SCTE® LiveLearning for Professionals Webinar™ Series: Boosting the Upstream

Analyst:
Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading
Alan covers the cable, fiber, broadband, and IP video markets for Heavy Reading. In particular, he tracks new cable, broadband, and video technologies and standards, such as DOCSIS 4.0, FTTP, DAA, XGS-PON, 10G EPON, streaming video, network virtualization, business services, Wi-Fi 6, and ATSC 3.0.

With a strong background in both business journalism and technology research, Alan has covered the cable, telecom, broadband, media, and consumer electronics markets as an editor and analyst for more than 30 years, including the past 17 years for Light and Heavy Reading. A New York City native, Alan is now based in Ontario, Canada.

Speakers:
Colin Howlett, Chief Technology Officer
Colin Howlett is the Chief Technology Officer, joining Vecima in 1997. He is responsible for defining the overall technology strategy at Vecima and leads a group of product architects who work directly with customers to define the next generation of Vecima products. Colin has been an active participant in industry standards development at CableLabs and SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) in the areas of DOCSIS and Distributed Access Architectures.

Colin holds multiple patents in cable broadband access, a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree, and Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan.
Chris Topazi, Principal Architect at Cox Communications
Chris Topazi is a Principal Architect at Cox Communications at their headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is responsible for architecture design, testing and development of deployment guidelines for DOCSIS 3.1/4.0 technology and Distributed Access Architectures (DAA). Specifically, Chris has designed, tested and deployed OFDM and OFDMA implementations for Cox in multiple spectrum configurations.

Chris has worked in the cable telecommunications industry for over 25 years, including the past 11 years at Cox. Prior to joining the Cox Communications team, Chris designed and developed products for DOCSIS, video and outside plant applications at Scientific Atlanta and Cisco. Chris received his B.S.E.E. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996.

Dr. Pao Lo, Vice President of Network Engineering, Midco
Dr. Lo is responsible for the network architecture, implementation, and standardization of the access networks (CMTS, PON, Fixed Wireless); and business and residential IP networks. Dr. Lo joined the Midco team in 2020. Prior to 2020, Dr. Lo held similar roles in Engineering and Operations at Armstrong Cable, Comcast, Sky Cable (Philippines), and Charter.

Dr. Lo is an active participant in industry events as either a keynote or a panelist at SCTE and Light Reading events. Speaking on topics of new technology and thought leadership on the future of the telecommunications industry.

Along with his 25+ year telecommunications career, Dr. Lo has a degree in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University (1999), a Master’s in Business Administration from Wake Forest University (2005), and an Educational Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University (2015). He holds advance certifications in Project Management (PMP), Six Sigma (SSBB), and Cisco (CCNP).

He is Hmong and the son of former refugees of the Vietnam War. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, reading, outdoor activities, and volunteering and supporting Breast Cancer research organizations.

Dr. Lo’s curriculum vitae can be view at https://www.linkedin.com/in/progressiveleader/.

Karthik Sundaresan, Distinguished Technologist & Director, HFC solutions, CableLabs