The following transcript has been edited for length and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch. The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software.
Brad Hine:
Hello, everyone in broadband land. Welcome to another episode of The Broadband Bunch. I’m your host, Brad Hine, and we are coming to you from beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the UTC annual conference here. I said it before, and I have to say it again. We’re celebrating the UTC’s 75th anniversary. There are some amazing stories going on. Today I have with me Sanjay Batia, the Vice President of Product Marketing for DZS. Welcome to the Bunch, Sanjay.
Sanjay Bhatia:
Thank you, Brad.
Brad Hine:
Love to have you here. You have spent a lot of time in the technology field, and a long time in broadband. You also had a session earlier today that you shared with another one of the guests that we had on the show, so I want to catch up on that session too. But a little before that, give us a quick perspective of the conference so far. You’ve been here for about a day. Tell us what you see, what you like.
Sanjay Bhatia:
It’s a great conference. All the utility market folks are here; all the vendors are here. So it’s really buzzing, and it’s a great event to share ideas and thoughts about the industry and what’s coming. You know, it’s really good.
Brad Hine:
Agreed. So tell our listeners a little bit about DZS and your role there.
Sanjay Bhatia:
I’m the Vice President of product marketing at DZS. So, you know, my role is to basically make sure that a value proposition behind our infrastructure and software products is well known to our customers, and that’s kind of the mission.
Brad Hine:
Excellent. Where is DZs headquartered?
Sanjay Bhatia:
In Plano, Texas.
Brad Hine:
So, Sanjay, I know you participated in a session this morning. It was a case study on the journey to multi-gig services. Can you tell us a little bit about that and your experience today?
Sanjay Bhatia:
It was a great panel, very interactive. We had good audience participation. That is a great sign that the message is being understood, and so there’s a good dialogue with the audience. I felt it went very well.
Brad Hine:
So, Sanjay, tell me some of the key drivers and use cases for multi-gig services, and a little bit about what you spoke about this morning.
Sanjay Bhatia:
At the panel, I talked about some of the key drivers and applications. So we as consumers in the home now have so many connected devices inside the home, all connected by Wi-Fi to the internet. So some of the applications are that consumers are consuming bandwidth, and how does that bandwidth need to increase into multi-gig, 10-gig services? And then beyond that, things like the metaverse and augmented reality. Earlier this week, Apple announced the new goggles and all of that is driving new applications and new demand for bandwidth and the need for multi-gig services. I talked about a lot of the applications and how they need more bandwidth and how important low latency is because the applications are very sensitive to the latency.
Brad Hine:
That’s a good point. I’ve heard a lot about increased capacity and making sure you never go below a certain threshold because of low latency. What are some of the use cases around the applications that you’re seeing that you’re trying to avoid on the low latency side?
Sanjay Bhatia:
That’s a great question, Brad. So if you’re streaming services, IP streaming, right? You’ve got your TV connected to the internet and you’re streaming a movie. That’s not as latency-sensitive as some of the newer applications like augmented reality. In the case of streaming, you can cache that content locally. And so you don’t need to worry about latency because it’s not that important because it’s very close to you as a subscriber.
But in the case of virtual reality and augmented reality, there’s real-time streaming happening. And so those applications are very latency-sensitive. And so you need the infrastructure to be able to provide you with that low latency. So on the panel, I talked about the needs inside the infrastructure. The utilities, the operators, if they’re becoming broadband service providers, what do they need to do to be able to address and help their end customers with that low latency?
Brad Hine:
Great. So things that we need in real-time like telehealth — clearly, we need low latency, no latency.
Sanjay Bhatia:
That’s exactly right. If you have a remote surgery happening, you want to make sure that the doctor’s instructions are done immediately. Right?
Brad Hine:
Right. Absolutely. Some friends of mine have a long-distance music group. What’s really interesting is that 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have thought that they could all get together and sync all their instruments up in real time and hear in real-time what’s going on through their headphones when they’re all separated by hundreds of miles. And now we’re starting to see things like that come to life, which is fascinating.
Sanjay Bhatia:
That’s exactly it. I remember in the Covid days there were joint orchestras that were able to play virtually, and that was all enabled with great bandwidth in the network. Without that, the delays would really mess you up in terms of, you know, an orchestra performing virtually. Right.
Brad Hine:
It is really astounding what DZs is doing now for their customers is trying to eliminate all the barriers and make sure that we have a real, real-time experience remotely.
Sanjay Bhatia:
No, that’s exactly it. We are an infrastructure and software solutions provider to broadband service providers. So we provide our infrastructure products and software products to be able to help them deploy high bandwidth capabilities in access networks, as well as in what we call the middle mile. That is the optical piece of it. Then there are coherent optics, which basically allow you to have that low latency that is critical in the network.
Brad Hine:
You mentioned Middle Mile. What are the specifics of what you can do in that middle mile? Can you explain to our listeners how you’re trying to get over that hurdle and make things more real-time for us?
Sanjay Bhatia:
Yeah, exactly. So what’s happening is as things are being pushed to the edge of the network to address high bandwidth and low latency for the end customer, the access network, bandwidth is going from one gig to 10 gigs, right? But what needs to happen in the middle mile is that 10 gig infrastructure needs to go to a hundred gig and beyond. The way to do that is with coherent optics. It’s not only just needing coherent optics in that middle mile ring architecture, but what’s important is the fact that you’re able to deploy that as close to the customer as possible and not need these extra air condition-based facilities.
So if you have the right hardened equipment, what we call environmentally hardened equipment, it can survive a broad range of temperatures. You can save on the building costs and the air conditioning costs. And so all of those aspects are very important in making the choices for the infrastructure.
Brad Hine:
Wow. That’s a good thing for me to piggyback on. I saw that DZS had a press release earlier this week. Can you tell us about it?
Sanjay Bhatia:
Yeah. So we’ve been working with many, many utilities. We have a number of them as our customers, and we’re lucky enough to partner with them. Connect2First and FASTnet are two co-op utilities in Arkansas and Mississippi, and we were working with them through our partner Irby. We announced that they’ve reached a very important milestone for multi-gig services. They each now have about 12,000 homes that they have passed, and they’ve doubled that just within the last year, year-and-a-half, right? So that’s an incredible feat in the rollout of these multi-gig services to the customers. And then the end result is they’re helping those communities bridge the digital divide and provide that absolutely critical connectivity that’s so important to the communities.
Brad Hine:
During Covid, a lot of us were shut down, not traveling, not seeing each other face-to-face, but we are going to conferences this year. Now, I’ve been to about a dozen conferences, and I got to learn a little more about DZS and some of the strides you guys are making. Can you explain a little more specifically how DZS allows utilities to deploy their services faster?
Sanjay Bhatia:
Yeah. I think the key to working not only with utilities, but any broadband service provider is to work with them as partners and be responsive to their needs. It’s not always just about the technology. It’s about the people working together to solve challenges and issues. You brought up COVID, and everybody had a lot of challenges associated with that in terms of supply chain and all of that. You build that trust and confidence, and that’s what we are doing with our utility customers and our partners. We work with them very closely to help meet their business goals and their interests in helping communities and doing that in a partnership sense.
Brad Hine:
Great. I can’t do a broadband interview without talking about the money that’s coming into the market. It’s almost on us, really in the next 30 days or so. Over the last five or six years, we’ve seen CAF; we’ve seen RDOF. Utilities have always had the responsibility to fund their own fiber projects. And now there are lots of grants and programs out there for them. How do you see this impacting your customers?
Sanjay Bhatia:
That’s exactly it, right? So you mentioned RDOF and CAF, right? The others are capital projects. There is BEAD funding that’s coming. And it all is a very important aspect of allowing the utilities to actually implement broadband services for their rural communities and help to bridge the digital divide. And that’s what we are seeing. All of them have a need to help their local communities and help them with connectivity. It’s extremely important. In the urban areas, we take things for granted that are not available in the rural areas. The utilities are already present. They’re very well positioned to be able to serve those local rural communities that are in great need of some of the services we take for granted in the urban areas. That’s what we are sensing and working with our partners on.
Brad Hine:
Fabulous. I’ve heard countless stories already this week about the mission of the utility of the co-op especially from the electric cooperatives. When you move into an area, you know who the electric company is, the electric co-op, or the city utility is to do that. You’re not always sure who the broadband company is, but now we’re starting to see that follows very closely in line with these utility services. And DZS is making sure that you are in those rural areas to make sure you’re helping those folks cover all of their middle mile, all of their fiber to the home, all their services.
Sanjay Bhatia:
And there’s this concept of dual use. There’s also a need for the utilities to modernize their infrastructure for the smart grid. All the great technology is there for them. So the dual uses, while they’re doing that, they can actually modernize their network for the utility sector and connectivity for the substation and things like that. But at the same time, they can also be a provider of broadband service. Just like you said, the communities already know the utilities very well. And so it’s just a natural fit for them to become broadband service providers.
Brad Hine:
Right. So where do you see broadband as a status right now for these types of communities? Do you see that we’re just on the front edge? Do you feel like we’re kind of in the middle of people being aware of this? Where do you see this, and where do you see it going?
Sanjay Bhatia:
That’s a great question. At one of the sessions I was at, somebody asked, “How many of you have broadband services that you’re providing?”
And out of, I think about 20 people in the room, four raised their hands. So that kind of tells you that we’re 20% through this evolution into them becoming broadband service providers as well.
Brad Hine:
Wow. 20%. So if you had your crystal ball, and you could see into the future, where do you see this going?
Sanjay Bhatia:
Look, at the end of the day, there’s a need out there. There’s not enough connectivity; there’s not enough broadband bandwidth out there for many of the communities. So many things we take for granted are missing. Then put on top of that all of the new applications and services. Apple just announced their new glasses. You know what happens with those cycles. They do take time, but they’re right around the corner. There will be applications that we can’t even visualize today.
So all that given, all that demand, the consumer demand, the consumer need, the consumer desire for consuming these high bandwidth services — there’s a huge gap between what’s there today and what it would take to be able to address that need. And so I think the utilities are perfectly positioned. With the government funding, the BEAD funding, the capital projects, funding, given all of that and that need and the need to modernize the infrastructure, I think it’s a no-brainer. They should become broadband service providers too.
Brad Hine:
Yeah. I’m hearing that from everybody today. You talked about the needs of the users at the endpoints, the subscribers, the businesses. The operators need heightened security. I am seeing lots of talk about cybersecurity and AI. Is that another channel of capacity you’re going to have to deal with?
Sanjay Bhatia:
Absolutely. So security in my mind is tabled stakes. Nothing happens without security in place. And it is so critical for the utilities to have security across all the planes. Out of everything they do, that needs to be priority one; it’s so important. I almost take it for granted that security is part and parcel of every application, every piece of infrastructure that they deploy has to be very, very secure.
Brad Hine:
Gotcha. Before we wind this episode down, Sanjay, I want to thank you for coming on The Broadband Bunch today and being a part of what we do here and being a part of UTC. If somebody wants to get in touch with you or DZS, what’s the easiest way for them to do that?
Sanjay Bhatia:
They can certainly visit our website, dzsi.com. If they need to contact us, they can contact us through the website. That would be the best way of connecting with us.
It’s been fun; It’s been great, Brad. I really appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with you, and I look forward to seeing you again.
Brad Hine:
Likewise. And please don’t be a stranger. I know in an industry like this, our paths will no doubt cross again at a conference or another event. So from everyone at the Broadband bunch, thank you so much. Have a great day.
Sanjay Bhatia:
Thank you, Brad.
