HomePNA Blog

HomePNA Announces First Technology Summit

August 4, 2009 – The HomePNA Alliance today announces its first Technology Summit to be held September 30 and October 1, 2009 in Houston Texas.  The Summit, which is also being promoted by the FTTH Council, will be co-located with the 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo. The Summit will focus on technical and business insights surrounding HomePNA technology and its role in enabling an advanced digital home experience for end users.

The Summit will feature speakers from among the world’s largest service providers, including AT&T, Telefonica, YES, TELUS, Tata Sky and Bell Aliant who will discuss HomePNA’s role in creating compelling and competitive home networking and IPTV product portfolios for their respective companies.  At the Technology Summit, Cisco, Motorola, CopperGate Communications and other leaders will also give their perspectives on the technology that so many service providers have adopted due to its fast performance and rich features desired by service providers.

Maximizing profits in the evolving IPTV marketplace

“Service providers of all types and sizes across the globe are focused on the great opportunities provided by triple play, digital entertainment and interactivity – all applications enabled by a robust home network,” said Bill Simmelink, HomePNA president.  “The most effective approach to providing a high-performance home network uses existing wires, and the

Summit will explore why the HomePNA standard provides the best path and opportunities for maximizing the benefits of this huge new opportunity.”

“Service providers learn best from other service providers. The HomePNA Summit will offer a truly global service provider perspective on this important and evolving trend,” said Bernie Arnason of Pivot Media, a co-producer of the event.

 

HomePNA technology is the highest-performing home network standard today, delivering a quality video experience for viewers while enabling service providers to reduce installation costs, utilize remote management and diagnostics to reduce operational expenses, and even reduce end-user costs through unified billing.  Over 10 million HomePNA chipsets have been shipped.  Each week, 30,000 homes add HomePNA-based networks worldwide - with over 40 service providers.

Upgrade Eager Beaver or Smart Lodge Builder?

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

A very interesting point was recently made in a Fierce Telecom article title IPTV Report Belgacom Reviews its IPTV Platform. Belagom, an IPTV service provider based in Belgium, already looks toward replacement of its IPTV platform with a new middleware solution that will support richer capabilities. The article begs the question regarding the value of introducing a second-generation technology before the first generation has even been widely accepted. Good and interesting point; however, those users who don’t know the difference between IPTV and MTV will surely be attracted to a media that just keeps getting better and better. Other than an enormous capital investment in the upgrades we don’t see the downside. Although some would argue that in this economy it’s best to tighten belts and see where the storm breaks. We can’t argue with that point either. But companies NOT suffering the economic flu outbreak should focus on innovation and spend money to help stimulate the economy back into growth mode. Some might suggest that we’ve gotten where we are because too much anxiety has prematurely forced cutbacks. Just a thought …

“Social-Media-Ize”

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director of HomePNA Marketing and PR

Now we could be going out on a limb with this one … but the growth of IPTV and the rapid explosion of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In) has us wondering how it will all tie together? And it mostly certainly will. You can’t have to two popular and somehow connected media that don’t converge together. So, we’re going to be futurists here and suggest that in the next five to 10 years as IPTV proliferates and social media continues to explode, a merge of the two can’t be far behind. We’ve already mentioned our expectation that digital broadcast television and the Internet will somehow find themselves coupled like a yin-yang marriage where the opposites have learned to not only coexist but do so with an energetic harmony that somehow makes sense. Now toss in the obsession that has become social media and you have the makings for a new generation of ultra social couch spuds ready to launch into cyberspace and meet all of the people they may have only said “hi” to once in an elevator. We are curiously on the verge of something truly interesting that will impact society and culture in some unexpected ways. And HomePNA intends to be right in the middle of it as the potato soup du jour providing the necessary standard to distribute all of this wonderful home entertainment to every room in the house. So, here’s to your “social” spud lives!

Happy Days are Here Again!!

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

It turns out AT&T U-Verse subscribers keep coming back for more based on customer satisfaction. Recent reports continue to provide great news on increasing U-Verse subscriber rates increasing each quarter, which makes everyone suffering from the malaise inflicted by too much bad news about the economy, very happy. In turns out that good old-fashioned customer service seems to be keeping subscribers happy and proliferating. While the cable companies cannot latch onto the same bragging rights, IPTV subscribers overall profess to be “very” or “extremely” satisfied with their service provider, according to Strategy Analytics. The report states that 80 percent of 842 U.S. Digital Television subscribers polled, responded they were very satisfied with their Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse service. Meanwhile, competitors in the cable market report “low” satisfaction levels. So, the happy news just keeps coming as millions of couch potatoes settle in for the duration of the winter to sit in front of their cozy IPTV-enabled home entertainment center. Just bring on the popcorn!

Quadruple-Play Ready

A new study released from Compete Inc., a Web analytics company, suggests consumers are ready for quadruple play services (voice, data, video and IPTV) and details telecom companies positioned best to take advantage of the emerging opportunities. It also reported that consumers are driven first by bundled pricing and convenience (no surprise there) and are less concerned about which services are in the bundle -- however they are more interested in bundling broadband access with phone and TV over cellular service somewhat offsetting the advantage of telcos with cellular offerings.  Marketing the offerings is critical. 

We don't find the information particularly revelatory as much as it confirms our observations of the rapidly growing market place where consumers seem to be eating up AT&T's U-Verse service. As we reported in several blogs, U-Verse subscriptions picked up at a dramatic pace in the last two quarters of 2008. While this building momentum may be moderated somewhat (in their last quarter results, AT&T announced that it will slow U-verse deployments slightly and plan to pass 30M homes in 2010 rather than 2009), deployments don't appear to be eclipsed by recent economic woes so we really don't expect to see any abysmal numbers reported in the near future. In fact, we are encouraging service providers to join HomePNA as soon as possible. By becoming a member you will be taking the first steps to dodge the economic bullet. The home networking market in general seems to be a good place to be "playing" if you want to set your sights on higher ground and survive the economic storm.

 

 

The Golden Age of Home Networking

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

We've been discussing the windfall that the home networking industry is experiencing directly tied into our recession (yes, all indicators show we can unfortunately use that word). We are not the only ones noticing the amazing uptick in the home networking market as the economy takes a downward turn. Advance Television.com recently publicized a report that in the United Kingdom an upsurge in HD television has come as an unexpected turn of events during the recent credit crunch. Their report supports other theories that users are running for cover straight into their homes and noticing their television maybe isn't sexy enough. If you're not going to partake in your favorite pastime (a.k.a., shopping) then why not spend a little extra on your home entertainment? We mentioned this same thing happened during the Great Depression – only it became the Golden Age of Cinema and produced one of the first true movie stars, Charlie Chaplin. So, the good news – home networking may end up being one of the few industries to "grow" this year!!

Just how mainstream is IPTV?

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

Once closet technology familiar among only geeks, gurus and techies IPTV has hit main street to become more commonly known among the "folks."  What evidence do we have to support our announcement? Just look at a recently launched video contest sponsored by Actiontec. Actiontec invited users to create a short video to show why they love their broadband connection. Videos can depict among others thing IPTV or connecting your home entertainment center to the Internet. Wait! Did they use the word IPTV undefined and business as usual in a consumer invitation? Yes, I believe they did. How exciting is that? And what does this mean for HomePNA technology that enables distribution of triple-play service including IPTV throughout the home? It means consumers are becoming aware of it and will not only ask for IPTV to be included in their service provider bundled packages but DEMAND it be included. Service providers not ahead of the demand will be forced to forge ahead to meet that demand by developing and delivering IPTV capabilities as a part of their standard offerings. We here at HomePNA welcome and encourage service providers in need of assistance to join our growing organizations and get a leg up on meeting the forthcoming demand.

IPTV the Next Entertainment Revolution … Think DVD

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and PR

When DVDs first came out most users looked at the expensive discs and thought: needs a new and expensive DVD player, which I don't own (think Blue Ray today). Now DVD players and discs are as ubiquitous as VHS was about 10 years ago. Here at HomePNA we're excited because the next generation of home entertainment networking is right on the cusp of exploding onto the market and taking over like a really great leader coming to power. Industry statistics indicate a rapidly growing IPTV market that experts expect will take the home entertainment market by storm.

Fierce IPTV recently reported there will be 53 million IPTV subscribers worldwide in 2009 and reported total expected revenue of $38 billion from IPTV services next year.The report noted that the Asia-Pacific region will lead the world in subscriber growth, while China will be a particularly hot market. The research firm also reported consumer familiarity with IPTV is still low and cost continues to be the most significant factor in subscriber adoption. Elsewhere, ABI Research reported this year that there could be 93 million IPTV customers by 2013.

Fifty-three million IPTV subscribers represent a tremendous market opportunity. Technology companies working diligently to create IPTV-related products (think set-top boxes, gateways, etc.) will flourish is the evolving market. Companies that are still waiting to see or understand the value will soon miss the gravy train. Join HomePNA today and enjoy the rewards waiting for you in this rapidly growing marketplace. For more information, contact Rich Nesin, general manager, at rnesin@homepna.org.

G.hn, a PHY For All Seasons

By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA 

Back last May we bloged a bit about what makes G.hn different. One caveat, set down at the time by the service providers, required G.hn to start with a clean slate.  They were told to choose the technology based on best of breed rather than interoperability with existing technologies. With evangelical zeal and no existing triple-wire home networking industry specification, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  I think this decision more than anything else helped G.hn stay the course and finish on time

So it wasn't a huge surprise that G.hn didn't pick one of the dominant wired home networking codes used by HomePNA 3.1, HomePlug AV or MOCA. Instead, G.hn used a Low-Density Parity-Check code (LDPC code) which Wikipedia correctly notes is an error correcting code used to transmit messages over a "noisy" transmission channel. Wikipedia goes on to say that that it wasn't practical to implement an LDPC code when it was developed in 1963 however in theory it is the most effective code developed to date.  This doesn't mean the other codes are bad even over noisy channels.  It only means that after evaluating the alternatives, LDPC was the best match to their requirements.

So G.hn selected a code for all seasons, allowing technologists to design one universal wired home networking chip. Selecting the code type was just part of the job (although a fairly contentious part). G.hn standardized a complete PHY specification; in addition to the LDPC coding scheme they selected modulation parameters and other specifications required to actually make it work. The three media types – powerline, coax and phone wires – are not the same. Far from it. G.hn developed different modulation parameters to provide robust operation over each medium.

The result is a PHY standard ready for the chip designers. A PHY standard is not the same as a chip specification so expect different implementations from different vendors. For example, there is no physical interface to the PHY defined; just a logical interface allowing each vendor to design its own optimized product. Should you expect to see stand-alone G.hn PHY chips? I don’t -- any more than I expect to see stand-alone 802.11 WiFi PHY chips. Integrated PHY/MAC products make a lot of sense for a number of reasons (not the least being cost). Should you expect chip vendors to be hard at work putting the finishing touches on their G.hn PHY designs now that the standard is complete? You betcha.

IPTV and Me!

By Michelle Gamble-Risley, director, HomePNA Marketing and Public Relations

I began this experiment (mostly out of curiosity and love for HomePNA). I asked random friends if they knew about the next wave of home entertainment. No, they would respond. Then my enthusiasm would take over. I would start spouting about IPTV as the next generation of television-watching experience. I would tell them AT&T offers U-verse and what it will mean to them.  With the gusto of a prize fighter out to win, I told them how U-verse offers this incredible "follow-me" TV experience and how you can watch a show in one room, pause, and move to the next room – all without affecting your family member's viewing experience in whatever room he or she is in. Most people while either faking just to humor me or genuinely interested asked me questions and seemed amazed at what their television will soon do in their homes.

 Now the lack of knowledge doesn't really mean anything to our current momentum (AT&T’s U-verse is well on its way to 1 million subscribers), because it goes to show what "lies beneath" means nothing to the outcome – cool television. Subscribers don't care what runs the show they only care about what they can do with the show. On the other hand, we at HomePNA care very much what runs the show, our standard. Like every innovator before us, we want to drive the entertainment standards world. Why? Because we think we have the best technology available to distribute triple play home entertainment and the only multi-wire standard since it works over BOTH phone wires and coax cables. The technology has become the standard for telcos offering IPTV service. We know it's the best and when you find yourself a U-verse or IPTV subscriber you will know, too.