CEO Chat With Jerry Guo, Casa Systems

Casa Systems has been going from strength to strength over the last couple of years. In 2013, it became the first vendor to ship an integrated CCAP device -- the C100G – which quickly became a hit in the majority of the world's leading cable operators. In fact, when I visited the company in Andover, Mass., it was shipping so many of the products that they had overflowed into the reception area and corridors of the entire first floor of its HQ -- a great visual metaphor for its success.

The success of Casa -- and its CCAP -- comes down to some visionary thinking by its president and CEO, Jerry Guo, who placed a big bet back when he founded the company that IP video would drive a need for a lot more bandwidth in cable networks.

But Casa's ambitions don't stop with cable. In fact, Guo made sure that the C100G product was built around an architecture that can flex to accommodate pretty much any high-bandwidth next-gen comms need; the company has just upgraded the platform to handle mobile traffic, and is looking to place it into other markets beyond that. When you visit Casa, you immediately notice the atmosphere -- this is a company that is kicking ass, and having a good time doing it. I've never especially wanted to work at an equipment manufacturer, myself (and amazingly, none of them have ever offered me a job… I know, shocker, right?!) but if I was going to work at one it would probably be Casa.

Click through to see what Guo said about his plans, which, perhaps not surprisingly, include an IPO.

Page 2: The history lesson, including the River Delta connection

Page 3: Moving into wireless

Page 4: Comparing competitors

Page 5: The vision thing

Page 6: Getting personal – and joy of Budget car hire

— Stephen Saunders, Founder & CEO, Light Reading

Next page: The history lesson