p04,6,8,10,12,14,16,18-19 Euro 50 Al-Ciorcirlan NovDec08v4 7/11/08 13:11 Page 19
Digital TV Europe Euro 50 > Leaders in broadband and pay-TV
November/December 2008
Rahul Chakkara Controller, future media TV platforms, BBC
The BBC’s iPlayer initiative, spearheaded by Last year’s highlights The success of BBC
Rahul Chakkara, has continued to set the stan- iPlayer on cable TV – within five months, we
dard for online television services this year, fol- have had more than 50 million programme
lowing its launch in 2007. The launch of a views. The Olympics on interactive television
streaming version of the iPlayer led to a dra- and other platforms – the Red Button was used
matic uptake in its use, and a TV version of the extensively to catch-up with the Olympics. The
service was launched on the Virgin Media continuing success of the Red Button service
cable platform. By June, iPlayer was averaging which gets an average 10.5 million users per
700,000 requests every day. week and this year the service is ten years old.
they have the latest information from a trust-
Job description I lead the TV side of the Reflections on the downturn During the ed source.
future media business in the BBC’s Future previous downturns we found that people
Media & Technology division. My department spent more time at home. This is an opportu- Positive thoughts for 2009 Simplify user
enables creative opportunities for the BBC nity for increasing our audiences through com- friendly internet TV services. Increased con-
through innovation and smart use of emerging pelling content and services. Also, in times of vergence of broadcast with broadband.
technologies on TV. hardship audiences turn to the BBC to ensure First 1TB PVR in the market.
Cornel Ciocirlan Director, systems engineering EMEA, Arris
Cornel Ciocirlan helps European cable opera- the introduction of DOCSIS 3.0 in the second
tors monetise their investments in broadband half of the year. This was a major effort – DOC-
technology. SIS 3.0 is all-new, and it was challenging for
both us and for our customers. We had to
Age 31 study our customer’s networks and put
together detailed deployment plans and best
Education Bucharest University, Romania. practices. I also worked hard to achieve the
integration of the two companies (Arris and C-
Years in industry 1997-2008, so 11 years. COR). I would say the major highlight of 2008
was helping DOCSIS 3.0 become a mature
Job description As director of systems engi- technology, ready to be rolled out and ready to
neering, I am responsible for helping our cus- change the dynamics of the broadband indus-
tomers deploy new technologies in a reliable try; this technology will allow the cable indus-
and profitable manner. I lead a team of highly try to remain competitive for the next 5-10
skilled systems engineers that maintains con- years, so it’s a good investment.
stant contact with customers and have their
success as the highest priority. We analyse the Reflections on the downturn Despite many ences – again driving the need for more
customer’s needs, existing network, existing communications companies’ stock taking a hit, bandwidth. Arris is in the bandwidth
services, network configuration, and we put the longer-term outlook remains positive from enabling business, so when customers con-
together solutions. We take care of network my perspective. People will eat out less and sume more bandwidth, more of our equip-
designs, consultancy services, as well as pro- spend less on outside entertainment, prefer- ment gets purchased to accommodate these
fessional services, and we generally solve ring instead to stay at home, order VOD, changing consumer trends. Overall, ISPs,
problems. Today, we operate in the areas of watch regular linear programming and surf service providers and the companies that
DOCSIS, voice-over-IP, video-on-demand, IPTV the internet. Vacations may become ‘stayca- supply them should weather the economic
and access/optical networking, plus future tions’, with families spending more “off downturn better than most other sectors.
video and networking technologies. My role is time” at home instead of going on the road.
to make my team successful, and that means Business travel too, will be affected, with Positive thoughts for 2009 It will be the
making our customers successful. more trips becoming virtual and meetings year of DOCSIS 3.0 deployments, and the
conducted via audio and video conferencing. bandwidth evolution will break the 50Mbps
Last year’s highlights Since the beginning Instead of travelling to symposiums, people barrier. 100Mbps services over HFC/Cable will
of 2008 I worked with my team to prepare for will attend more webinars and virtual confer- be a common occurrence.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
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