NEW YORK, NY — (Marketwired) — 03/11/16 — Light Reading (), the market-leading online community for the global communications sector, announced today that its annual event will open in Charlotte, N.C. this spring. The one-day conference, which is the largest independent event in the US focusing on the rapidly growing gigabit broadband phenomenon, will take place on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Charlotte.
Broadband infrastructure is now the driving force behind urban development, growth and innovation. Only months after the FCC declared 25 Mbit/s the new defining threshold for broadband, there are now dozens of cities with gigabit-per-second Internet speeds, and dozens, if not hundreds, more planning gigabit rollouts. The White House has also formed a Broadband Opportunities Council and introduced new funding initiatives to drive further investment, including $160 million for smart city research tied to high-speed broadband infrastructure.
Gigabit Cities Live examines the business case for deploying gigabit speeds in the last mile, the major challenges that must be overcome, the likely time frames for service rollouts and the monetization opportunities for the services and applications running across these urban hyper-networks. Gigabit Cities Live is the only industry event that will bring together all constituents to objectively explore the gigabit network economy.
Gigabit Cities Live will be led by two conference co-chairs — Alan Breznick, Light Reading–s Cable/Video Practice Leader, and Mari Silbey, Senior Editor for Cable/Video at Light Reading. The event will feature speakers from companies, organizations and government agencies across the gigabit ecosystem, including Adtran, AT&T, the City of Charlotte, Comcast, Commscope, Cox Communications, Charlotte Hearts Gigabit, EPB, the Federal Communications Commission, Fibrant, Google Fiber, LinkNYC, MCNC, North Carolina Next Generation Networks, US Ignite, and VeEx.
The lineup of Gigabit Cities Live keynotes and prime speakers features:
Gigi Sohn, Counselor to the Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Jeff Stovall, Chief Information Officer, City of Charlotte
Venessa Harrison, President, AT&T North Carolina
Robert Howald, VP of Network Architecture, Comcast
Michael Slinger, Director, Fiber Cities Team, Google Fiber
Jeff Finkelstein, Executive Director of Strategic Architecture, Cox Communications
Jane Nickles, Director, Information Technology, City of Greensboro
Jean Davis, President and CEO, MCNC
Dennis Newman, Program Director, North Carolina Next Generation Network
Colman Keane, Director, Fiber Optic Technology, EPB
Joe Kochan, COO, US Ignite
“Gigabit Cities Live will tackle everything from choosing between public and private fiber network builds to creating gigabit states to powering next-gen broadband service to developing smarter cities,” Breznick said. “We have assembled a stellar group of speakers to address the main forces shaping the growing gigabit broadband phenomenon and the implications of those developments.”
So far, Gigabit Cities Live event sponsors include: Diamond Sponsor Adtran; Platinum Sponsor Commscope; Gold Sponsor VeEx; and Cocktail Sponsor Charlotte Hearts Gigabit; as well as Supporting Partners Bailantyne Corporate Park, Charlotte Regional Collaborative for a Global Economy, North Carolina Technology Association, Packard Place, and the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
To register for Gigabit Cities Live, please visit: . Registration is free for verified employees of cable operators, telcos, fiber providers, ISPs, other service providers, financial & educational institutions, utilities and government agencies.
Light Reading () helps the global communications industry make informed decisions. The site is the definitive source for next-generation communications analysis for more than 450,000 users each month, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content and reputation. Light Reading also produces live events for executives charged with monetizing cable, New IP, optical, Ethernet, mobile, gigabit cities, security, virtualization, components, communications drones, next-gen analytics, Internet of Things and wireline networks.
Contact:
Julie Muroff
646-757-4684
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