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NGNA, LLC - doing business as PolyCipherSM - is a cable industry joint
venture owned by Comcast,
Time Warner Cable
and Cox Communications.
Its mission is to develop and operate the foundations of a Downloadable
Conditional Access System (DCAS) for the U.S. cable industry. DCAS will
be the new way to authenticate and authorize cable devices and services.
PolyCipher licenses its intellectual property to Cable
Television Laboratories (CableLabs®), which sublicenses DCAS
participants and qualifies DCAS technologies. PolyCipher is involved
in the customization of computer chips (secure microprocessors),
customization of computer hardware and software (security protocols and
implementations), and the management and compilation of computerized
databases (the trusted authority database for DCAS).
EXECUTIVE TEAM
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Tom Lookabaugh, CEO
Tom Lookabaugh came to PolyCipher from the University of Colorado
where he was a faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications
Program and Computer Science Department. Prior to that, he was president of
the Convergent Systems division for Harmonic as well as president of the
DiviCom division of C-Cube Microsystems. Tom co-founded DiviCom, a
developer of video compression and multiplexing technology. Tom holds a
doctorate in Electrical Engineering, three master's degrees (Statistics,
Engineering Management and Electrical Engineering) from Stanford University
and a bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of
Mines.
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Keith Bechard, Executive Advisor
Keith Bechard brings more than 19 years of cable industry experience
to PolyCipher, including service with U S WEST, MediaOne, Comcast and
AT&T Broadband. As the vice president of advanced technologies for
AT&T Broadband, he clearly saw DCAS as a vital 'missing link' for the
continued growth of the industry, which eventually led him to PolyCipher.
Keith holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer
science from the University
of Colorado.
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Jim Esserman, Vice President, Business Development
Jim Esserman has more than 25 years of experience in the
fields of digital video, access control and digital communications. Prior
to Polycipher, Jim was the vice president of Business Development for
Broadband Innovations, the director of High Media for ComStream Corporation
and a staff engineer for General Instrument's Videocipher division. Jim
earned four degrees from Stanford
University, including
two master's degrees (Electrical Engineering and Operations Research) and
two bachelor's (Mathematical Sciences and Psychology, both with
distinction). He holds 12 patents in the fields of video compression,
security of microprocessors, pay TV systems and digital transmission.
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Jim Fahrny, Senior Fellow
Jim Fahrny created the DCAS concept while working at
Comcast, led the effort to prove its conceptual viability to the FCC and
has spent more than three years developing key patents related to its
architecture. Jim was also a key player in Comcast's VOD, Digital Rights Management
and streaming media efforts. On the CableLabs OpenCable™ project, he
was responsible for new requirements, copy protection and digital rights
management issues.
Jim also developed software and system architectures for DoD
projects and such companies as Rainbow Technologies, Hughes Aircraft,
Northrop, Delco General Motors, PhotoGraphic Sciences and Loral Librascope.
Jim holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from California Polytechnic
University, at Pomona.
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Shannon Johnson,
Vice President, Operations
Shannon Johnson
has more than 33 years of experience in operations and services, in both
cable television and carrier environments. She served as the vice president
of Transport, Capacity & Network Integration for Charter Communications
and has held key management positions in operations and engineering at Tele-Communications
Inc., AT&T Broadband, Comcast and IBM. Shannon
directed the development of several products that enhanced the design of
set-top boxes, interactive television, PVR, networking, system billing, TV
remote controls and keyboard design.
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