2.3.1 Home Networking Organizations and Technologies Overview

G.hn:

G.hn is the name given to the latest International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standard for unified wired home networking. Since 2006, a special group in the ITU is defining a new network technology, able to transmit broadband data traffic through any wire among those installed at the home (power line, phone line, coaxial). In this standardization process a special effort is being made in order to support a robust, capable transmission of video contents, as IPTV is stated to be the “killer application” for current wired home networks (especially as a part of a triple-play package: video, data and telephony).

Participants in G.hn specification are working to make G.hn a future universal standard for wired transmission, committed to be backwards compatible with existing home network technologies such as MoCA, HomePNA, Homeplug, UPA… The expected result is a single semiconductor device that could be used in any wired home network, therefore diminishing the costs for manufacturers and suppliers (one single device for three possible media). This will simplify the interoperability scenario in a domestic environment, where the combination of wired and wireless technologies will be common in the next future.

G.9960 recommendation – PHY

The first recommendation for G.hn that received consent, on December 12th 2008, was G.9960. In G.9960, a single PHY specification for these transmission media is defined (a common MAC specification for those three wires is also expected to be agreed in the next months). This PHY layer specification is based on FFT OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Domain Modulation), along with the use of LDPC (Low Density Parity-Check) FEC codes. At this level, data rate is expected to be around 1 Gbps. The goal of G.hn is to be able to overcome the variations found in residential wiring (coaxial, phoneline, powerline) in order to provide and guarantee high QoS levels, to avoid interferences in the same media and to allow reliable transport of video.

HomeGrid Forum

HomeGrid Forum is a non-lucrative, global enterprise association for the promotion of G.hn as the next generation standard in home networking technologies. This forum deals with the certification and interoperability of G.hn compliant products, promotes its adoption and commercialization and cooperates with other industry alliances. Among its members there are Intel, Infineon, Panasonic, Texas Instruments, Ikanos, DS2, Gigle, PulseLink, ACN, and Westell.

CopperGate, Ikanos and DS2 have already announced development plans for G.hn compliant chipsets, such as DS2’s DSS9960, which will be compatible with UPA and OPERA and could be on the market as early as 2010.

If G.hn’s standardization process is finished before 2010, some analysts expect that around 42 million G.hn compliant nodes would be in the market in 2013, integrated in devices such as Set Top Boxes, residential gateways and CPEs.

Wireless In-Home Networking Technologies:

Wi-Fi (802.11n)

Wireless (Wi-FI) is widely regarded as the preferred method for home-networking, due to its ease of use. While operators are happy with Wi-Fi for voice and data, most agree that current wireless technologies are not suitable for video services – particularly HDTV. This is due to the fact that Wi-Fi was developed for delay-tolerant data applications, and relies on higher-level TCP protocols for error correction and packet re-transmissions. Wi-Fi’s range limitations, unpredictable performance, inadequate quality of service and support of multicast traffic, results in a pixilated, jittery and undesirable TV service.

However, over the last months, significant progress has been made to resolve many of these issues. Ruckus Wireless is the most well-know provider of wireless solutions for multimedia services, however, Ultra Wideband products are beginning to hit the market, while products based on WirelessHD are expected later in 2009.

WiMedia Alliance – Ultra WideBand (UWB)

The WiMedia Alliance was founded in 2002 with the goal to promote and enable the rapid adoption and standardization of UWB worldwide for high-speed wireless, multimedia-capable personal-area connectivity in the PC, CE and mobile market segments. Additionally (and similar to other alliances), it was organized to establish requirements, specifications, compliance, certification, interoperability and promote worldwide UWB spectrum regulations. In 2005, the WiMedia Alliance merged with the MultiBand OFDM Alliance Special Interest Group.

It is important to note that UWB is available spectrum, not a specific technology. UWB has been regulated by the FCC since 2002 and is optimized for ultra-high-speed, short-range, point-to-point wireless communications for PCs and consumer electronics. A diagram of UWB qualities is found in the next figure.

In March 2007, the ECMA International standard for ultra-wideband (UWB) technology was approved for release as an ISO/IEC International Standard. The ECMA-368 standard, titled ‘High Rate Ultra-Wideband PHY and MAC Standard’, was approved as ISO/IEC 26907, which specifies a distributed medium access control (MAC) sublayer and a physical layer (PHY) for wireless networks. In addition, the ECMA-369 standard, titled ‘MAC-PHY Interface for ECMA-368’, was approved as ISO/IEC 26908 and specified the MAC-PHY interface for a high rate, ultra-wideband wireless transceiver.

In September 2007 the Board of Directors approved the following specifications:

• PHY 1.1.1, MAC 1.01, MAC-PHY Interface Specification 1.0
• WiMedia Compliance & Interoperability Policy
• WiMedia Alliance Technical Structure and Processes 1.2
• Trademark and Logo Agreement 1.0

In August 2008, the WiMedia Alliance announced the adoption of the Spectrum Extension Release (SER) update to its UWB Radio specifications. The SER specification defines important features such as three new channels, tone nulling capabilities which can be used to avoid interference with other spectrum users, and it defines a new bandgroup (BG6).

UWB Qualities.

WirelessHD

The WirelessHD special interest group was formed in October 2006, to develop a specification for a wireless high definition digital interface that is intended to enable high definition audio video (A/V) streaming and high-speed content transmission for consumer electronics (CE) devices.

The WirelessHD 1.0 specification was completed in October 2007 and issued in January 2008, however, it intends to specify the unlicensed, globally available 60 GHz frequency band, which will enable wireless uncompressed high-definition, high-quality video and data transmission. The first generation implementation has achieved high-speed rates up to 4Gbps at ten meters for the CE, PC, and portable device segments. Its core technology promotes theoretical data rates as high as 25 Gbps, permitting it to scale to higher resolutions, color depth, and range. WirelessHD is complementary to all other WLAN and LAN technologies. It is expected that other technologies, such as Wi-Fi or Ethernet, will be used to transport data around the home, but once the content is in the room in which it is to be displayed, WirelessHD will be the technology of choice to display high quality, high definition, uncompressed, lossless video.

WirelessHD has been actively working with MPAA and other content providers to recommend an approved content protection scheme and has formally chosen Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) as its content protection scheme of choice. In August 2008, the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator (DTLA) has approved and published a new supplement to the Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) Specification for the Use of WirelessHD.

On January 7, 2009, WirelessHD announced that the long-awaited WirelessHD Compliance Test Specification (CTS) version 1.0 is now available. In addition, Compliance Certification Services, Inc., (CCS) has been named the first WirelessHD Authorized Test Center (ATC). The first WirelessHD testing will commence in Q109.

The WirelessHD CTS includes three standalone test specifications. These include an RF test specification, a protocol test specification, and an interoperability test specification. All three specifications must be successfully passed in order to ship product into the market with the WiHD logo.

WirelessHD is emerging as complementary technology to other multi-room connectivity solutions such as MOCA, Powerline Networking, and Wi-Fi, as these technologies by themselves are not optimal solutions to deliver the highest quality high definition content. In addition, WirelessHD is also focusing on harmonizing and supporting the interests of complementary standardization efforts to develop new solutions for consumers and business interests. Wireless HD is collaborating with IEEE WPAN (802.15.3c): Wireless personal area networking (WPAN) for high speed applications at short range and IEEE WLAN 802.11VHT (Very High Throughput), a 60 GHz effort which is concentrating on wireless local area networking (WLAN).

PLC:

HomePlug & IEEE P1901 Working Group

Although coax is pervasive in North America, its use is limited in other parts of the world. On the other hand, power outlet connectivity is available worldwide, affording the use of multiple outlets in every room at a lower cost per connection point. HomePlug technology leverages existing power outlets to provide both power and connectivity. As such, HomePlug technology has been adopted by a number of leading service providers including France Telecom, PCCW, EchoStar, Neuf Cegetel, Telecom Italia, Swisscom and Clearwire.

The HomePlug Alliance has several focus areas: HomePlug 1.0 + AV (supports distribution of multimedia including HDTV); HomePlug BPL (to-the-home, Broadband-over-power line applications); and HomePlug Command and Control (Home Automation). The HomePlug AV standard was ratified in 2005, the Command and Control was ratified in October 2007, while the BPL specification has been incorporated into the IEEE 1901 specification.

Although the majority of HomePlug products are based on the HomePlug 1.0 standard, the alliance recognized the need to address emerging entertainment applications such as HDTV and Home Theatre. This resulted in the HomePlug AV specification. The objectives for the HomePlug AV specification include the ability to provide high quality video distribution in a secure environment with Quality-of-Service (QoS). Most importantly, it must co-exist with BPL, neighboring networks and be backwards compatible with HomePlug 1.0.

HomePlug AV offers maximum PHY data rates of up to 200Mbps, up from 14Mbps for HomePlug 1.0 and 85Mbps for HomePlug Turbo. After overhead considerations the MAC layer will support around 100Mbps and works in a frequency range of 2 to 28MHz.

The IEEE has formed a working group to develop a worldwide standard for Broadband over Powerline Communications. The standard, to be called IEEE P1901 “Standard for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications”, will be a comprehensive specification needed to send high-speed digital data over the power lines between substations and homes and offices. It also will provide for digital voice, data and video signals to be carried over and accessed from electrical lines within structures. The goal is to have a draft standard available in 2009.

The IEEE P1901 Working group will develop the standard based on the following clusters:

• An in-home cluster that allows low-voltage wiring in structures to carry digital content
• An access cluster that provides for transmission of broadband content on the medium- and low-voltage power lines that feed homes
• A coexistence and interoperability cluster that ensures all equipment and devices used on BPL networks are compatible.

The HomePlug Alliance in partnership with other companies has merged their technical proposals and submitted joint proposals for each of the clusters. In December 2008, the following were approved to become part of the baseline of the draft standard:

• Panasonic-HomePlug-HiSilicon for In-Home cluster

• HomePlug-Panasonic-Mitsubishi for Access cluster

• CEPCA-SiConnect-HomePlug for Coexistence cluster

Universal Powerline Association (UPA):

The UPA was founded in January 2005 to create specifications for coexistence and interoperability of different broadband powerline technologies for both access and in-home applications.

In March 2005, the UPA announced an initiative for the creation of a Digital Home Standard (DHS). The purpose of UPA DHS is to provide a complete specification for silicon vendors for designing integrated circuits for voice, video and data distribution using power lines. The first version of the specification was approved in February 2006. The specification has been designed to address high speed audio/video (A/V) distribution and triple-play services physical layer data rate of 200 Mbps and compatible with the Open PLC European Research Alliance (OPERA).

In June 2007, the UPA and OPERA announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will ensure global compliance between the specifications developed by each organization for high-speed Powerline networking and Broadband over Powerline (BPL) markets. Under the MoU, the UPA and OPERA developed an Access specification that was submitted jointly to the IEEE P1901 Powerline standards working group, however, IEEE P1901 selected a proposal by HomePlug/Panasonic.

In April 2008, the UPA proposed the development of PowerMAX, the next generation specification for Powerline communications technology which will deliver 400Mbps and beyond. Development of the Market Requirements Document (MRD) is currently in progress, which sets out to define the goals for the PowerMAX specification including bandwidth requirements and underlying technology parameters such as physical layer throughput.

In September 2008, the UPA announced that it was issuing two advanced market requirement documents (MRDs) for Powerline communication based Smart Grid and Command and Control applications.

• The UPA Command and Control MRD focuses exclusively on in-home applications and those that tie into the Smart Grid such as HVAC, Appliance, Security, Lighting and Energy Management applications among others.
• The UPA Smart Grid MRD provides a baseline to clarify the multiple economic, commercial, legislative and environmental requirements against which UPA members develop products and services. Smart Grids must help utilities to intelligently integrate the actions of all components and users connected to the grid. This holistic infrastructure defines the UPA Smart Grid from generation, transmission & distribution to advanced metering. The considerations include reliability requirements in a range of operating environments.

At present, a number of large operators have chosen UPA 200Mbps technology for their in-home distribution of video services. These include Belgacom, BT, Telefonica, TeliaSonera, and Telecom Italia. In addition a number of key vendors have chosen to implement DS2’s PLC silicon into their PLC equipment. These include, but are not limited to D-Link, Corinex, Pirelli, Telsey, Comtrend, NETGEAR and XAVi.

HomePNA:

HomePNA (originally the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance) was formed in 1998 to enable the use of phoneline for home networking. This was subsequently amended to include coax.

While early versions of the specification addressed data, HomePNA 3.0 was optimized for multi-media applications.

HomePNA 3.0

HomePNA 3.0 provides a number of benefits including the ability to work over existing phone and coax home wiring, through splitters, offers guaranteed QoS for audio, video and VoIP, and concurrently operates with RF TV and POTS services. Finally, the fact that it is based on a worldwide open standard (ITU G.9554) increases product availability and interoperability between vendors.

The specification states throughput rates of up to 128Mbps, although the actual user throughput is around 90Mbps. In addition, since HPNA 3.0 runs in the 4-21 MHz spectrum over coax, it is unsuitable for subscribers of digital cable services or cable modems, which is essentially a large portion of the North America market.

HomePNA 3.1

In November 2006, HomePNA announced the long-awaited HomePNA3.1 specification. In addition to increasing the throughput to 320Mbps, the 3.1 specification also allows multispectrum operation (which allows multiple HomePNA networks to coexist over the same wiring) and VDSL coexistence.

In March 2007, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standardized the HomePNA 3.1 multimedia home networking specification, making HomePNA the only internationally standardized existing-wire home networking technology.

HomePNA3.1 continues to run in the same spectrum as HomePNA 3.0, thus eliminating opportunities with cable operators.

MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance):

MoCA differentiates itself from other home networking technologies by promoting the fact that is was developed specifically for digital entertainment, including support for HDTV and whole-house PVR functionality. In addition, it was architected to work with existing cable services, unlike other coax-based solutions which use the baseband 0-50MHz spectrum, and is only solution focused primarily on the North American market.

As such, CableLabs and MoCA, the two leading coax cable alliances, have established a cooperative relationship to share technical specifications related to home-networking technologies. Both organizations will continue to develop specifications independently, but will share published and draft specifications as well as proposed documentation ensuring “seamless integration” of each other’s technology.

The alliance released Version 1.0 of the specification in March 2006, which offered throughput of up to 130Mbps. In October 2007, the alliance released its first extension, Version 1.1, which incorporates PQoS (parameterized quality of service) for bandwidth management and prioritization of multiple streams of HD content, throughputs of 175 Mbps as well as increasing the network size from eight nodes to16 nodes.

Parameterized QoS allows operators to guarantee bandwidth for premium content in the presence of non-operator supported devices on the network and aligns with UPnP QoS 3.0 and CableLabs Guaranteed Service Delivery (GSD) efforts.

MoCA is currently working on the marketing requirements document (MRD) for MoCA 2.0.

Although a number of service providers are currently members of MoCA – Verizon remains the only service provider that has publicly committed and is currently deployment MoCA. As such, MoCA is now investigating opportunities with cable operators in Europe.

2.3 Standardization Efforts

IPTV is a set of provider to consumer Service(s) including their business and operational aspects- Minimal scope is the secure delivery of streamed visual and audio content over a managed IP network to a consumer for display on a TV, as part of the whole N-play (voice, video, data, and more…).

Settings a standard for IPTV would be difficult at best. There are multiple areas to cover, as IPTV is a very broad subject, and the medium was not intended to transport audio and video when it was created. Moreover, some specific features of this medium allow new services while outdating some the former schemes based on broadcast.

The main advantage of IPTV, and in some aspects it is the main drawback, is the fact it relies on an existing IP network. The network operator has already deployed high-speed internet access on this network and may also have put in place other services, such as IP telephony.

Assuming the fact that the core network of the operator has sufficient bandwidth and that the access network is also suitable proportioned for carrying a video stream (these are obviously required conditions), IPTV deployment roughly consists in adding new servers, configuring the network properly and giving to the customer the proper equipment to receive and decode the stream (an IP set-top box).

All this equipment, which would ideally be bought from different providers to maintain the strategy of divide and conquer, will have to interact with each other. Standards will help accelerate implementation of the solution; as well as ensure its operation and the quality of service it will deliver. Many areas are to be covered, and without tackling the physical aspects of the system (which is hopefully already standardized). We can stand out the following standardization organizations.

DVB has had a technical ad-hoc committee (TM-IPI, IP Infrastructure). The Goal of the IPI group is to specify technologies on the interface between an IP network and retail receivers, enabling the end user to buy a DVB-IPTV receiver in any shop, connect it to a broadband network, switch it on and, without further ado, start to receive DVB services over IP-based networks. In contrast to other standards bodies and traditional broadcast methodology, it is starting at the STB and working outwards.

In the time since TM-IPI started, many groups around the world have discovered IP and decided to standardize it. The standards bodies shown are:

• DBV-IPI (Digital Video Broadcast IP Infrastructure) for Audio/Video services to be delivered to and through the home via Internet Protocol networking.
• DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) for the home network.
• HGI (The Home Gateway Initiative) for the standards surrounding the residential gateway between the broadband connection and the in-home network.
• ISMA (The Internet Streaming Media Alliance) for the transmission of AVC video over IP.
• BROADBAND FORUM for the standards surrounding DSL and remote management of in-home devices including STBs and residential gateways;
• ITU which, via the IPTV Focus Group, is standardizing the distribution and access network architecture;
• ETSI which, via the NGN initiative, is standardizing the IP network carrying the IPTV;
• ATIS which, via the ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum (ATIS-IIF), is standardizing the end-to-end.
• HomeGrid for unifying the industry on a single next-generation PHY/MAC technology that can be used on powerlines, coax and phone lines.

IPTV architecture including contribution and distribution.

Nevertheless, the DVB-IPI standard does mandate some requirements on the end-to-end system, including:

• The transmission of an MPEG-2 Transport Stream over either RTP/UDP or over direct UDP. The method of direct UDP was introduced in the 1.3.1 version of the DVB-IP. handbook published by this organization. Previous versions only used RTP, and the use of AL-FEC requires the use of RTP.
• Service Discovery and Selection either using existing DVB System Information, or an all-IP method such as the Broadband Content Guide.
• Control of content on demand using the RTSP protocol.
• The use of DHCP to fix some parameters to the STB, such as network time, DNS servers, etc.

In a regular IPI infrastructure, Service Providers usually broadcast a single-programmed transport stream (SPTS), because the content is normally individually encoded but not multiplexed into MPTS. This provides more flexibility to send only the specifically-requested channel to the end user, which is very important when the access network broadband is fewer than 4 Mbit/s.

2.2 Market Overview

Because the market is still emerging, IPTV STB manufacturers are finding it challenging to design for interoperability as well as for performance and low cost.

The major challenges arise from the fact that technologies continue to change, different combinations of technologies and technology vendors can be found within an “ecosystem” and various service providers are specifying assorted ecosystems for their individual deployments. The IPTV ecosystem consists of servers providing middleware, conditional access and Video on Demand (VoD) as well as encoders used to encode live video streams.

There are many variants in standards and configuration among all of these elements, and the STB needs to be able to function with all of them, regardless of the particular equipment vendor or service provider’s installation.

Home networking and home servers will deliver content to a variety of personal electronic devices via wired and wireless networks. Service providers will be expected to handle massive amounts of content and consumers' experiences should not vary according to device offering the service.

Convergence is another issue facing the IPTV Ecosystem. Today’s IP-STB shares much of the same technology that is used in Digital Media Adapters (DMAs). It is reasonable to expect that the STB might also be used as part of an extensive home network, with an Ethernet, PLC , WLAN or Coaxial connection to a household PC or to other equipments in the home that store media on a hard disk drive. Operating as a DMA, this STB could receive and playback content from the PC, such as photo slide shows, audio or even video downloads from the Internet. Since this content is typically cached from either the Internet or from equipments manufactured by a multitude of consumer electronic vendors, it is important that the STB be able to support several different imaging, audio and video standards.

This same IP-STB might in fact have its own hard disk drive (HDD) to record IPTV delivered content and then share that content with a PC or remote DMA on the network. The possibilities for interchange become even more interesting if the STB can connect to entertainment systems such as networked DVD players, sound systems and game consoles.

Because of the varying needs within a home network, the in-home networking needs to offer a variety of services to the end user.

There are a number of alliances and consortiums involved in the process of defining the in-home interconnection technologies, which are used by vendors to produce products for the in-home marketplace. One of the key challenges faced by IPTV service providers is deciding on a technology that will allow them to effectively implement these new services across their subscribers in-home networks.

Different players are getting in advantage into the in-home networking market, with different technologies and products for each solution:

WiFi technology

With Wi-Fi, consumers have the choice to be freedom from wires and want that freedom extended to all their multimedia services. IPTV subscribers can enjoy rich multimedia services anywhere in their home over a single, robust Wi-Fi network

Up to now, Ruckus Wireless is the only manufacturer that offers a good IPTV solution for Wi-Fi multimedia solution.

Ruckus Wireless has made significant technology advances using adaptive RF techniques, smart antenna arrays and quality of service engineering that enable, for the first time, the distribution of delay-sensitive traffic, such as real-time digital video, over standard Wi-Fi. Heretofore, this has not been possible using conventional consumer-grade Wi-Fi technology designed primarily for data applications.

Power Line ( PLC ) technology

Powerline Communications (PLC) is a technology allowing digital data transmission over existing power grids. The principle consists in imposing high frequency signals (1 to 30 MHz) on the electrical current (no matter what the power rate is).

The signal is then spread over the electrical grid and repeated along the way until its reception by a Customer Premise Equipment or an Adapter. The signal is extracted and low frequencies (current) are neutralized in order to isolate high frequencies (digital data). As a result, each power outlet is a potential access point to the Communications network, now accessible to everyone, everywhere, at anytime, with a high performance.

Talking about Power Line communications at households, providers can find two different standards: Universal Power Line Alliance (UPA) and Homeplug AV Alliance. Both technologies are ready to provide an IPTV solution into the in-home environment.

Inside each standard, we can emphasize two chipsets manufacturer leading the market:

• DS2 for UPA Alliance
• Intellon for HomePlug AV

Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance ( MoCA )

The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA®) is an open, industry driven initiative promoting distribution of digital video and entertainment through existing coaxial cable in the home. MoCA technology provides the backbone for whole home entertainment networks of multiple wired and wireless products, with neither new wires nor installation or truck roll issues over existing coaxial cabling at households.

The brand reference for chipset manufacturer in this Alliance is Entropic.

Entropic's home networking products are based on an innovative platform technology that allows very high-speed and reliable communications between coaxial home outlets without the need to modify the home coax system and without interfering with existing cable TV services, creating a robuts IP-Based network for easy sharing of HD video and other multimedia content throughout the home.

Home PNA ( HPNA )

The HomePNA™ Alliance develops triple-play home networking solutions for distributing entertainment data over both existing coax cable and phone lines. The Alliance creates internationally recognized, open and interoperable standards and best practices. HomePNA technology enables service providers to meet – and drive – the growing demand for new multimedia services such as IPTV and VoIP to the home. HomePNA technology also provides consumers with the many benefits of "no-new-wires" home networking.

CopperGate is the leading provider of standards-based home networking chipsets for the reliable networking and distribution of multimedia entertainment content throughout the home over coaxial cables mainly, but also over phone lines. CopperGate’s chip is a system-on-chip company that develops markets and sells chipsets for the home networking and MDU/MTU Broadband Access markets.

Plastic Optical Fiber ( POF )

In this technology there are two kinds of companies’ involucrated; fiber and adapters manufacturers. There are companies that offer solutions separately (Mitsubishi, etc) or together (Thomson).

2.1 Market Definition/Description

The physical layer technologies for home networking are still under development today. There are several emerging technologies that appear to be good approaches. However, as access technologies grow up, the requirements for them are changing continuously. Figure shows different TV configurations with different access technologies.

Access technologies comparative chart

The wired home networking technologies are all targeting speeds in the range of 100 Mbps or higher. This will make them appropriate choices for both VDSL and FTTP broadband access services.

However, home networking is not about a single solution since there is not “The Solution”. There are different physical layer home networking solutions available today for each home and the IPTV service provider must assure a range of technologies which cover properly all the subscribers' homes that it might serve with an IPTV service.

Because different telcos in different parts of the world have very different next-generation broadband approaches and in-home LAN environment will vary greatly (U.S. homes tend to have much more pre-installed co-ax than do many European ones, for example), the market for home networking devices will inevitably be fragmented, despite major, ongoing standardization efforts.

Telco companies have developed sophisticated systems for managing broadband services that reach up to DSL modem at the subscriber's home.



Previous scenarios.

Previously to offer broadband services, service providers managed domain reach access edge inside the network infrastructure. The standard analogical telephone is a dumb device that has few capabilities for supporting remote testing; consequently there was technically no way for the service provider to manage this POTS service out to the home.

ISDN services included the ability to perform loop back and other tests out into the subscriber's home, but it was not widely used despite of being more advanced technology than POTS. It was usually impossible logging or gathering other information available from devices in the subscriber's home to monitor and anticipate problems on the line.

DSL started with the same approach. The DSL loop itself was not managed. This generated a significant number of issues for the DSL service providers when launching the service. Interference with pre-existing phone line or ISDN services were a common problem. Service providers were forced to develop management systems that gave them the ability to use the information available from DSL modems to monitor the performance of each DSL line even if the subscriber had not registered a complaint. These service providers use this information to optimize the over-all operation of the network by minimizing interference between neighboring DSL services as well as DSL services These systems have proved to significantly improve the performance of the broadband network, reducing the number of problems reported, and most importantly, increasing customer satisfaction.



Current and future scenarios.

Broadband services now reach the DSL modem. If the subscriber uses this service with a single computer, then only a short cord is required to connect the computer to the DSL modem. If the subscriber sets up a LAN inside the home, the service provider cannot manage any other device beyond the DSL CPE. The end user must manage this in home LAN, and it is thus his responsibility.

This situation becomes much more complex when adding the IPTV service into the picture. Sharing a broadband connection between several IPTV STBs and one or more PCs requires a home network. In addition, this home network is critical to the IPTV service. If it is not capable of supporting the required IPTV traffic, this will result in the degradation of the IPTV service, what will end up in considerable customer dissatisfaction.

Bandwidth and Quality Inhome Requirements

The IPTV service requires higher quality than both voice and data services, as well as extremely high availability. There must be no service disruption.

On the other hand, people spending a lot of money buying an HD home theatre system will not tolerate video quality degradation. Moreover, cable and satellite services already provide high quality video and audio; people will not move to different and newer platforms unless at least same quality standards are guaranteed.

Many IPTV service providers have concluded that they must provide some level of operation and management for the home network if they want the IPTV services to be gracefully for customers. In fact, this will give them a competitive advantage because cable and satellite service providers are not able to directly manage the service inside their home. The cable and satellite companies rely on the subscriber to take a reference for the quality of the service. If there is any problem about IPTV service, they will make any adjustments that could be appropriate to solve problems on the STB or the home network.

Ultimately, the move toward home networking is a double-edged sword for STB vendors. Home networking will certainly help to drive sales of IPTV services. However, it also means that IPTV deployments designed for multiple TVs within the home will be less lucrative on a per-home basis than multi-TV deployments have historically been in satellite and cable markets. Fewer fully functional STBs may be required for each home. This will be good for operators keen to keep capex down, but less attractive for the STB vendors, as the opportunity for multiple box sales per IPTV subscriber will be lower. And while IPTV boxes are expected to be more expensive than standard cable STBs and satellite boxes, the price difference will not be great enough to dampen this effect.

Other future scenery is the digital room. This is an evolution of the idea that PCs, consumer electronics and mobile devices should work together seamlessly through a wired or wireless network to share digital content within a home environment.

The goal is to provide you with an immediate connection between your digital devices, regardless of the manufacturer. You will finally enjoy the freedom to access, play and share your favorite movies, music and photos at home. If you have a home network, you are ready to get started.

2.- Background, State of the Art and Comparative Analysis

With recent advances in broadband and video compression technologies, IPTV is finally making its way to homes around the world. IPTV generally refers to the real time delivery of broadcast television and on-demand video content over an IP broadband network for viewing on TV sets. But this IPTV term has also been used to describe streaming of television and video content over the public network for viewing on different devices, such as PCs or mobile phones.

Nowadays, there are many independent operating companies and international carriers which are currently offering IPTV services. Most, if not all DSL carriers are engaged in some stage of an IPTV rollout, field trial or service planning. Many cable or MSO operators are also looking to take advantage of IPTV to reduce infrastructure cost, extend geographic coverage and enable new services. As competition intensifies, a service provider’s ability to rapidly acquire and activate subscribers, reduce deployment cost and enhance subscriber experience will be critical to its success.

The Home Network connects both the home computer(s) and the IPTV STBs to a broadband service. The broadband service is typically an ADSL, a VDSL, or an Optical Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) from an incumbent or competitive carrier. This network may also provide communication between a media center computer and the IPTV STB. In the simplest case the media center computer can act as a server that stores and plays both video and audio content on the network connected to home entertainment system.

Several modules were involved into IPTV infrastructure a few years ago: Video and content delivery servers, IPTV middleware and subscriber management systems. These blocks are interconnected with IP broadband network to transport video streaming data from the head end to end-user STBs. But there are other premises in the market: STBs and gateways inside customer home. This is the new skill where the Service Provider must focus the market.

In-home distribution has been the weakest link in the IPTV delivery chain. The broadband gateway and TV STB are typically located in different places inside a home; different technologies are used according to requiring new or existing cabling (Ethernet, Coax, Power Line, Plastic Fiber) or WiFi technology.

IPTV multi-room service (by using several STBs) is already offered by a number of operators worldwide. However, the maturity for the inhome networking technology has not been reached yet; given its future spread use, it is necessary to know the best and more accurate solution for multimedia services home networking.

One of the first hurdles IPTV faced in early deployments was the distribution of services inside the home. Using Ethernet to deliver services to set-top boxes and PCs, IPTV required rewiring each home with cabling from the gateway to each STB, TV or PC location. The introduction of multi-stream (multiple decoders) residential gateway devices needs to seek a new approach to make the installation as easy and clean as possible in order to gain customer satisfaction.

1.- What is Inhome Networking?

Home networking has so far applied to the interconnection of PCs in the home, however, inhome networking is lately moving much further than that, and is now facing the interconnection of a number of different electronic devices. Figure shows an example of a home network where different type of devices are connected and sharing data, which may be stored both internally in the network (PC, NAS, MP3 player...) or come directly from the operator.



Home networking is already today the linking of all types of electronic devices for applications such as entertainment, telecommunication, home automation systems and telemetry (remote control and monitoring systems). And given the wide range of previously unrelated technologies involved, standards that allow for interoperability are seen as key to the successful marketing of the concept.

The wide deployment of home networking is expected to open up access to content from PCs, mobile phones, DVD players, game consoles, and video cameras, all for viewing on the TV. Some vendors are extending IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks into the home to manage the delivery of that content between devices in the wide and local areas. Vendors are also keen to enable viewers to get easy access to Internet content (either in conjunction with middleware vendors, or by use of sophisticated electronic programming guides in the STB) and to integrate communications functions with content (for instance, by adding messaging or caller-ID functions).

Market status and operators service offer show that home networking is lining up to be a key battleground for all types of service providers. It is also clear that many service providers haven't really thought out their home networking strategy while some others currently offer a home networking approach but still have not reached the expected QoE for the user.

The big unsolved problem now centers on the last meters – not just delivery of IPTV and other multimedia services to the customer premises, but also its distribution throughout the premises via home networking. Evidence is mounting that the home will be the next key battleground for IPTV.

The ultimate goal is to provide intelligent, ultra-reliable, high-throughput networking that connects the home gateway, multiple IP set-top boxes (STBs), the whole-home digital video recorder (DVR), the PC, the media server, the dual-mode handset, and any other digital device in the home.

While early home networking initiatives were driven by end users, the whole-home networking model envisioned by most service providers puts control of home network resources firmly in the hands of the network operators themselves. This dramatic shift in perception will have massive and permanent ramifications for the entire home networking supply chain.

Given the number of service providers worldwide, their different home network technology preferences, and the vast matrix of existing home wiring options for subscribers around the globe, several multimedia home networking technologies will continue to evolve in parallel for the foreseeable future. The bottom line is that the home network transformation driven by IPTV opens doors for vendor competition inside the home that will lead to opportunities for both large and small companies, silicon and systems vendors alike. There is also plenty of room for industry consolidation, as larger vendors are looking at the next-generation home network as a market segment to fill out end-to-end triple-play solutions and provide product differentiation as service providers set their sights on the residential customer premises as an area for investment and service differentiation.

In the next posts I will provide an overview of this home networking technology as well as an examination of standards that address interworking, performance, QoS and security issues. The aim of next posts is to provide a review of existing technology in order to identify current solutions and future trends. Special attention is given to both the technology and IPTV services aspects of this new technology.

PROFESORES TWITTEADORES

Me ha llamado la atención encontrarme con un profesor de uno de mis hijos que usa las nuevas tecnologías para informar a los padres. A simple vista no parece un profesor friki, sin embargo, creo que tiene madera de serlo.

Resulta que mi hijo se ha ido de campamento con el resto de la clase durante varios días. Los profesores les han acompañado. En el colegio (es concertado) disponen de una herramienta Web donde podemos hacer un seguimiento de nuestros hijos (deberes, notas, comentarios del tutor, etc).

Durante estos días de campamento, el tutor de mi hijo se ha dedicado a poner varias veces al día lo que iban haciendo. Notas sobre lo que comían, las actividades que hacían por la mañana, por la tarde, etc. Me pareció una idea estupenda, de esta manera sabíamos en todo momento que hacían y no teníamos que molestar llamando miles de padres a la vez para preguntar sobre nuestros hijos.

Espero que esto sólo sea el principio de la integración de las nuevas tecnologías en nuestras vidas, y concretamente en la unión entre colegio, padres, profesores y alumnos. Se me ocurren muchas más ideas, pero mejor ir poco a poco y que todos vayamos asumiendo la incursión de estos nuevos servicios.

TELEVISION O INTERNET

Cuando pasen los años, ¿crecerá el número de casas con acceso a internet igualando al de televisiones?

Para mi gusto, si me dieran a elegir entre tener televisión o internet, me quedaría con mi ordenador y mi ADSL. Ahora bien, ¿llegará el resto de la humanidad a pensar como yo?

Prefiero no opinar sobre como será el futuro en este tema, ya que sería demasiado partidista. ¿En qué casa encuentras a una pareja por la noche con la televisión apagada y cada uno con un portátil navegando por internet? Quizás en la mía.

Vaya pareja de Frikis.