliers mix (with extra combos anticipated) and amid latest operator M&A, together with the lately closed Constitution Communications-Cox Communications merger.
In response to Mild Studying’s checks with business sources, registrations have been within the neighborhood of 5,000 a few weeks in the past, a quantity that’s more likely to rise as numerous operators, distributors and different business watchers make last-minute plans to return to the present.
And the newest numbers are apparently increased than that. In a post-podcast e-mail trade, Morse declined to offer particular numbers, however pressured that “the estimate you referenced understates the place registration at present stands. We’re very happy with the turnout for Atlanta and proceed to see robust registration as we head into the occasion. TechExpo26 will convey collectively hundreds of attendees from throughout the broadband ecosystem, together with greater than 250 exhibitors.”
SCTE final reported present registration figures in 2017, when the occasion, then held in Denver, pulled in about 8,800. In 2016 in Philadelphia, the present (then often known as Cable-Tec Expo) drew greater than 10,000 attendees. It additionally was about this time that NCTA introduced it was sunsetting its annual commerce present.
In fact, consolidation and different elements have impacted different business commerce exhibits. The latest IBC present in Amsterdam, for instance, noticed attendance dip by about 6% from final 12 months’s.
Denver and Philly on faucet
As for TechExpo, this 12 months’s present would be the final to be held in Atlanta, at the very least for the foreseeable future. Morse mentioned the 2027 present shall be held in Denver, which stays a large cable business hub, then heads to Philadelphia, Comcast’s headquarters metropolis, in 2028.
“The plan is to alternate between these two cities,” she mentioned.
Here is a snapshot of the dialogue:
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How are issues wanting every week or so earlier than the large present? (01:00)
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How the cable business has turn out to be extra tech-agnostic and targeted on the broader “expertise” (03:50)
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Why AI has turn out to be an necessary component of this 12 months’s agenda (08:00)
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A breakdown of the present ground, together with its exhibit corridor, keynote stage and breakout session areas (10:00)
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How the present’s playbook has developed amid business consolidation (11:45)
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How corporations and industries outdoors the standard “cable” circle have gotten an even bigger a part of the present (13:00)
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The place will TechExpo be hosted within the years to return? (18:30)
