Ventures News: Broadbus Appoints Cable Industry Veteran Tom Jokerst Chief Technology Officer

14.04.2003 | Wirtschaftspresse

Former Charter Communications Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology Joins On-Demand Server Innovator


Boxborough, Mass., April 14, 2003 - Thomas R. Jokerst, one of the cable industry’s most well-known technology experts and a former senior vice president of advanced technology at Charter Communications Inc., has joined Broadbus Technologies, Inc. as Chief Technology Officer. With more than thirty years’ experience in the cable industry, including serving as chairman of the National Cable Television Association’s (NCTA) Engineering Committee, Jokerst joins Broadbus as it prepares to launch a line of server systems designed to bridge the requirements of today’s video-on-demand (VOD) and the fast-approaching Television-on-Demand (TOD®) future.


“Tom Jokerst is widely recognized as a pioneer in the cable field for his vision in developing new video technologies, his practical implementation and deployment of cutting-edge broadband services, and his leadership in the industry’s principal trade associations,” said Broadbus CEO Jeffrey Binder. “With nearly a decade-long tenure leading engineering for one of the nation’s top three broadband communications companies, together with a thorough understanding of the technical and architectural requirements of cable operators, Tom brings a truly unique level of senior experience to Broadbus that will be extremely valuable to us as we help our customers meet the increasing demands of VOD and next-generation on-demand services.”


According to Dr. Richard Green, president and CEO of CableLabs, “Tom is one of the cable industry’s forward-looking technologists and was very helpful in assisting us at CableLabs in evaluating new technologies and working with other cable operator members to integrate those technologies into their businesses. Broadbus will be well-served by Tom’s understanding of the industry and its challenges, both from an engineering and operator business model perspective.”


Jokerst added, “Broadbus is poised to deliver a major industry innovation: a VOD server architecture that removes the limitations of streaming data directly off a hard drive, while simultaneously ingesting ‘live’ content. This means the system will be capable of addressing an enormous amount of storage directly, eliminating costly content replication and conserving valuable head-end/hub space and power. For cable operators who are relentlessly focused on generating incremental revenues from on-demand services, this will mean the ability to deliver more and more content on demand, while accelerating the launch of advanced video services that satellite cannot match. I’ve been very impressed by both the truly innovative technology and the company’s ability to engage customers in preparation for trials later this year.”


Jokerst joined Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR) in 1993 as senior vice president of engineering. In 1998, he was named senior vice president of advanced technology, and became senior technical advisor in 2002. Previously, he served as vice president, Office of Science & Technology for Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs) in Boulder, Colo. He participated in CableLabs' Executive on Loan Program, a two-year leave of absence from Continental Cablevision, where, among many activities, he evaluated proposals for digital video compression systems. He conceived and promoted the development of a unique digital video impulse noise reducer, which has since made its way to successful commercial development for use in head-end applications. He was also active in CableLabs’ Consumer Electronics Subcommittee.


Prior to joining Charter, Jokerst was employed by Continental Cablevision as assistant vice president and director of engineering for Continental’s mid-west region. Previously, he served in various technical capacities for Cable Information Systems in New York.


Among his numerous industry activities, Jokerst served as Chairman of the NCTA Engineering Committee and is a senior member of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), serving in various capacities within the organization. He is a graduate of Ranken Technical Institute in St. Louis and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, with a degree in electronics technology.


About Broadbus Technologies, Inc.:

Broadbus develops fully scalable, next-generation VOD server systems designed to solve streaming scale, space, power consumption and live ingest issues for cable system operators deploying advanced video services such as Video-on-Demand (VOD), Subscription VOD, and ultimately, full-scale Television-on-Demand (TOD). Broadbus offers an elegant migration path to the emerging TOD environment, while fully exploiting existing upgraded broadband networks. The company’s revolutionary server architecture, based on the intelligent configuration and management of massive amounts of random-access-memory, enables operators to offer their subscribers unparalleled convenience, choice and control over their home entertainment. More information may be found at www.broadbus.com.


Broadbus and TOD are registered trademarks of Broadbus Technologies, Inc.