The sponsor for this and future issues of the Viodi View and ViodiTV is the Broadband Forum. For those not familiar with the Broadband Forum (BBF), the mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.” 

In other words, the more than 1,500 active participants from 150+ vendor and service provider members set broadband standards that ensure interoperability, accelerate adoption, and provide the best customer experience possible. The result is over 200 published standards; the most famous being TR-069, which is embedded in over 1 billion devices worldwide.

An important part of achieving its mission is connecting with the industry to understand what standards are necessary. It also means outreach and education to the industry regarding the work of the BBF and its members. These efforts center around the BBF’s Broadband Acceleration Seminar (BASe); which is a series of virtual and face-to-face events. The face-to-face events are generally held with industry partners, such as the Fiber Broadband Association, as covered by ViodiTV.    

The Buried Headline – Ken Pyle Joins the Broadband Forum #

With that background, I am excited to announce that starting Monday, December 4th, I will join the Broadband Forum as Marketing Director, Craig Thomas’s current role. Thomas will be the new CEO, replacing industry stalwart, Ken Ko.

In a sense, my role at the BBF will be an extension of Viodi’s efforts, which center around connecting the industry. It is anticipated that the Viodi View and ViodiTV coverage will continue with topics that are somewhat tangential to the BBF’s focus. These topics, such as autonomous vehicles and electric aviation, often have parallels to the broadband world and help me sharpen my thinking about the industry that has been so kind to me.

And that hearkens to a comment that Craig made that resonates with me. He stated that working with the BBF has given him the opportunity to give back to an industry that has done so much for him. Working with him, the BBF staff, and its members on the creation of videos documenting the CloudCO demonstration has given me a peek into the camaraderie of the individuals who are contributing to the open-source nature of the BBF. 

In this new role, I look forward to being part of that team effort working with old and new friends, both in the U.S. and around the world. It is an exciting time in broadband and it is a blessing to continue the journey with the BBF family.