CableLabs’ VP of Wired Technologies, Curtis Knittle - Part 1

This month's Cabling Podcast brings you an in-depth, 2-part interview with Dr. Curtis Knittle, Vice President of Wired Technologies at CableLabs.

As VP of Wired Technologies at CableLabs, the non-profit research and development lab funded by the global cable industry, Knittle and his team are responsible for specifying scalable deployment solutions in both hybrid fiber-coax and all-fiber access networks for CableLabs’ member companies. DOCSIS technologies, Distributed CCAP Architectures, Point-to-Point Coherent Optics, and Coherent Passive Optical Networking are a few current high-priority projects under his leadership. Knittle holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico, and a Master's and Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University.

On the mike conducting a sit-down interview on behalf of sibling Endeavor Business Media publication Broadband Technology Report (BTR), in Part 1 of the discussion senior editor Matt Vincent inquires about industry feedback from last year's CableLabs 10G Showcase and Convergence Proof-of-Concept demonstrations, and wonders what further demonstrations might be on deck in 2023. 

The CableLabs 10G Showcase highlighted the capability of DOCSIS 4.0 technology to support 9 Gbps downstream capacity and 6 Gbps upstream capacity, as demonstrated by multiple operators and supporting equipment providers at the showcase. For its Convergence Proof-of-Concept demonstration, at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2022, CableLabs demonstrated network-as-a-platform concepts and the power of a converged network running on virtualized infrastructure to improve scalability and reliability as part of the CableLabs 10G Lab initiative. This confirmed the ability to use the same application interface to temporarily increase a customer’s network speed, regardless of the type of network (e.g., DOCSIS technology, PON or wireless.) 

Next on the docket, Knittle addresses how last year CableLabs and its subsidiary, Kyrio, with support from Comcast, Apple and Google, organized a groundbreaking interoperability event to test and refine implementations and demonstrate Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput (L4S) technology applications. Questions from include: How did confirmation of successful interoperability lay the groundwork for the goal of a 10G-powered metaverse? And how much closer to this goal will we be in 2023?