Iranian-American Engineer Yassini-Fard Wins Technology Emmy


[The following article was contributed to Kayhan Life by Mansoureh Pirnia.]


LANcity, a company founded by Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard and providing residential high-speed Internet access technology, is one of four winners of a Technology and Engineering Emmy award.

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) granted the award to Yassini-Fard (LANcity’s CEO) at a ceremony in Manhattan on Oct. 9. The award was for “Pioneering Technologies Enabling High Performance Communications Over Cable TV Systems.”

Yassini-Fard is the first Iranian-American engineer to receive such an Emmy. Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame for his contributions to the industry.

Accepting the prize, Yassini-Fard said: “It has been the honor of a lifetime to have been the pioneering force behind these broadband transformations tracing all the way back to 1987.”

Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard

“From healthcare to education to human relationships, almost no aspect of the modern life remains untouched by the power of today’s broadband network,” he added. “This is especially true in the field of the media, government interaction, and in communication, where the ability to connect with and delight audiences is unparalleled in history.”

The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony was hosted by David Pogue, the Emmy-winning correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning.”

LANcity was a pioneering force in the development of the cable modem from the late 1980s through the company’s acquisition by Bay Networks in 1996.

Among its numerous inventions was a signature Media Access Control protocol which Yassini-Fard contributed free of royalties and in perpetuity to the cable industry and its DOCSIS® cable broadband standard. The protocol played a key role in unlocking and accelerating broadband access to the world.

Yassini’s vision to deliver residential internet to every home via commercial cable TV began in 1987. Despite widespread skepticism from the telecommunications, media and business establishment, and a lack of access to venture capital, LANcity took a self-funded approach and received support and encouragement from the computer company Digital Equipment Corp.

In his acceptance speech, Yassini-Fard said he was proud to have invented the residential cable modem 38 years ago. “To my colleagues who have been alongside me in this journey, my gratitude is boundless,” he said. “Please know the Emmy would belong to you and your family too.”

KL./

The program listing recipients in each category of the 2024 NATAs Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards is linked here.

The full video of the Award Ceremony can be found here (sign-in required). Yassini’s acceptance speech appears at minute 51:30.

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) was founded in 1955, and recognizes excellence in television with the Emmy Award.

The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards are granted to a living individual, company, or scientific or technical organization for engineering technologies that improve existing methods or are innovative and materially impact television.

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