The Engineering Committee of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) has formed an Advanced Plant Architecture Study Group to determine standardization needs for the increased incorporation of fiber in cable networks.

“The group will study various approaches toward developing an evolutionary architecture that meets the needs of our current and future business, recognizing both legacy systems and new technologies,” said Charlie Kennamer, vice president of engineering, standards, and industry affairs at Comcast Cable Communications, and chairman of the SCTE Engineering Committee.

The study group will not define a new architecture, according to SCTE Standards VP Steve Oksala. It will, however, try to identify potential new architectures, and determine if there are any standards that would help further the development of those architectures.

The output of the group will be recommendations for specific standards that will then be developed by SCTE’s standards subcommittees.

Paul Brooks, senior network architect of Time Warner Cable, has volunteered to lead the group, which is still looking for members. Those interested can contact SCTE at standards@scte.org. The group’s first meeting is planned in conjunction with the 2006 Cable-Tec Expo, set to run June 20-23 in Denver.