By Joe McGarvey, Marketing Director |

Don’t let this blog’s title fool you. Cable-Tec Expo, every year, is always informative and always a great opportunity to take the pulse of the industry and latest technology innovations. But expectations are high that this year’s SCTE-hosted Cable-Tec Expo may have a little extra kick, generate a little more buzz and, in a few years from now, stand out as the start of something big in broadband.

While turning 40 is always a significant milestone, Cable-Tec Expo 2023 is likely to be memorable for multiple reasons, starting with the graduation of DOCSIS 4.0 from talking point to viable technology on the verge of implementation. Technology introductions notoriously take a long time to become reality. Even though CableLabs released the DOCSIS 4.0 specifications only a few years ago, back in 2019, it feels like we’ve been talking about the technology non-stop ever since. With much of the equipment needed to crank up the network to 1.8GHz, including HFC amplifiers, nearing commercial availability, all that changes now.

This month’s Cable-Tec Expo may also seem like a once-in-a-generation happening because MSOs are now commencing what are essentially once-in-a-generation technology upgrades of their networks. Roughly 20 years have passed since cable operators embarked on such a significant overhaul of their HFC infrastructures. And it could be argued that this latest phase of the evolution of the HFC network will be even more meaningful than the last, in that so much seems to be riding on MSOs’ ability to upgrade their networks with precision and cost efficiency.

The reason for the urgency and need for efficiency is the third thing that is likely to turn Cable-Tec Expo 2023 into an industry milestone, which is the looming and significant competitive threat that surrounds this year’s event. For maybe the first time since MSOs became the dominant high-speed data providers, at least in North America, much of their subscriber base will have another high-speed alternative. The good news is that DOCSIS 4.0 essentially evens the playing field with FTTH providers in terms of speed and capacity, giving MSOs more than enough juice to meet the needs of subscribers for at least the next decade or so.

But MSOs would be unwise to stop there, focusing their competitive sights on speed alone. And how much they make Cable-Tec Expo about the overall end-user experience, rather than just speed, might be the most interesting thing of all to observe at this year’s event.

The move to DOCSIS 4.0 means a node-to-tap overhaul of the HFC network and MSOs must embrace that milestone as an opportunity to inject new intelligence and flexibility into the network. MSOs have the chance to completely reimagine the broadband experience by making their networks smarter, more reliable, easier to troubleshoot and more user-friendly than any other broadband network in the world.

Cable-Tec Expo 2023 is also shaping up to be something special for ATX. We’re bringing our Better Broadband Everywhere ethos to Denver, stressing the importance of going big with the next phase of the HFC network evolution in several panels, conference presentations and in an informative Innovation Theater engagement.

ATX Cable-Tec Expo Panels and Presentations:

ATX will present at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo Innovation Theater — the event’s knowledge hub where business, operational and technology leaders share insights on the latest developments and opportunities for the industry. ATX executives Dan Whalen and Jay Lee, ATX Board Member Sandra Howe and customer guests will offer attendees insight on how MSOs can withstand competitive challenges by focusing on delivering reliable multigigabit services that provide exceptional customer experience.

ATX Technical Solutions Sales Engineer Gustavo Colly will participate in a panel presented in Spanish entitled From Clouds to Cables: Overcoming Challenges and Embracing the Future in Network Deployment. Colly will summarize his conference paper exploring the intelligent and cost-efficient expansion of HFC networks to meet the growing consumer bandwidth requirements, particularly in terms of upstream traffic.

ATX Director of Engineering for Professional Services Douglas Ridley will join a panel on Power Asset Management: Reducing Operating Costs, Increasing Sustainability, and Enabling Monetization. Ridley will discuss the findings of his technical paper detailing how service providers can leverage hybrid supercapacitors to generate revenue by selling unused stored energy to utility companies without affecting their backup power operations.

In the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo Hall, ATX will be featured in the Sustainability & Circularity Pavilion, where it will showcase its Areca™ Energy Storage modules — ATX’s next-gen hybrid supercapacitor-based backup power solutions that are safer, more reliable, greener and more cost-efficient than alternative energy storage mediums.

ATX CTO Jay Lee will be rising early on the Tuesday and Thursday of the show for informative breakfast panels hosted by leading media companies Light Reading and Broadband Technology Report (BTR), respectively.

Visit our SCTE Cable-Tec Expo Experience page for a complete rundown of ATX events and exhibitions at this year’s show.