Blog
October 8, 2024
Digging into the Top 5 Takeaways from SCTE TechExpo
By Joe McGarvey, Marketing Director |
September’s SCTE TechExpo24 will go down as one of the most memorable in the history of the annual industry gathering. MSOs of all sizes were impacted by news that Broadcom, Comcast, Charter and other signers of a Joint Development Agreement would make silicon that unifies the FDD and FDX strains of DOCSIS 4.0 available to all MSOs. In addition, several of those same players unveiled they were working on DOCSIS 5.0, a version of the cable-industry standard that allows for spectrum ranges of 3GHz.
Aside from those headline-grabbing revelations, TechExpo24 was also abuzz with technology breakthroughs, major deployment milestones and a renewed focus on network reliability and operational efficiency.
What follows are the five most meaningful takeaways from last week’s expo and how they contributed to attendee enthusiasm and the overriding sense that the cable industry is on the upswing, with MSOs poised to elevate their broadband game to new levels.
1. The Multigigabit Future is Here
Since its introduction in early 2019, DOCSIS 4.0 has been mostly a tease of things to come, with each subsequent TechExpo serving as a sort of progress report on the ETA of 1.8GHz-capable equipment. With the opening bell of TechExpo24, anticipation turned into reality, with select technology suppliers showcasing and, in ATX’s case, shipping, actual product.
But it wasn’t just equipment providers promoting the arrival of DOCSIS 4.0, MSOs also indicated significant progress in prepping their HFC networks for the delivery of multigigabit symmetrical services in the near future. Given the current availability of 1.8GHz amplifiers and the imminent availability of 1.8GHz-capable nodes, including the ATX GigaXtend™ GS7, MSOs are now perfectly positioned to extend the capabilities of DOCSIS 3.1 while readying their networks for DOCSIS 4.0. As a bonus, the intelligence built into 1.8GHz-capable nodes and amps, and profiled below, also makes these next-gen actives the most economical upgrade option for MSOs with no immediate plans to migrate to DOCSIS 4.0.
2. Advanced Intelligence
One of the most persistent themes of TechExpo24, if not the most prominent, is the desire of MSOs to shore up subscriber loyalty by increasing the reliability of their networks. In most cases, that means injecting intelligence that empowers MSOs to improve the efficiency of network technicians, particularly their ability to quickly locate and repair network issues.
A giant step toward that goal is the adoption of transponder-equipped HFC amplifiers that enable remote monitoring and problem detection. ATX, for one, attracted significant attention to its booth by demonstrating the ability of its GigaXtend transponder-equipped amplifiers to improve operational efficiency by remotely gathering information to proactively address network issues, pinpoint performance issues through ingress detection to decrease the time it takes to find and correct network failures, capture a quick and accurate inventory of network assets and automate time-consuming maintenance tasks, such as firmware updates.
3. Rethinking Energy Storage
The days of lead-acid batteries playing a leading role in backup power operations appear to be dwindling, as MSOs are increasingly discovering the safety, reliability, longevity and long-term cost advantages of hybrid supercapacitor energy storage, including ATX’s Areca family of energy storage modules — now with remote monitoring capabilities.
Compared to the three-to-five-year lifespan of lead-acid batteries, hybrid supercapacitors can potentially last 20 or more years, discharging and recharging 20,000 or more times over that timeframe. In addition, hybrid supercapacitors are not chemically based, meaning they are not susceptible to chemical leakages or igniting into flames, which lead-acid and Lithium-Ion batteries are prone to. Areca hybrid supercapacitors also outperform alternative energy storage mediums in terms of space optimization, reliability and environmental sustainability.
4. Solution Versatility
Given the continued negative impact of cord cutting on their residential video services, MSOs are looking to protect and extend their commercial video services by bolstering their performance and efficiency. A long-standing obstacle in their path is the lack of media gateway solutions optimized for specific businesses environments. A platform right sized for a large hospitality venue, like a major hotel, for example, may be overkill for the small and medium business (SMB) market.
At TechExpo24, ATX showcased its Visium MD Media Gateway platform’s ability to be rightsized for every commercial venue, from the largest hotel chains to small and medium businesses. The newest iteration of the Visium MD, the MD Mini, is the centerpiece of the Visium MVP, an end-to-end managed video solution optimized to enable MSOs to expand the reach of the commercial services into the SMB space, including restaurants, sports bars, gyms and other businesses that provide patrons with video content across multiple televisions.
5. Operational Efficiency
Arguably the most important talking point of TechExpo24, which overlaps with nearly every technology trend and equipment breakthrough, is the desire of MSOs to significantly increase the operational efficiency of their network. Network reliability, technician efficiency and energy conservation, MSO executives argued, all depend on improving the operationally efficiency of the network — both outside and inside plants.
The move to digital optics means that MSOs now have the opportunity to consolidate physical hubsites, shrinking brick-and-mortar buildings into strand- or cabinet-mounted passive optical enclosures, an action that enables MSOs to see savings related to property taxes, HVAC, staffing and frequent site visits. Visitors to ATX’s TechExpo booth discovered how the company’s GigaWave® digital optical transport technology is enabling MSOs to reduce physical sites as they migrate to DAA or transition from RFoG to PON — as well as improve the reliability of their networks.
ATX @ SCTE TechExpo 2024
ATX Insights from SCTE TechExpo 2024
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