Subsessions

• Securing the Signal: Field Operations, Site Safety, and Security Protocols for Modern Broadcasters

  Monday, April 20 | 11:30 a.m. – noon | N261

  Chelsea Ryan, Steve Shultis, Rob Crowley, Blake Paris, Caroline Coleman

  As broadcast plants become more distributed and IP-centric, the operational risk increasingly shifts outside the control room to transmitter sites, remote production locations, rooftop positions, and shared infrastructure. These field locations are critical to keeping the signal on air, yet they often operate with legacy safety procedures, limited visibility, and fragmented responsibility between engineering, operations, vendors, and security teams. This session focuses on field operations, maintenance, and security for broadcasters who manage tower sites, remote contribution points, and other high-value locations. Panelists will examine how to combine practical safety protocols, site physical security measures, and emerging tools, such as drone tower inspection, access-control technologies, and worker alerting systems, into a coherent framework that protects both people and infrastructure. Using real-world scenarios and case-study style examples, the discussion will cover risk assessment for field crews, securing site access, lone-worker considerations, coordination with local authorities, and integrating safety planning into everyday maintenance and upgrade workflows. Attendees will leave with a set of concrete patterns and checklists they can adapt to their own organizations, regardless of market size: from basic improvements that can be implemented immediately, to longer-term strategies that align engineering, IT, and security teams around shared goals for safety and business continuity.

• The Conundrum of the Edge

  Monday, April 20 | noon – 12:30 p.m. | N261

  James Leach, Chris Lapp

  Media workflows are no longer centralized. Content is created, analyzed, and consumed everywhere — from stadiums and studios to remote production sites. The challenge? Massive volumes of data, AI-driven applications, zero tolerance for latency, and rising security demands. The edge is where this battle is won. In this session, we’ll explore why processing data at the edge is essential for real-time production, audience personalization, operational efficiency, and secure content delivery. We’ll break down the core problem media organizations face — latency, bandwidth constraints, fragmented infrastructure, and data risk — and how an edge-first strategy turns these into competitive advantages. Learn how Cisco Unified Edge delivers secure, high-performance compute and networking exactly where media happens — enabling faster decisions, simplified operations, stronger security, and better fan and viewer experiences.