At this year’s SCTE Cable Tech Expo, during the “The Path to 10G” panel, the CEOs of NCTA, CableLabs, and SCTE (Michael Powell, Phil McKinney, and Mark Dzuban, respectively) announced the launch of the 10G Challenge—an invitation to technology leaders, start ups, entrepreneurs, engineers, and more—to develop new technologies, services, and applications that make the most of a next generation 10G network. Submissions are due by July 1, 2022, and winners will be notified later in the year.
The 10G Challenge will be broken into different categories in the same way that the 10G initiative has focused on how technologies can revolutionize how we live, work, learn, and play. Each category is overseen by industry-leading organizations that will help determine the winners. The Mayo Clinic will be in charge of submissions in the “Live” category; Corning will be in charge of the “Work” category; Zoom will be in charge of the “Learn” category, while the partner for the “Play” category is set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Six winners will be chosen: one Grand Prize winner, one winner in each category and a People’s Choice winner. The Grand Prize winner and the category winners will have the opportunity to present their technology at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2022. CableLabs will provide air transportation, conference passes and hotel expenses for two, up to $5,000 USD. At the Expo, winners will be able to connect with industry professionals and their idea will be publicized by CableLabs.
"10G is a very noticeable quantum leap in such technology, and it is an enabler of technology that we dreamed of a decade ago," SCTE President & CEO Mark Dzuban said during the Expo panel. 10G, announced at CES in 2019, is an industry-led effort to bring America’s high-speed internet networks to multi-gigabit speeds in the coming years. Building on new advancements in technology and network engineering, 10G will use a slew of solutions to deliver internet speeds once considered unfathomable. The 10G network will bring higher internet speeds, more security, lower latency and improved reliability.
"How important is 10G? It’s indispensable...it demonstrates leadership...to make a future—not just to respond to one that someone else delivers....we are not an industry that's simply resting on its laurels," Michael Powell, President & CEO of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, pointed out to the panel. For more details, and to submit applications to the contest, be sure to visit the 10G Challenge website. Stay tuned to @10GPlatform, @CableLabs, @NCTAitv, and @SCTE on twitter to get updates on the challenge, and be sure to visit the 10G website to learn more.