provider perspectiveA New Discovery from the LabPrivate cable operators – and property owners and managers – need a “PCOLab” to develop common standards and solutions for the ultra-broadband eraBy Bryan Rader ■ Bandwidth Consulting LLCIt’s amazing to me what happens to anindustry when it works together in acollaborative way. Think about timesof crisis for an industry. Every companystarts communicating about the commonproblem, there is suddenly incredibleopenness and cooperation, and leaderscollectively focus on joint solutions.Why does it take a crisis for companiesto do that? Operators should workall the time with one another on ourindustry’s problems before they developinto future crises.Indeed, we have done a good jobin the regulatory and legislative arenaworking together. IMCC has gatheredits leaders frequently to talk about challengesin Washington and how to handlespecific issues. There has been greatcooperation on key legal topics amongprivate cable operators, and I applaud(and encourage) such continued efforts.This type of group effort also occurreda few years ago when WSNet wasplanning to shut down, and the industrywas grappling with many similar issues..PCOs gathered on weekly calls to talkopenly about solutions, quick fixes andways to handle the loss of WSNet services.It was a moment of great collaboration!But isn’t something missing whenwe don’t harness this type of opennessand cooperation in other areas of ourbusiness? I believe that we are makinga big mistake by not collaborating moreregularly on engineering solutions forour properties and cable systems. And Ibelieve there is a tremendous opportunityto change that.One of the common complaints Ihear from PCOs is that they need moreengineering support and expertise – infrastructure,headend, satellite, broadband,you name it. All PCOs are workingon similar issues and challenges,yet we are not cross-sharing our everdevelopingexpertise with the rest of theindustry. That’s too bad.Other industries have dealt withsimilar issues and found ways to worktogether, and so have our primary competitors– the big phone and cable guys.USE THE MSO MODELIn the 1920s, AT&T and Western Electricformed Bell Laboratories to supportthe Bell operating systems and theirengineers. And more recently in 1988,the large franchise cable operators createdCableLabs as a nonprofit researchand development consortium, dedicatedto pursuing new cable TV technologiesand standards for its key members.And look at some of the successfulinitiatives that the cable companies haveaddressed through CableLabs in the recentpast. It created DOCSIS, which definesthe interface requirements for cablemodems. It developed new initiativeslike PacketCable and OpenCable, toset industry standards for all operators.And it continues to create other R&Dsolutions for franchise operators acrossthe US and even across the world.CableLabs understands that everysystem is different, and that every operatorhas different needs and challenges.But it has been very effective at harnessingits industry’s talent to look for flexiblesolutions to commonly shared problems.Well, PCOs have commonly sharedproblems too, don’t we? We deal withsimilar issues on our systems, issues thatdemand strong engineering skills. And Ibet we would benefit from our own versionof CableLabs.The spirit of such an effort is builtaround collaboration and openness withone another, similar to what we experiencedwith the WSNet and regulatorysituations. We must tap into this “spirit”and find a way to use this energy to bettersupport PCOs’ engineering efforts.So, what would it look like? I envisiona consortium of engineering leadersand experts from around our industrywho could devote their time to this neweffort – PCO Labs. The first objectivewould be to identify the short list ofcommon industry challenges. What issuesare impacting us the most?This list can then be given to ourgroup of PCO Labs experts to determineif any current solutions exist, or ifthere is a need for a new approach. Andif we need a new solution, we have numerousvendors and suppliers ready toparticipate in this process (just as Cable-Labs does).I also believe that “PCO Labs” couldbe very helpful in creating engineeringstandards for our industry, something Iknow the real estate community wouldappreciate.Think about our own version of CableLabs.A little collaboration and cooperationmay help everyone. And we don’tneed a lab to discover this solution! BBPAbout the AuthorBryan J. Rader, former CEO of Media-Works before selling the company in 2006,has recently founded a new firm, BandwidthConsulting LLC, to advise operatorsand providers in the MDU market segment.Contact Bryan at bryanjrader@yahoo.com or at 636-536-0011. Learnmore at www.bandwidthconsultingllc.com.8 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | July 2008
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