With broadband services a necessity for people working from home and kids taking online classes during the pandemic, cable operators have been scrambling to build networks that can be even faster and more capable in the future.
That makes the tech moves by Mitchko-Beale, Charter’s top technologist, particularly newsworthy. Work on the transition to blazingly fast 10G networks, efforts to expand its mobile offerings and plans to use artificial intelligence and data analytics to offer more reliable services are all part of an ambitious tech roadmap.
Inspired by her father’s career in engineering, Mitchko-Beale got an engineering degree at New York University’s Polytechnic School of Engineering in 1987, and then worked in a variety of high tech jobs before joining Cablevision Systems in 1999.
During a 15-year stint at the cable company, she earned two Technical Emmys and one Emmy for interactive TV as she worked on a variety of cutting-edge technologies, including the launch of high-speed data services, advanced advertising systems and the first U.S. cloud DVR deployment.
Mitchko-Beale further honed her skills in software development and data analytics between 2015 and 2019 at Cadent before rejoining some of her old Cablevision colleagues at No. 2 U.S. cable company Charter Communications.
Rapid growth in broadband services, which boosted Charter’s internet customers to 28.6 million in Q3 2020, make the transition to even faster networks an important part of the company’s tech roadmap. “We’re working closely with the industry and CableLabs on 10G,” a suite of technologies that will offer 10-gigabit speeds, she said.
Mitchko-Beale stressed, though, that network upgrades are “an evolutionary process” that involve a range of technologies. “We are working on some big programs around home Wi-Fi, improving the reliability of our network, mobile and the whole idea of using data to improve business operations,” she said.
To speed the pace of innovation, diversity is also a top priority. “I really believe that great ideas are born from input from all different types of people,” said Mitchko-Beale, who recalls being the only woman in her college engineering classes and is one of very few women overseeing tech operations and strategies at a major company.
