Submitted by Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, the Editor of Upskill U at Light Reading

While the number of gigabit broadband deployments are rapidly increasing, service providers continue to face growing challenges in identifying the right architectures to support advanced networks, how to migrate from legacy equipment and how to successfully strategize for future upgrades and deployments. Despite persistent challenges, high-speed, low latency networks set the stage for vast economic and infrastructure benefits, and are fundamental to the growth and expansion of smart cities.

Gigabit broadband-enabling technologies are at once complex, varied and geographically dependent -like next-generation passive optical networking (NG-PON) to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) to DOCSIS 3.1 to G.fast. In order to deliver the benefits of gigabit services to data-hungry consumers and municipalities, operators need clear roadmaps for future technology development, and must identify new best practices to deploy network operations efficiently and cost effectively.

Starting September 28, Light Reading, in association with Cisco, covers the cultural and technological impetus behind increasing gigabit broadband deployments, the growth behind smart cities, and gigabit-enabling technologies like DOCSIS 3.1 in a four-course series at Upskill U. During this free, online series, lecturers from Orange, Comcast and US Ignite will address the drivers behind gigabit broadband services, future expectations for deployments and the technological and economic impact of gigabit broadband networks.

Tune in to Upskill U for these exciting lectures in the Gigabit series:

• Gigabit 101 (Wednesday, Sept. 28, 1:00 p.m. ET): Will Barkis, Senior Technology Analyst, Orange, delivers a high-level overview of the gigabit technology landscape, and the challenges and the benefits of each technology.
• Gigabit & the Great Migration (Friday, Sept. 30, 1:00 p.m. ET): Robert Howald, Vice President, Network Architecture, Comcast, and co-presenter Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading, examine gigabit broadband deployments, roadmaps for future technology development and the best ways to manage ongoing network operations efficiently and cost effectively.
• Gigabit & Smart Cities (Wednesday, Oct. 5, 1:00 p.m. ET): Joe Kochan, COO & Co-Founder, US Ignite, covers smart city transformations underway today, what that transformation looks like from the network side and what the future holds as technology continues to evolve.
• Gigabit & DOCSIS 3.1 (Friday, Oct. 7, 1:00 p.m. ET): Ty Pearman, Director, Access Architecture, Comcast, with co-presenters Saifur Rahman, Engineer, Comcast and Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading, delve into DOCSIS 3.1 and where cable is headed with SDN/NFV, software-based networking and other new technologies.

Each 45-minute live session at Upskill U includes a Q&A with expert speakers, and all courses are archived so listeners can revisit content any time. Keep ahead of the learning curve and register today for Upskill U's Gigabit series at http://www.lightreading.com/upskillu. I'll see you on the chat boards!