In this third and final Video Translation Please, hosted by Leslie Ellis, we discuss a wide range of topics including:

• What is the cost of an upgrade to 1GHz versus past rebuilds?
• Will we have enough bandwidth to accommodate the growth and breadth of future new products and services that will be required to be competitive?
• How will switched digital video and “all digital” (no analog programming) be used as tools along with 1GHz upgrades?
• What are some of the best practices around network upgrades to maintain the reliability and availability of the network and minimize the impact on the customer?

You’ve probably heard the terms, but have you ever wondered what the difference is between a network upgrade and a rebuild in traditional cable operator parlance?  Or have you ever been curious about why a hybrid-fiber-coax (HFC) network’s “amplifier spacing” – the distance between amplifiers – might be important?  Those questions, along with some thoughts on various factors that might affect the length of time it takes a cable operator to upgrade their network are discussed in this video interview with Chris Bowick, hosted by Leslie Ellis.

In this video, hosted by Leslie Ellis as part of her Video Translation Please series, we discuss a few of the methods used to address the industry’s bandwidth needs in the years to come – including 1GHz upgrades, analog channel reclamation, and switched digital video.

Just prior to my retirement from Cox, a major telecommunications equipment company asked to interview me for their upcoming senior management and leadership conference.  The interview is very broad-reaching and focused on the following three questions:

Question 1: It has been said by several leading CEOs, that in order to thrive in the future, companies will have to constantly modify their business models.  Do you agree?

Question 2: Looking ahead over the next 12 – 18 months, where do you see the greatest opportunities for business growth?

Question 3: What keeps you awake at night?

When I first joined the cable industry with Scientific Atlanta, back in April of 1981, Multichannel News was just a fledgling magazine that had been in circulation less than a year; 330 MHz analog-only, one-way plant was the norm, and according to the NCTA web-site, there were about 30 programming channels available for distribution to our subscribers – not necessarily that all of our cable plant had the bandwidth to be able to distribute that many channels.  The industry at the time just didn’t seem that “high-tech” to this young idealistic engineer who had graduated from Georgia Tech just a few short years prior.  Technologically, it just wasn’t all that exciting!  Keep in mind that this was also the era of the beginnings of the personal computer industry with both Microsoft and Apple Computer having been started within the last 5 years. But frankly, Scientific Atlanta was close to home, and with a brand-new baby daughter in tow, family won-out in the job search when the headhunter came calling.