It felt great to be back in person at this year’s SCTE Cable Tec Expo in Philadelphia! The attendance and energy at the conference was impressive and we’re already looking forward to next year.

The Synchronoss team had a busy week in our booth catching up with customers, making new connections, and learning about the impressive innovation that’s happening across the industry. We were excited to highlight our automated fiber design, which has helped our customers reduce design time by up to 80%.

This was particularly pertinent at a time where new fiber is being deployed at record rates across the country and operators are being asked to do more with less. We spoke to countless organizations that are aggressively building out new network capacity over the next several years – something that can be streamlined and optimized with spatialSUITE.

Key Themes
Below are some of the key themes the Synchronoss team took away from this year’s expo.

Reporting
One of the topics we heard about was reporting, particularly the new reporting requirements for the FCC. Broadband providers are required to deliver a report of their network coverage today, as well as two reports each year with updates that have been made.

Most of the federal funding for broadband is contingent upon strict bandwidth requirements. Timely, accurate reporting is becoming an increasingly important part of the expansion process.

The spatialSUITE team is already working on making the FCC reports an out-of-the-box tool in our platform, a move that will save organizations significant time.

Advanced Imagery
It’s truly incredible the amount of critical business data that can be extracted from advanced imagery. This data (from providers like Cyclomedia) can augment what teams need to do in the physical world, making them more efficient than ever.

The data offers visibility into poles, pole attachments, manholes, drains, valves, cabinets, and fire hydrants – all without leaving the office. With this level of detail, operators to perform network asset validation, fiber route optimization, and more.

Historically, many MSOs haven’t completely trusted their data. Advanced imagery from companies like Cyclomedia provides a new path to ensuring accurate data. This makes designs more accurate and massively reduces the need for site survey, ultimately resulting in more efficient network construction and reduced time to market.

The Synchronoss team is excited about the possibility this type of data provides to enhance solutions like spatialSUITE. Our team is actively working on bringing this data into core spatialSUITE tools like spatialNET and spatialOFFICE.

Convergence of Technologies
There was a lot of discussion about the various technologies and approaches available to operators today, and where they all fit.

DOCSIS 4.0 – a standard that supports 10GB downstream and 6GB upstream – was a major topic of discussion. A few of the tier 1 providers have begun testing and making plans for implementation, with test results coming back strong. While still in its infancy, this new paradigm presents an exciting future for providers and their customers.

With all the excitement around 4.0, it was evident that there is still a lot of runway for DOCSIS 3.1. As we know with all the investment in expanding broadband access, there are still a lot of people who don’t have reliable internet. DOCSIS 3.1 will continue to be a strong standard for supporting these customers (10GB downstream, 1GB upstream). The ability to upgrade a node reusing existing cables and infrastructure provides an attractive and cost-effective solution for many MSOs.

With different technologies and standards being used across markets for most MSOs, accurately modelling and managing those networks can be challenging. This is an area where spatialSUITE excels – we always remain current with new technologies and can model networks containing multiple standards.

Ultimately, the Synchronoss team is excited about what the future holds. Our recent developments and product roadmap align well with where the industry is today, and plans to go in the future.

Reach out if you’d like to learn more about how our automated design capabilities can optimize your network planning and save you money.