Andy Paff, a familiar face in cable-engineering circles,
has joined Worldbridge Broadband Services Inc. a Lakewood, Colo.-based firm focused on
two-way plant activation and high-speed-data-equipment installation.
Worldbridge has already locked up contracts with Time
Warner Cable, MediaOne, Tele-Communications Inc. and Charter Communications Inc., Paff
said, mostly to turn up the reverse path -- a critical industry segment that is thirsty
for contractors to help balance the workload.
The company actually opened its doors four years ago,
founded by a handful of former InterMedia Partners executives, such as Worldbridge
president and CEO Dave Maney and chief operating officer Doug Muench.
"But few really have ever heard of us, unless
they're in an operating division," Paff said.
Paff added that Worldbridge, which now has 160 employees,
aims to serve more as a systems integrator than as an engineering-design firm.
"We don't provide engineering in the true sense
of the word," Paff said. "More, we provide efficient implementation
resources" and get paid on a performance basis.
That means outsourced technical services, cable-modem
installations, system monitoring and system upgrades, he said.
"The bulk of it, though, is two-way activation,"
Paff said. "We've gotten it to a process that's very efficient, to the
point where operators find that they can contract it out to us for less cost than doing it
internally."
Paff has worked in engineering posts at Viacom Cable,
Optical Networks Inc., Antec Corp. and Integration Technologies.
