Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Light Reading is moving ahead with its Cable Next-Gen Europe conference next month. Only now we're going virtual with it.

Instead of staging a live, in-person conference in London as initially scheduled, we will now produce a free, digital event over two afternoons in mid-June because of the spread of the novel coronavirus. The two, 150-minute online sessions will take place Tuesday, June 9, and Thursday, June 11, starting at 14:00 BST (9 a.m. ET) each day.

Like the originally planned one-day live event, the digital symposium, held over two afternoons, will cover the hottest tech topics in the cable space today in a series of keynote talks, panel discussions, market presentations and fireside chats. Topics will include DOCSIS 3.1 and 4.0, Fiber Deep, Distributed Access Architecture (DAA), FTTH, PON, network virtualization, cloud services, 5G, IoT, Wi-Fi, IP video and other new technologies, platforms and services.

Befitting the times, this pioneering digital conference will also tackle the impact that the coronavirus is having on European broadband networks, as well as how cable and other wireline operators are dealing with the resulting traffic surges.

The digital symposium's speaking lineup will feature many of Europe's leading wireline and wireless technologists, including: Bart Acke, Director of Access & Capacity, Telenet (Liberty Global); Leo-Geert van den Berg, Director of Fixed Technology, VodafoneZiggo; Jose Pedro Nascimento, Director of Engineering & Operations, Altice Portugal; Kjeld Balmer, Head of Network Technology, Stofa; Anders Bloom, Senior Systems Architect, Broadband HFC Development, Tele2 AB; Thomas Nogues, Senior Executive Advisor, CableLabs Europe; Maria Rua Aguete, Executive Director, Media, Service Providers & Platforms, IHS Markit (Omdia); and Alexander Adams, Managing Director & CSO, Adams Network Engineering GmbH & Co.KG. More invited speakers are still in the works.

But, since the free event is totally virtual, a number of top North American cable technologists will be part of the mix as well. That list includes: Belal Hamzeh, CTO & SVP, CableLabs; Chris Bastian, CTO & SVP, Engineering, SCTE/ISBE; Jeff Finkelstein, Executive Director, Advanced Technologies, Cox Communications; John Jason Brzozowski, CTO & VP, Comcast MachineQ: Doug Jones, Principal Architect, CableLabs; Jeff Heynen, Senior Research Director, Broadband Access & Home Networking, Dell'Oro Group; and Julie Kunstler, Principal Analyst, Network Infrastructure & Software, Omdia.

In other words, thanks to the wonders of cable-fueled broadband technology, it promises to be a very international and stimulating affair. So please join us on Tuesday, June 9, and Thursday, June 11, for our latest digital event. Click here to find out more information and register for the symposium.

See you all in cyberspace.

— Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading