Top Comcast strategy exec Coblitz to keynote SCTE energy management forum

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) senior VP of strategic planning Mark Coblitz will push cable operators, programmers and technology vendors to "embrace comprehensive energy management strategies" at an SCTE event in Philadelphia on March 15, the group said Thursday.

Coblitz

Landing Coblitz, who is charged with figuring out what technology the nation's largest cable MSO will use five years from now, is a big score for SCTE. He'll keynote its SEMI (Smart Energy Management Initiative Forum, which will be held at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

Comcast and other cable MSOs are beginning to deploy more energy efficient set-tops and gateway devices. Legislators are also been pushing the industry to deploy hardware capable of powering down or switching to sleep mode when not in use.

"The value of energy management goes far beyond the public relations and financial benefits of ‘green' solutions," Coblitz said in Thursday's announcement. "Increasingly, cable needs to adopt strategic approaches that include the efficiency, availability and reliability of power, so that new services can be deployed when and where they are required."

A 22-year veteran of Comcast, Coblitz helped develop DOCSIS specs, chaired development of PacketCable technology for digital phone service and helped found Comcast's venture capital unit Comcast Interactive Capital. The former U.S. Air Force captain also chairs the OpenCable business committee at CableLabs and plays a key role in cable industry partnerships with the consumer electronics industry.

For more:
- see the news release

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