Light Reading Podcasts

What are you watching? It's a question that tends to pop up among family, friends and coworkers. The water cooler may be a corporate relic, but thanks to the rise and popularity of free and paid streaming services, the video landscape is certainly rife with water cooler-worthy TV shows, series and movies. Perhaps too many. A startup called Glidr Inc. wants to help consumers cut through the clutter and zero in on content that their social media circles enjoy and recommend. It's trying to tackle that challenge with a free app that, following several months of testing, recently launched on Android and iOS devices. The general idea is to help consumers discover content they might be interested in watching and to help them manage the various streaming services they use and pay for. But rather than relying heavily on AI and machine learning techniques to surface and recommend content, Glidr's platform is powered in part by what a user's family and friends are watching and recommending."When your friend recommends something or your family member recommends something to watch, you're probably going to watch it," contends Glidr CEO Adam Tom, who recently joined the Light Reading Podcast to discuss the company and broader trend impacting the streaming sector. "There's all these great recommendation engines out there. But when your family or friend says something, that's really a strong recommendation." Glidr's ranks include vets from the cable industry and video tech industries. Adam Tom is late of Imedia, Terayon and RGB Networks (sold to Imagine Communications in 2015), and more recently was with Samsung, heading up North American engineering for smart TVs as well as engineering for Samsung's connected TV ad business. Also joining the podcast is Christopher Lee, Glidr's product director. Lee is a video engineering vet previously with Gemstar TV Guide and Comcast, where he aided in the development of products for the operator's X1 video platform.  You can download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few topics discussed during this podcast:An expansion into the background on the Glidr team and its ties to the cable and video tech industries (00:30)A discussion about the problems and challenges Glidr is trying to address with its direct-to-consumer app. (3:22) How Glidr is tapping into a user's circle of family and friends, rather than just AI and machine learning techniques, to deliver movie and TV recommendations. (5:30) How Glidr intends to help consumers manage and track their streaming subscriptions and provide a secure way to store and manage passwords in a central location (18:00) How Glidr expects its revenue model to evolve into areas such as marketing services and sponsorships as it scales up its user base (21:00) An update on Glidr's financial situation, including a recent investment from Goodwater Capital (27:10) A snapshot of the company's plans and priorities for the rest of 2022 and into 2023 (28:45) — Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a fresh cash flow of $262 million, DriveNets plans to expand sales to service provider customers and grow its employee base by 30% to 450 employees.Hillel Kobrinsky, chief strategy officer and co-founder of DriveNets, joined the podcast with an update on how the networking company plans to invest its new Series C round of funding, and how the company's focus on virtualization software is impacting innovation and sales cycles with its service provider customers.In addition, Kobrinsky explained how virtualizing network infrastructure pairs well with the new work-from-home culture, and reduces total cost of ownership and operational costs for customers.You can download an unedited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few more things covered in this interview:Update on DriveNets' latest funding round of $262 million (00:32)DriveNet's plans to expand with support from latest funding (02:17)Changes to software innovation cycles in coordination with white box deployment (03:43)Speed of sale cycles among service providers utilizing white boxes and increasing virtualization in their networks (06:02)Total cost of ownership and operational costs of moving to virtualized network infrastructure (08:09)Potential challenges of updates within a brownfield environment (10:20)Shift to more automated networks (14:17)Projection for expansion at DriveNets over next 18 months (17:46)Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

T-Mobile and SpaceX have teamed up on a plan to connect mobile phones to SpaceX's new Starlink satellites. According to the two companies, this could eliminate all cellular dead zones around the US. However, the new satellites won't be launched until next year. In the meantime, Verizon and AT&T are working on their own satellite plans."Verizon plans to use Amazon's planned Project Kuiper satellites to connect its rural cell towers to the Internet, and AT&T is planning a similar setup with OneWeb's own growing constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites," wrote Light Reading's Mike Dano in a recent Light Reading article.During this podcast, Dano also provides an update on the iPhone 14 launch. The new iPhone, which should be available next month, is expected to be able to directly connect to satellites.You can download an unedited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few more things covered in this interview:Update on T-Mobile and SpaceX partnership (00:58)Impact of the collaboration on the rest of the industry (02:03)Impact on the competitive landscape for other US mobile carriers (07:28)Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Manoj Leelanivas, COO of Juniper, joins the podcast with an update on Juniper's Cloud Metro platform. Leelanivas explains how a number of factors are contributing to driving network traffic through the metro network and how Juniper is taking on new approaches to managing cloud infrastructure. He also shares why increasing automation in the management of cloud infrastructure is beneficial to service provider and enterprise customers."The AI and cloud-delivered automation actually simplifies this mundane work stream, so people can actually focus on actually more satisfying work, like service creation," he said.Leelanivas also provides insight into Juniper's sustainability strategy, the importance of reducing e-waste and total cost of ownership (TCO).You can download an unedited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few more things covered in this interview:Background on Leelanivas' roles at Juniper (00:39)Juniper's Cloud Metro platform and its impact on service providers (01:43)Sustainability components to Cloud Metro platform (04:39)Reducing e-waste (09:27)Addressing e-waste and sustainability on earnings calls (11:49)Why Juniper is focusing on zero trust security (10:03)Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features David Broecker, chief innovation officer at Purdue Research Foundation (PRF), and Özer Dondurmacıoğlu, vice president of strategic accounts at enterprise networking company Celona. We discuss the digital divide in the state of Indiana where Purdue Research Foundation (part of Purdue University) is based, why PRF worked with Celona to deploy a private 5G network on CBRS spectrum at PRF's Discovery Park District, and how private wireless technology can help organizations and institutions close digital skills and literacy gaps. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's no shortage of topics in the world of broadband these days. Fiber network M&A activity and upgrades have not slowed down. Billions of dollars are flowing into rural broadband. Cable operators are considering multiple paths forward on their access network upgrades amid flagging broadband subscriber growth. Meanwhile, fixed wireless access (FWA) seems to be all the rage. To cover that ground and help analyze those various-but-related-topics, two cable industry vets, David Strauss and Jay Rolls, now execs at Broadband Success Partners, recently joined the Light Reading Podcast. Broadband Success Partners, a company founded in 2017, has completed more than 40 technical due diligence engagements from about 25 clients, including a growing number of them outside the US. Heading into 2023, the company is also exploring how it might bring its expertise to the public sector. "When you consider the $65 billion of infrastructure funding – broadband funding – that's coming down the pike here, perhaps there's an opportunity. We're just exploring it at this stage," David Strauss, co-founder and principal of Broadband Success Partners and an exec formerly of Lightpath, Comcast, AT&T and Sprint, explained.Meanwhile, investor interest in fiber "is very strong and not abating," says Rolls, an exec who previously held top engineering slots at Charter Communications and Cox Communications, and now serves as CTO of Broadband Success Partners. "I would even say it might be a little stronger than we saw six months ago." And Broadband Success Partners is seeing the notion of the "open access network," a model already somewhat popular in Europe, get more traction and interest in the US.  You can download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few topics discussed during this podcast:Background on the market focus of Broadband Success Partners and the number of M&A-related due diligence projects completed so far (0:50) On the opportunities emerging outside the US and, within the US, the potential to engage with the billions of dollars being freed up to bring broadband to unserved and underserved areas (4:15) An update on the current level of investor interest in fiber, and how the notion of an "open access network" built on fiber is becoming an emerging topic in the US (6:45) How active Ethernet, not just PON, is making waves in the world of fiber access networks (9:50) How in-home services, such as managed Wi-Fi, are becoming increasingly important attributes for broadband service providers that are trying to differentiate beyond speeds, feeds and pricing (11:30) A discussion on the various options available to cable operators as they pursue what's next on the access network – DOCSIS 3.1 enhancements, future DOCSIS 4.0 upgrades or overbuilds based on fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology (17:00) An update on potential pricing for DOCSIS 4.0 network upgrades (22:00) As cable faces slowing broadband subscriber growth, what's more important: keeping prices and margins steady amid that slowdown, or driving promos that can rekindle subscriber growth? (27:00) How fixed wireless is factoring into the discussion, particularly in rural areas (31:45)—Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Infinera CEO David Heard is optimistic about what the CHIPS and Sciences Act can do for US optical networking vendors, especially those endeavoring to be less dependent on foreign suppliers.You can download an unedited transcript of the podcast here.Here are just a few things covered in this podcast episode:What the CHIPS and Sciences Act does for companies like Infinera (01:38)How it benefits the optical networking industry overall (06:33)Infinera's reorganization and market acceptance (09:47)The road to 800Gbit/s and the upcoming growth cycle. (13:39)Check our post about this episode on www.lightreading.com for more.Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The utility grid is undergoing a massive change, transforming in a similar way to the cable network 30 years ago, according to Dr. Robert Cruickshank, managing member of Power Networks."Now with distributed solar, and storage, you know, battery storage in people's homes, we actually have content creation and storage at the edge," said Cruickshank on the podcast.The "unprecedented change" to the grid isn't without growing pains, explained Cruickshank. Extreme weather conditions, increased electricity usage and a reduction in traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels have all placed a strain on the utility grid.On the bright side, the US is moving toward a smarter grid, supported by efforts such as the SCTE 267 standard, explained Cruickshank."And we actually, in the Society of Cable Telecom Engineers, we created a standard called SCTE 267. And in that standard, we define how you can communicate with devices, and tell them exactly what you were saying," said Cruickshank.You can download an unedited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few more things covered in this interview:Current state of US power grid (00:33)Potential issues if utility grid isn't updated (03:23)What can be done to update the power grid (04:00)Smart grid transformation (05:02)SCTE 267 standard and importance of demand response (08:19)Large scale examples of smart grids (10:03)How cable operators and broadband providers can support smart grid transformation (11:54)Cyber security challenges to the smart grid (12:58)How long the smart grid transformation will take (17:10)Additional resources (18:09)Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the range, scope and variety of damaging botnet attacks on the rise, businesses large and small need to prioritize cybersecurity and ensure they are taking proactive and iterative measures to protect against potentially devastating attacks. "Cyber[security], like many things in life, is a journey. It's not a destination," said Ivan Shefrin, executive director for managed security services at Comcast Business, who joined the Light Reading Podcast to discuss the rising threat of botnets. "Even the largest companies in the world are not fully mature. You can always improve continuously and get better." Shefrin said adopting such an approach is critical for businesses as cybersecurity threats increase. The 2021 Comcast Business DDoS Threat Report found that distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet attacks have risen 14% since 2019, and 41% since 2021. "We're in an arms race now," Shefrin said. "Machine learning and automation are the leading edge of that arms race … It unfortunately means that botnets are only going to grow in size and scope and complexity – and the difficulty in defending them." You can download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast here. If you want to skip around and listen, here are a few topics discussed during this podcast:A brief introduction to the world of botnets and the threat they pose to businesses (1:13)The number and variety of attacks that can be perpetuated by botnets, and how network providers can play a role in mitigating threats (4:50)Discoveries made and trends detected by Comcast's latest DDoS Threat Report, including a rise in the number of DDoS botnet attacks and how modernized attacks are difficult to defend against (9:30) Why DDoS botnet attacks are on the rise (11:20) How unpatched systems have created targets for cybercriminals, and why keeping those systems patched presents a major challenge for larger companies (16:00) How botnets have evolved to become fungible assets for cybercriminals (21:15) — Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light ReadingSign up today for the Light Reading newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a new collaboration on the horizon for the streaming video world. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ will be combined next year."One of the big things that kind of came out of the call, the recent earnings call, is a plan to launch HBO Max and Discovery+ as a single service and kind of a global brand, initially in the US next summer, and then a bunch of international markets in the following couple of years," said Light Reading's Jeff Baumgartner.Baumgartner said the name of the combined service is yet to be announced. It's going to be a bit of a waiting game to see if the combined video service of HBO Max and Discovery+ will be able to scale, and if it'll bring in a bigger and broader audience.Sign up today for the Light Reading newsletter.You can download an unedited transcript of the podcast here.Related stories and links:Record number of streamers cut the pay-TV cord – studyAmazon, HBO Max on path to a new streaming deal – reportWarnerMedia-Discovery merger could spell trouble for Roku Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.