The Spectrum Newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Chapter http://www.scte-rockymountain.org/ December 2010 From the National Board: There are a number of items that the National board is working on, now that the new board members have joined us. First and foremost, the board is continuing work on its own structure, to make sure that it is geared to ensure the SCTE s value and success continue to grow. It s not a small task to guide a 14,000 member organization through all the technologies, best practices and applications that need to be disseminated, standardized and taught to our constituents. New programs in IP and digital applications, along with engineering 101 are needed, and SCTE is providing it to members. We have launched our new website at www.scte.org, so if you haven t logged on, do so and check it out! Also, we just announced our partnership with Dartmouth University for the first ever SCTE Leadership Institute which will take place this spring. It s a one week intense leadership curriculum for Director level and above members to grow their skills and ensure we have strong engineering leadership in the industry. As an At Large board member, I m available at any time to talk with any SCTE member and if there s something I can do for you, let me know! Tom Tom Gorman VP, Field Operations 303.323.1482 6399 S. Fiddlers Green Circle. Greenwood Village CO. 80111 1
Guest Column David Haigh Lead Engineer Midcontinent SCTE Regional Director, Region 6 DOCSIS 3: The need for speed? or Bandwidth? Since the implementation of DOCSIS 3.0, many of the highest tier customers have seen an increase in speeds enabling them to download content at a faster rate (e.g. 50Mbps down/5mbps up). Although these speeds have given Cable Operators additional tiers of service to offer customers, the biggest use of DOCSIS 3.0 has been the ability to provide a much larger data pipe to each individual customer with an increase of total available bandwidth. A good example would be a system that moved from having only 1 QAM (38.8Mbps) to 4 QAMs (155Mbps). If it wasn t for DOCSIS 3.0 many Cable Operators would be starting to perform node splits at a considerable rate. So what s driving bandwidth consumption? The steep rise in bandwidth consumption doesn t appear to be driven by a small group of customers rather each individual customer requiring additional bandwidth. Average individual consumption has grown by about 400% since the beginning of 2004. Real-time Entertainment dominates the majority of bandwidth used in the United States. Traffic Class Upstream Downstream Real-time Entertainment 16.3% 45.7% Web Surfing 11.0% 24.3% P2P File Sharing 53.3% 13.2% Real-time 5.5% Not Available Social Networking Not Available 2.4% Gaming Not Available 2.4% Source: CableLabs & Sandvine Much of this traffic can be contributed to Netflix, Blockbuster online, I-Tunes, YouTube, Slingbox and other video related services. Other services such as VOIP(Vonage type services), social network, gaming, web surfing, electronic books, Pod Casts, radio streaming, file sharing and email draw considerable less bandwidth but do contribute to the overall bandwidth consumption. So what happens when the DOCSIS 3.0 bandwidth fills up? There are a few ways of increasing bandwidth depending on the CMTS & EQAM configuration and amount of QAMs used. One way is to break apart DOCSIS 3.0 groups that share multiple downstreams from a CMTS. This would involve adding additional EQAMs, Gig E ports and breaking the combining apart to end up with a ratio of 1 CMTS downstream to 1 DOCSIS 3.0 group. Another method would be to increase the amount of DOCSIS 3.0 QAMs. Most Cable Operators launched DOCSIS 3.0 with 3 or 4 QAMs (or channels) per downstream. If this was increased to 8 QAMs the total overall available bandwidth would be 310Mbps. The first generation of DOCSIS 3.0 modems are capable of bonding up to 4 channels. The latest generation of modems are capable of bonding 8 channels. The possibilities go well beyond 8 channels. If & when a modem manufacture develops a modem capable of 16 channels it will increase the total available bandwidth to more than 620Mbps. Let s take it to the extreme; if a modem was capable of bonding 110 channels it would have a total available bandwidth of 4.268Gbps! And that s down one piece of coax! 2
From the President: Message from Nick Segura It s Chapter Election time! The Rocky Mountain Board members and Associate Board Friends are people dedicated to the Telecommunications Industry and who play a mentorship role in developing the talent in Colorado & New Mexico to be our future leaders. Please consider getting further involved in your Rocky Mountain Chapter by attending meetings and by making contributions through becoming a board or associate board member. This is just one way to give back to your mentors and to pay it forward as a long-term contributor and mentor to someone else. Also, save the date for this Commercial Installations and Applications seminar event: Date Location Subject Commercial Installations & Applications Comcast Iliff, Jan 13, Englewood, CO Business standards and professionalism Neil Serafin, CabTel Inside Wiring (IW) & Demarc Extensions BICSI (Building 2011 More about TIA (revision projects for 568- Industry Consulting C.1, Commercial Building Telecommunications Service International) Cabling Standard). Web reminder - We ve moved our website. New URL: http://www.scte-rockymountain.org/ (old = http://chapters.scte.org/rockymtn/). Past seminar presentations can be found here: http://www.scte-rockymountain.org/page15.html 2011 planning session. SAVE THE DATE for our next RMC meeting where we will be planning all 2011 seminar events. This is one of the most important meetings of the year and your attendance is welcomed and appreciated. Date Location Agenda highlights January 7 th, 2011 Champps Americana on Santa Fe 2011 Strategic Planning Session As always, please write any of use with your questions and suggestions (see board contacts at bottom). We re here to serve you. Thank you for your support! Warmest regards, Nick Segura 3
Election notice for SCTE Members Rocky Mountain Chapter is holding its annual election for the Board of Directors. Being part of the SCTE RMC Board of Directors is a rewarding leadership experience for all who participate. SCTE Chapters provide local networking, professional development, and SCTE certification opportunities to SCTE current and prospective members in over 70 locations across the globe. SCTE s Chapter members are the most active in the Society and are dedicated to educating broadband technicians and engineers on the latest technologies and leadership skills necessary to be successful. Be part of a Chapter who offers Certification testing opportunities Interaction with other Colorado professionals and networking opportunities with local cable and broadband engineers. Broadband Cable-Tech Games competition; winner competes internationally. Leadership opportunities (to include Chapter Leadership Conference April 13-14 in Tampa, FL) To get involved in the Rocky Mountain Chapter please send your biography to me for placement in the election ballot. Share something about yourself and your contributions to the industry. See a sample Bio below. If you want to make an impact to the professional growth of our industry in the Rocky Mountain Region please take advantage of this opportunity. Please send your biography via email to hlong222@comcast.net by December 10 th, 2010 to be included in the 2011 ballot. Elections will take place in December (open to all SCTE members in Colorado and affiliated to RMC). Contact me with any questions at 303-601-5930 or by email hlong222@comcast.net Review of election Schedule: Biographies from candidates are due by December 10 th 2010 to Election ballots sent to hlong222@comcast.net Ballots sent out to all Colorado SCTE National members on December 15, 2010 voting deadline is December 28, 2010 Election results shared around December 30, 2010 Hugh long Secretary, RMC Board of Directors Rocky Mountain Chapter SCTE 4
Biography Example: Hugh M. Long The past couple of years Hugh has been a Friend of the Board, and brought the One Thing introduction and wrap up to many of the seminars. Following the lead of Curly Washburn from City Slickers, he kicked off the seminars by challenging the attendees to find that one thing about the training that would have an impact on them and their daily job, and then wrapped up the seminars by discussing the common one things of the group. The SCTE has been an integral part of my life, and feel that the time is right to get more involved with the Chapter s development. If elected, I d like to continue the one thing seminar intros, but bring it to the next level that is, see if attendees are applying their one things to their daily jobs. To me, that means talking to attendees after the seminar and making sure that we as a Board are offering training that are not nice to have events, but need to have professional development opportunities. Hugh works for University, developing and facilitating training curriculum to support not just field technicians, but other functional groups from warehouse personnel to technicians working in s Technical Assurance Center. He has been in Telecommunications for over 20 years. Hugh started in the daily operations world as an installer, moving up through the ranks until he ran a few SMATVs in Eastern Colorado in addition to daily maintenance in and around Denver, CO. He then switched over to the management side of the business until training and development reached out for him. He started his second career within a career as a system trainer and moved up until he was a regional trainer, developing and training just about anything that the field technician needed. Hugh then worked for the SCTE as their Manager of Curriculum Development, working on such projects as the Installer Certification Program and the Tap to TV series. Additionally, he facilitated a number of SCTE technical seminars around the country. Returning to the MSO-world, Hugh was the Technical Training Manager at Comcast. First working at their Corporate University in Philadelphia, PA, then at Comcast s West Division in Denver, CO, where he was responsible for ensuring that there was not just training material to support the field technicians, but also that the trainers were prepared (both technically as well as from a facilitator perspective). 5
2010 Elected Board of Directors Name email Company Position Phone Number Steve Brown Steve80134@comcast.net InterMtn. Consult. Board 303-898-1027 Frank Eichenlaub eichenf@cisco.com Cisco Systems Board, Web Master, Region II Director 303-790-6659 Lane Johnson l.johnson@cablelabs.com CableLabs Board 303-717-5123 Rex Kohart Rex_Kohart@cable.comcast.com Comcast Board 303-603-5639 Dave Krook David.Krook@technetix.com Technetix Board 303-408-4116 Hugh Long hlong222@comcast.net Secretary 303-323-6034 Steve Murphy Steve_Murphy@cable.comcast.com Comcast Treasurer 720-267-3038 Nick Segura Nick.Segura@chartercom.com President 303-669-3705 Jim Stewart jim_stewart2@cable.comcast.com Comcast Board 303-603-5687 Joe Thomas Joseph.Thomas@us.fujitsu.com Fujitsu Vice President 303-953-1386 Supporting Associate Board Members 2010 Definition: Somebody who supports the functions of the local chapter by participating in meetings provides input that helps drive board decisions, volunteers, speaks supportive, and generally those who make an impact through their involvement. Name email Company Position Phone Number Alan Babcock Ababcock.b4b@comcast.net Board Associate 720.470.3434 Kevin Bland Kevin.Bland@chartercom.com Board Associate (303) 588-0529 Donavan Conway dconway@timesfiber.com Times Fiber Board Associate 805-377-3023 Richard Covell rgcovell@msn.com TTSI 303-646-5050 Judy Donavan jdon589029@aol.com Donavan Consulting Board Associate 720-870-2821 Paul Eisbrener peisbrener@jonesncti.com Jones/NCTI Board Associate 303-209-1365 Rex Gerhardt Rex@comtech-sales.com ComTech Sales Board Associate 720-254-3579 Tom Gorman Tom.Gorman@chartercom.com SCTE past Chair & 303-323-1482 Mike Guise mguise4@aol.com Radiant Board Associate 720-470-7147 Sherisse Hawkins sherisse.hawkins@twcable.com Time Warner Board Associate 720-279-2810 Ron Hranac rhranacj@cisco.com Cisco 720-875-1338 Robert Kostelny rob.kostelny@comcast.net Board Associate 303-995-6689 Debbie McManis debbie_mcmanis@cable.comcast.com Comcast Board Associate 720-267-3604 James Neil jim.neil@cablem.com Cable Mgmt Board Associate 303-632-0506 Joe O Fallon Joe.OFallon@lineagepower.com Lineage Power Board Associate 303-670-7450 Dave Robinson drobinson@ipitresources.com IPIT resources Newsletter editor 303-537-5678 Neil Serafin neil@cabtel.com CabTel Board Associate & (720) 352-3319 Steve Snider stephen_snider@cable.comcast.com Comcast 303-603-2167 Mark Thompson thompson@commscope.com Commscope Board Associate 303-773-3003 Roger Wade Rwade@bresnan.com Bresnan Board Associate 307-637-0172 Frank Wimler Frank.Wimler@com.com Board Associate 720-250-7917 6