We are witnessing a Technical Home Communications/Entertainment revolution. Voice and data have converged and now entertainment has joined in. Total U.S. TV homes rose 0.5% in the past year to about 110.2 million according to Nielsen Media Research. Four or five years ago, all the activity centered around finding ways to share a broadband connection, so multiple computers in a home could share one connection. Starting in 2002, the industry began promoting WiFi as the wireless communications foundation for the connected home. Last year, it concentrated on VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) product lines, so consumers could use that connection, not just for surfing the Web, but also for making phone calls.
The opportunity that has now presented itself is to develop and bundle more applications to help consumers take advantage of networks in other ways. Research shows that there is a demand and growth in the market for bundled services. Interest in a bundle is 3 times higher than individual services. And Networked entertainment is going to be the next big wave. ?In-Stat research shows that just under half of the US residential market has purchased multiple telecommunications services as a package from a single provider, up from just one-third in 2004. The wired, interconnected home with networked appliances and home entertainment promises to be the next big push in consumer electronics.
And for those that think the internet won¡¯t be able to handle the load, researchers at the Global Environment for Networking Investigations have offered their project to effectively reconfigure the Internet and create an updated global computer network. The New York Times said the network is designed with security in mind and with the reach and scale to accommodate the increasing number of computers and devices, like appliances, that will be connected to the Internet via sensors. Broadband services are continually increasing and a general break-through for multimedia streaming is expected soon. In October, according to Business Week, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin says his top priority is to speed broadband deployment across the U.S. This will mean that demand for quick and cost-effective broadband solutions in the home will be inevitable and doing it on one existing coax cable will head the list.
Bundling voice (VoIP), video and high speed data packages is known by the players in these markets as the ¡°Triple Play¡±. On first base we have high speed broadband data transfer; 90 million consumers are expected to be connected to an Internet service by the end of 2010, with 80 million surfing the Web via broadband means. On second base is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol); these services have made tremendous strides of late with cable Multi-System-Operators.? And now on third base is Whole House Networked Entertainment.
According to The Wall Street Journal in November, the completion of AT&T Corp.'s merger with SBC Communications gives rise to a dramatically different AT&T that will derive just 23% of its revenue from voice services. The new AT&T instead will focus primarily on delivering various forms of content to television, mobile phones and computers as it adapts to modern telecommunications and media markets that emphasize digital convergence.
When the consumer talks about networked entertainment, the consumer is talking about multiple devices from multiple vendors. Recent advances in equipment and technology have led to the explosion in broadband usage. Consumer preferences for a whole living networked? solutions have taken off, which has expanded to include most home consumer electronics products, especially PVRs. When it comes to delivering the Triple Play to 26 million MDUs, we¡¯re in a whole new ball game and everybody wants in.
This is especially true since tenants inside a particular building are essentially a captive audience to a service provider and a MDU offers one point of entry and multiple subscriber base. The winner will get the triple play into those buildings, delivering and distributing the triple play in a fast, reliable, cost effective? and seamlessly system.
Who¡¯s everybody? Broadband Service Providers: Satellite, Cable, Internet, Wireless, Telcos and Component Manufacturers and Retailers who want to be a player in the Inter-Connected CE world. To deliver the triple play, all of the major manufacturers have geared up and are starting to hook up with strategic service provider partners, with investments in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We¡¯re witnessing an early shift toward home networking as a key variable for motivating additional services in the consumer. The opportunity for equipment vendors, carriers and manufacturers is to package data, voice, and multimedia networks as a complete bundle of services.
Network Distribution Media are the layers of a home network and is defined as the physical media or carrier signal on which the networked information is distributed. There are three. Dedicated wire is wiring that is installed specifically to be used for communications. It includes twisted pair wiring used for Ethernet networks and Coax, Cat-5 or Fiber. Shared wire can be shared for multiple purposes such as telephone wiring that is used for voice phone calls as well as for XDSL Internet access or HomePNA data networking. Other shared wires include Broadband over Power-Lines (but not video) in a home and Telephone Lines.
And where are the numbers MDUs, which have been historically underserved by Building-Centric Local Exchange Carriers, are at the top of one vertical list,? mainly because of a lack of this fast, reliable, seamlessly and cost effective delivery technology. Cable Companies with around 54% of the market, DBS with 21%, Service Providers for the Internet, Wireless and Fiber Optics and Telcos are all lining up to play.
The Signal Distribution Business Group at Winegard has developed a business model that will allow it to play very successfully and competitively in this exploding consumer market by catching the anticipated huge growth wave in Multi-Dwelling-Units and Structured Wiring markets. And these markets are truly huge. Multi-Dwelling Units are estimated to include 26 million residences in the US and is an enormous current and future market for broadband services.
While, worldwide, there were just fewer than 1 million MDU in-building broadband subscribers in 2004; these subscribers will grow ten-fold by the end of 2008. Research by Strategy Analytics further says that by 2010 nearly 78 million U.S. customers will use some type of broadband service. Cable operators will account for about half of that total, while telcos will serve 43 percent of subscribers through a combination of DSL and advanced fiber networks. With 20% penetration, broadband is now clearly a mainstream service. And over 100 million existing dwellings need to be retro-fitted to take advantage of the Triple Play and will be extremely keen on delivering it on one existing coax cable.
Winegard¡¯s Signal Distribution Business Group sees this convergence happening now, an interconnected CE world in which various digital devices can talk to each other.
The competitive edge that Winegard has is its ability to takes the Triple Play a few very important steps further in its new HOME RUN Structured wiring box. This new bundle delivers a video HDTV rich environment, stacking and distributing all Satellite HDTV signals combined with free Off-Air HDTV signal on one cable. It also delivers High Speed Broadband Data, which adds a High Reliability New broadband network with high capacity access speeds and Modem-free Full Duplex Ethernet high speed Internet and Voice Over IP compatible into the High Speed bundled connection using Multilet ?technology. Through an exclusive agreement with Macab, located in Trelleborg, Sweden. Winegard will use the Multilet system for the distribution of Triple Play access within and between residential buildings, providing MDUs much cheaper access than previously available.
But Winegard¡¯s HOME RUN bundle takes the Triple Play to a whole new level with Winegard¡¯s new TRIADTM Triple Stacked Technology, through an exclusive agreement with Global Communications, the patent holder for this new technology. There are HD channels located on 3 satellites. With existing technology and dual LNB¡¯s, the consumer can get all the satellite channels and some HD channels, but can¡¯t see the third satellite. But with 3 LNBs and triple stacking technology, the consumer gets all the satellite channels, plus all the HD channels from all three satellites. TRIAD takes the dual LNB Technology to the next level by allowing the satellite dish to look at 3 satellites, the third being the one dedicated to delivering additional HD channels and, by stacking the signals, combines them onto one wire as part of Winegard¡¯s HOME RUN.
And by incorporating QuantumAlertTM, a proactive real-time 24/7 web-enabled remote monitoring of MDUs IP Network from top to bottom, through an exclusive agreement with Advanced Media Systems, the HOME RUN truly delivers and distributes the TRIPLE Play Plus, and does it all on one existing coax cable. In addition, AMS will also deliver the Triple Play services to the HOME RUN Structured Wiring Box at the point-of-entry.
Because the HOME RUN is easy to install through one central distribution point, it saves time because there¡¯s no need to pull additional wires, saves money because it¡¯s inexpensive, fast and cost efficient and there¡¯s no need to rewire for LAN or Cat-5 to distribute to each room/unit in an MDU or home.
Winegard¡¯s HOME RUN targets Property Owners/Managers (about 1/3 of the dwellings in the US are MDUs) including apartments, Universities, the Hospitality Market, Town homes complexes, and condominium or dormitory-type living arrangements, Health Care Facilities and Master Planned Communities. Winegard has also targeted Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), Commercial Markets, Recreational Vehicles, Pleasure Boating Yachts, Cruise lines and the 70 million homes with RG-6 that need retrofitting.
Five other currently available products exist that are capable of delivering some or all of the triple play signals through out a home or MDU, but none can deliver the services and benefits found in Winegard¡¯s HOME RUN.
BPL (Broadband over Power-Lines) is the only product comparable to Multilet, but has several limitations. The prime obstacle blocking the use of powerline Technology on this scale is interference on the power lines and issues with utility transformers. Other drawbacks include power lines emitting signals inside or outside a home that could cause Internet transmissions interference, power surges and noise elimination. Also modems are required.
Fiber Optics: The obvious drawback to this Technology is the need to run the fiber optic wire through out the building or home.
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. Wi-Fi¡¯s problem has mainly to do with throughput limitations. Each of the three variants of 802.11 (a, b, and g) operates in half-duplex. This transmission scheme, coupled with payload overhead requirements, effectively reduces the maximum usable data throughput to less than 50% of the standard's stated data-link rate. Interference comes from two basic sources: co-channel interferers and foreign interferers. Several more problems associated with a wireless integrated home network are covered fully in the research section of the full business plan, but it is safe to say that a Wireless Network is not the answer to delivering the triple Play to MDUs.
Cat-5 is a rating system that refers to the number of twisted pairs of wires in a telephone cable. The more twists, the greater bandwidth and speed and the less interference in the transmission of voice and computer data. Specifying Cat 5, over the more common Cat 3, is an inexpensive upgrade. Again, the draw back to Cat-5, is the time and cost of pulling new wiring.
Telephone Lines: With the growing presence of the Internet, the expansion of PC¡¯s into the home, and the growing sophistication of entertainment, residential wiring needs are rapidly changing. The copper wiring installed for POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) service in the 1950¡¯s is no longer sufficient to meet the high bandwidth requirements that these modern applications necessitate. |
