14 NETWORKING AND THE
An event like IBC2025 is about networking for the Society for Broadband Professionals (SCTE), an organisation celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.
On the one level SCTE’s very subject matter is the media chain that connects the capturing lens with whatever screen the consumer sees content on. On another level, in-person events such as IBC establish the actual human-to-human networking which remains critical for business. While personal contacts still command great value, human-to-machine interaction in the form of AI will likely be much-discussed across the show fl oor and certainly at SCTE’s half-day conference this afternoon. Dr Anthony Basham – President of the SCTE and a 32-year broadband veteran – says he anticipates the continuation of a very real vibe change regarding AI. For some, AI had been a bit frightening, with questions about how it could be used and whether it might be taking over jobs. “It’s not the same this year,” says Basham. “It’s
more ‘Okay, it’s a tool we can use and we have to fi nd out more how to use it’.“ He highlights that AI has started to be deployed in areas such as proactive network maintenance, the creation of networks, the speeding up of communication with consumers over possible network faults and more. “AI is just another tool in your toolbox that enables you to more quickly fi nd faults and also to build networks. It is often an ideal way of working,” he adds.
Basham says that when building out a fi bre network, a company can use AI to look through the network and plan a route. “You can plan all your routes within minutes for an area of maybe 10,000 subs. This would have taken loads of time before.”
He adds that while AI has real benefi ts, it’s never going to be as good as a human eye, and can miss underlying problems. “You’ll always have to have a human come in and build from what the AI does… Optimisation is probably going to require the human eye, human experience.” What other subjects are big in broadband this year? One is continued consolidation. The expectation is that this will only increase because
HUMAN EXPERIENCE Building both broadband and business networks looms large as the SCTE celebrates 80 years. President Dr Anthony Basham speaks to Mark Hallinger about the importance of in-person events and where AI fi ts into the conversation
Dr Anthony Basham, President, SCTE
of the investment needed to increase network speed. Basham says that QoS also remains perhaps more important than pure speed. The overall trend is what can be accomplished with greater speeds and better connections: “What can you do more? Can you do editing on the fl y and (other) things like that?”
“AI is just another tool in your toolbox that enables you to more quickly fi nd faults and also to build networks. It is often an ideal way of working”
Other subjects on the minds of attendees include issues such as training, inclusivity and current international events. “People are asking ‘How much is the world going to affect what I’m doing?’” he says. To some extent, the industry is now focused on ROI with limited spend, so “you’re not using any money, you’re maximising the return”.
Basham says that SCTE’s conference is allied with the organisation’s core focus on training and learning in the broadest sense, with speakers from The Cable Center, Witbe and Learning Alliance Corporation. “SCTE comes in through technical training,
certifi cations and mentoring. We help engineers, installers and planners stay current and confi dent.
It’s our mission to bridge the knowledge gap and keep professionals future-ready,” he says. “The big difference is that training is now continuous, not just front-loaded. Whether it’s fi bre splicing, RF calibration, or remote PHY, the tools and techniques evolve – and engineers evolve with them. Organisations like SCTE are a big part of that evolution.” As an IBC partner organisation, SCTE’s stand is located at the entrance to Hall 8. Here, the organisation will be networking, notably celebrating its 80th year at 16:00 today. “We often talk about networking in terms of cables, frequencies and bitrates,” says Basham. “But it’s the other kind of networking – the human kind – that’s truly irreplaceable.” Basham says that at a previous IBC, he struck up a hallway conversation with the founder of a grassroots telecom NGO from Kosovo, and that fi ve-minute chat over coffee blossomed into a multi-year collaboration that now delivers training and technical mentoring. “Encounters like this don’t happen over Zoom. They happen face-to-face, in crowded aisles or between sessions. That’s the magic of live events – and it’s why SCTE shows up every year.”
Dr Anthony Basham is President of SCTE. Visit the organisation throughout the show at the Owner Pavilion in Hall 8.
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