Volpe Firm | Technology Blog

3 09, 2026

I Hate AI: Why Broadband AI is the Tech We Complain About and Use Anyway

PONisNext2026-09-03T12:27:48-04:00September 3rd, 2026|

I Hate AI: The Technology Everyone Complains About and Uses Anyway In broadband, skepticism is a survival skill. This industry is built on engineering, reliability, and real-world problem-solving. Many professionals have watched buzzword after buzzword pass through product roadmaps and conference agendas—digital transformation, big data, IoT, cloud-first strategies, and numerous other “revolutions” that often delivered more marketing than material change on the ground. The reaction to AI’s sudden “I’m here” presence in demos, keynotes, vendor pitches, and press releases is entirely understandable. "I hate AI" has become a

6 05, 2026

AI in Broadband What’s Real, What’s Next, and What’s Still Missing

PONisNext2026-05-06T15:25:32-04:00May 6th, 2026|

AI in Cable: What’s Real, What’s Next, and What’s Still Missing AI has become the cable industry’s favorite buzzword. It’s in the keynote titles, the vendor brochures, the analyst reports, and increasingly embedded in the tools we use every day. But after 30-plus years in this business, I’ve learned to ask a simple question: What’s actually working, and what hasn’t left the lab yet? The answer, as of early 2026, is more encouraging than you might expect—and more uneven. Some operators are running AI at genuine scale,

1 04, 2026

75 ohm in coaxial cable

PONisNext2026-04-01T13:16:04-04:00April 1st, 2026|

Why did the cable industry choose 75-ohm coaxial cable — and not 50 ohms? The answer is rooted in physics, engineering tradeoffs, and decisions made decades ago that still define every HFC network running DOCSIS today. Brady Volpe and Ron Hranac break down one of the most fundamental design choices in cable network history: why 75-ohm characteristic impedance became the standard for outside plant, Why did the cable industry choose 75-ohm coaxial cable — and not 50 ohms? The answer is rooted in physics, engineering tradeoffs, and decisions

8 10, 2025

SCTE EXPO 2025 Recap

DOCSIS Rocks2025-10-08T09:56:30-04:00October 8th, 2025|

Watch a brief recap of SCTE Tech Expo, John Downey and Brady Volpe break down the latest DOCSIS 4 innovations, Low Latency L4S for gamers, and the role of AI from Harmonic and OpenVault in transforming networks. Gamers will be thrilled to hear how L4S (Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable throughput) is shaping the next era of online experiences, while broadband operators and engineers will appreciate insights into Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) and real-world AI use cases. We had a blast checking out all the new technologies—though

3 09, 2025

AI Accelerating DOCSIS Troubleshooting for Cable Operators

DOCSIS Rocks2025-09-22T12:28:28-04:00September 3rd, 2025|

Getting Smart with AI and PNM: The Operator’s New Edge Let’s not sugarcoat it—HFC networks, for all their engineered resilience, are still full of difficult-to-uncover problems. Under the surface, impairments like amplitude variation, ingress, and corrosion sneak in or often explode in. These impairments negatively impact throughput and cause avoidable truck rolls. Lately, though, there’s a promising path forward: integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with proactive network maintenance (PNM). I’m discussing AI a lot these days in the context of DOCSIS because AI’s advancement is remarkable—and its ability

3 09, 2025

Turning My vCMTS into a PON OLT – Live Fiber Demo with multi-Gbps ONU Speed Test!

DOCSIS Rocks2025-09-03T11:52:54-04:00September 3rd, 2025|

Hey everyone—welcome back! You usually see me talking coax, DOCSIS, MER… but today we’re flipping the script: it’s fiber time. Join Brady Volpe and Andrii Vladyka, Vice President, Growth and Technologies at Harmonic, for a LIVE fiber lab demo like no other! In this session, we’re turning a virtual CMTS (vCMTS) into a PON OLT (Optical Line Terminal) and connecting an ONU (Optical Network Unit) — all live and in real time. After our last chat on PTP-less timing, Andrii asked if I’d be up for playing

6 08, 2025

PTPless vCMTS

DOCSIS Rocks2025-08-06T10:25:10-04:00August 6th, 2025|

Unlock the next evolution in cable networks with PTP-less vCMTS (virtual CMTS) and DAA (Distributed Access Architecture)! In this in-depth session, Brady Volpe (The Volpe Firm / OpenVault) sits down with Harmonic’s Andrii Valadka and Adam Levy—one of the primary inventors behind PTP-less technology—to break down how this innovation simplifies timing requirements, reduces costs, and increases network reliability for cable operators. We explore: • Why networks use PTP (Precision Time Protocol) • How PTP can create single points of failure in DAA • The use cases of

5 08, 2025

THE CABLE CLIMB Mike Collins

DOCSIS Rocks2025-08-05T10:39:33-04:00August 5th, 2025|

Join Brady Volpe on The Cable Climb as he interviews Mike Collins, Product Manager at VeEX, Inc., about his 40-year journey in the broadband industry. From his early days as a cable technician in the 1980s to developing cutting-edge test equipment for DOCSIS 3.1 and 4.0 networks, Mike shares invaluable career lessons and insider perspectives. Learn how foundational skills in RF, AC, DC, and fiber have evolved, the importance of mentors in the cable industry, and how test meters like the CM1000 and CX380C have transformed technician

23 07, 2025

Echo Cavity in Cable Plant

DOCSIS Rocks2025-07-24T13:29:48-04:00July 23rd, 2025|

The “Fun-house Mirrors” of a Cable Plant What’s an echo cavity, really? Clap your hands and you hear one echo if the sound hits one wall and bounces back. Now clap between two mirrors facing each other— the sound keeps ping-ponging. In a cable network, the signal (instead of sound) bounces between two bad spots in the coax (loose connector, corroded splice, bad tap port). The distance between those two bad spots is the echo cavity. Those bouncing signals smear the data and cause pixelation, slow speeds, or

23 07, 2025

More Speed, More Reliability, More Capacity – How AI and Sustainability Are Reshaping the Future of Broadband

DOCSIS Rocks2025-07-24T13:29:06-04:00July 23rd, 2025|

As broadband demand surges and sustainability targets tighten, the pressure is mounting on network operators and infrastructure providers to deliver more — more speed, more reliability, more capacity — with less waste and fewer emissions. In a world where a single outage can halt work, learning, or even emergency care, ensuring always-on service and consistent quality of experience (QoE) is no longer optional — it’s mission-critical. Two seemingly distinct forces are converging to define the next decade of broadband innovation: the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the