With SCTE Cable-Tec Expo opening next Monday in New Orleans, it's time for all the gumbo, beignets and daiquiris you can consume, as well as two enticing breakfast forums on top tech topics by Light Reading.

Indeed, in a cable industry first, LR will host breakfast forums on back-to-back mornings at Cable-Tec Expo next week. Both free forums -- the first on network virtualization on Tuesday, Oct. 1 and the second on cable and 5G on Wednesday, Oct. 2 -- will feature leading cable technologists tackling two of today's hottest issues.

The Oct. 1 session, "Virtualizing the Cable Architecture," will focus on how cable operators and vendors are finally moving to tap into the benefits of software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV) and the cloud after years of studies and false starts. Top industry tech execs will discuss the latest cable trials, pilots and commercial deployments of cloud-based services and functions, and the evolving business use cases for those services.

The speaking lineup will include: Satya Parimi, Group Vice President of Enterprise Data at Spectrum Enterprise; Jeff Finkelstein, Executive Director of Advanced Technology at Cox Communications; Colin Howlett, VP of Architecture at Vecima Networks; Steve Marsh, CTO of North America at Intraway Corp.; Krithika Moorti, GM of Cable and Fixed Broadband Access at Intel; and Peter Wolff, VP of Wireline Product Management and Solutions Architecture at Casa Systems. With the doors opening at 7:00 a.m. CT for a hot breakfast, the session will run till 9:00 a.m. CT in Room R04-R05 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Boost your understanding of cable's virtualization efforts and hear from experts about the business impact of 5G on the cable industry. You're invited to attend Light Reading's Cable Next-Gen Breakfast Series, a free two-day breakfast event at SCTE/ISBE's Cable-Tec Expo on October 1-2 in New Orleans.

The Oct. 2 breakfast workshop, "5G: Friend or Foe for Cable?", will delve into the industry's rapidly evolving wireless strategy. North American operators have finally embraced mobile as a critical component of their expanding product bundles, with Comcast, Charter and Altice all launching MVNOs with wireless carriers. But now, with the rollout of 5G, the big question is whether this next-gen wireless technology will help or hurt cable more as telcos deploy it throughout their footprints.

Speakers for this session will include: Craig Cowden, SVP of Wireless Technology at Charter Communications; Dave Wright, President of the CBRS Alliance; Shahed Mazumber, Principal Strategist for Technology Strategy at CableLabs; Mike Bangert, Senior Product Manager at VIAVI: Stéphane Chabot, VP for Test and Measurement at EXFO; Peter Koat, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Incognito; and Yogen Patel, Head of Product and Solutions Marketing at AMDOCS. With the doors opening at 8:30 a.m. CT for a hot breakfast, the session will run till 10:30 a.m. CT in the same Room R04-R05 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

As always, both breakfast forums are free for all Cable-Tec expo attendees, but space is limited. So sign up now for the Cable Next-Gen Breakfast Series at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on both Tuesday, Oct. 1 and Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Of course, we’ll have the coffee steaming and the eggs and bacon sizzling on both days. Hope to see y'all down in the Big Easy.

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