Broadband Library: Two Sides to Every Story

We write a regular column for Broadband Library, a quarterly publication that goes to all members of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE). Beginning in early 2007, every issue has contained our column "Two Sides to Every Story", using opposing pages to present conflicting viewpoints on a cable/telecom industry topic.

The current issue will be posted here when the following issue is distributed to SCTE members. To read the first part of our most recent dialog, click for Sandy and Dave. To receive the full copy of each article when it is published, you'll need to join the SCTE.

Our columns from earlier issues are listed below in reverse chronological order - most recent first.

Summer 2009 Issue (June--current)

Our column in the Summer 2009 issue focuses on forecasting the future of cable technologies and services. The issue theme was "Transitioning to the Future: Remembering Our Past", so we looked at a planning project we did for a mid-size MSO more than a decade ago.

In The Future … As Expected, Sandy describes our 1997 assignment "to help the senior executives plan the technology migration and strategy to carry the MSO into the twenty-first century" with a fifteen year time horizon. She concludes "Looking back at the plan, it seems like we envisioned the future we have arrived at today. It included high speed data that was much faster and with much more capacity, VOD, IP telephony, business services, the need for a digital migration plan and analog reclamation, OpenCable and tiered pricing."

In You’re Ignoring the Timing and Surprises, Dave admits "many of our key assumptions have proven correct" but says "we were right about some of today’s services—but wildly off on the timing. ... Probably the biggest shortfall in our plan was the amount of revenue we anticipated from the SOHO market. ... How about our misjudgment of how long it would take OpenCable to get to the market?" He also mentions "the things that came out of left field" such as "video streaming and peer-to-peer networking," PVRs and Wi-Fi.

Spring 2009: We focused on multiroom DVR. Sandy thinks operators are late to roll it out, while Dave said the industry was right to give technologies time to mature.

Winter 2008: We described some problems cable operators have had in detecting customer problems, and by contrast discuss the new technologies telephone companies are deploying for remote monitoring. Sandy described a recent experience our daughter and son-in-law had with their cable service and asked "When a triple-play house loses all their service, can't automated tools flag it and proactively deploy repair?" Dave described the technologies telcos are deploying to manage triple-play services and said "TR-069 is fast becoming the global standard for remote management of triple-play services."

Fall 2008: We focused on tru2way--a "virtual cable box" that can be embedded in consumer electronics equipment. Sandy said "tru2way is a great step forward in cable's evolution" but said the cable industry isn't moving fast enough "to open up the tru2way platform to encourage the development of innovative applications." Dave said "it is hard for the cable industry to move quickly to open up the tru2way environment" and concluded "innovative applications will have to wait until later."

Summer 2008: This issue celebrates the 25th anniversary of Cable-Tec Expo. In looking back at the past 25 years, we said technology advances have made our lives both better and more difficult. Dave described the early days of Prodigy Services Company and concluded "...the visions we had 25 years ago are here today ... there's no question that life is better as a result." Sandy countered "using new technologies isn't always beneficial."

Spring 2008: We discussed recent moves by the cable industry toward tiered pricing after many years of selling broadband services at a flat monthly rate. Dave said MSOs should never have promised "unlimited flat rate". Sandy thought flat rate pricing was necessary at the birth of the broadband industry.

Winter 2007: Reflecting our early experience with broadband, we articulated different views of the roles the cable and telephone industries would play in the evolution of broadband services.

Fall 2007 Has networked PC video become a major threat to MSOs?

Summer 2007: Should cable operators participate in the metro Wi-Fi market?

Spring 2007: In our first column, we debated the reality of the broadband home.