10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Session B - DH10:
Set-Top Box as Entertainment Super Appliance: PVR, ISP, PPV, MP3 Receiver and More
The emergence of fully featured digital television is not a single or simply understood idea like the arrival of color TV because it represents a number of technologies that will come together in the home, and they may arrive in stages. DTV is not only a TV set with enhanced television picture and audio quality, DTV may arrive in the form of a new set-top box that will have new interactive capabilities, with the functionality of a computer that will bring, among other things, the Internet and MP3 players into play. And just like that, a PVR Personal Video Recorder may appear as part of the box. Maybe we should rename DTV, the Entertainment Super Appliance, because it will be about ten things more than a TV. In this session we bring together the companies and players who are at the heart of the set-top transformation. What will be the likely scenarios of implementation and change? This is the place to find out.
Mark DePietro, V.P. Marketing & Systems Engineering, DigiCable, Motorola, Broadband Communications Sector
David B. Davies, Director, Strategic Marketing, Subscriber Networks, Scientific Atlanta
Graham Williams, Vice President Technology, Pace Micro Technology, Americas
M3 Sweatt, Director, Business Development, North America, Microsoft TV Group
Richard Johnson, President & CEO, CacheVision
Patrick A. Custer, Chairman & CEO, uniView Technologies
Gary Arlen, President, Arlen Communications, Moderator
M3 Sweatt is director, business development, North America, for the Microsoft TV
Group at Microsoft Corporation. He is responsible for developing and strengthening the platform group’s relationships with leading network operators in the United States and Canada. Sweatt joined Microsoft in February 2001, bringing more than 10 years' experience working for companies specializing in cutting-edge entertainment and TV technologies. Most recently, Sweatt led the business development team at ReplayTV, where he was responsible for worldwide alliances and partnerships. Before joining ReplayTV in 2000, Sweatt held a number of high-profile positions at media and TV technology companies, including Pinnacle Systems Inc., where he was director of the desktop products group. Before that, Sweatt held senior management positions at AutoDesk Inc., The 3DO Co. and Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology Inc. Mark DePietro, V.P. Marketing & Systems Engineering, DigiCable, Motorola, Broadband Communications Sector: Mark DePietro joined General Instrument in 1994, and was initially responsible for building the System Engineering organization and creating the system design for GI’s first digital video system. He now serves as VP of Marketing & Systems Engineering at Motorola’s DigiCable® business unit. Prior to joining GI, Mr. DePietro founded Creative Engineering, a firm that successfully developed and deployed the world’s first interactive video entertainment systems for commercial aviation. CEU products are now widely deployed on international flights. The most recognizable product is called AERIS, a system that shows passengers flight progress against a background map. Prior to founding CEU, Mr. DePietro was employed at Sierra Cybernetics, a small firm in Southern California. At Sierra, Mark successfully diversified their business base, lessening their dependence on a single large military contract. Before Sierra, Mr. DePietro served as a Systems Engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, where he did design work in the areas of radar signal processing, spread spectrum communications, and video-processing systems used in high-performance aircraft testing. He was awarded a Howard Hughes fellowship. Mr. DePietro began his career at the Rome Air Development Center, where he contributed to the development of computer systems that were used to automatically analyze multi-spectral aerial reconnaissance imagery. Mr. DePietro holds a BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MSEE and EEE from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Villanova University. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma.
Richard C. Johnson, President & CEO, CacheVision Inc.: Richard is President an
d CEO of CacheVision, a joint venture between THOMSON Multimedia and Seagate Technology formed in July 2000. Richard joined Seagate in April 2000 as Vice President, Consumer Solutions, to form CacheVision. Prior to Seagate Richard was President and CEO of SkyTune Corporation, a company focused on digital TV and data broadcasting. Before SkyTune, he held management positions with industry leaders such as NEC and NCR. During these years Richard developed an extensive background in Internet and broadcasting technologies and build strong relationships with leaders in the digital television (DTV) industry. Johnson earned his Masters in Business Administration at the University of Southern California, where he majored in the Entrepreneurial Program. Graham Williams is vice president of technology for all Pace Americas divisions, i
ncluding cable, DSL, digital terrestrial, wireless, and satellite. Based in Boca Raton, Fla., Pace’s U.S. office houses its sales, marketing, service and engineering divisions for the American markets. He is responsible for strategic development of all advanced products and technical solutions for customers in the North and South American markets, and oversees the coordination of these solutions throughout the divisions within Pace. Graham has been with Pace since 1989. During this time, he has been responsible for the overall design concept for set-top boxes with emphasis on analog and digital satellite, and broadband network technologies. As head of commercial engineering at Pace’s European offices in West Yorkshire, England, he was responsible for the initial design concept for new set-top boxes. In February 2000, he was appointed to vice president- engineering, for Pace’s North and South American offices. Since that time, Graham has grown the engineering team to 40, and was instrumental in securing Pace’s contracts with Time Warner Cable and Comcast Cable for the development of digital set-top boxes. An honors student at Leeds Metropolitan University in England, Williams graduated in 1987 with a degree in Communications Engineering.Patrick A. Custer is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of uniView Technologies,
parent company of uniView Softgen and Curtis Mathes. Mr. Custer has positioned uniView Technologies as the industry leader in MPEG4 and MPEG2 application of video on demand deployment, primarily focusing on DSL applications in the U.S., and other formats for international applications. uniView Products are now installed in over 14 countries, available in multiple languages, and with multiple functionalities. In the convergence and advanced media applications to the consumer, no other company has the complete open architecture concept to provide integration of content, services, connectivity and customer service in one user-friendly platform. During his tenure, he has also directed the resurgence of the Curtis Mathes brand by aggressive licensing with major retail companies. Before uniView, Mr. Custer gained valuable background experience as President of Donny Osmond Entertainment, President of Curtis Mathes, a television technology and manufacturing company, and President of Southwest Memory, a proprietary computer chip distribution company. His diverse background has been invaluable in creating the vision of uniView Technologies. Mr. Custer's extensive knowledge in finance and the stock market comes from his tenure with E.F. Hutton, where he specialized in international exchange and foreign monetary policies. In this capacity, he introduced public companies in the U.S. to Asian manufacturers, investors, and financial institutions. Mr. Custer also served on the Chinese Economic Development Council, which was designed to assist government-controlled companies to privatize and enter foreign exchange public markets. More recently, he was appointed to the Computer and Telecommunications Panel for the People's Republic of China, which held its first session in September 2000. Mr. Custer's technical experience includes engineering and management positions with Texas Instruments and Honeywell. He also served four years in the U.S. Army as a special weapons leader in Vietnam and received numerous citations and awards for his service. Mr. Custer received a degree in engineering and management studies at Texas Tech University with additional studies in the Master's finance programGary Arlen is President of Arlen Communications. Inc., a Bethesda, Maryla