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Following a petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission by Intel and Verizon requesting that Ethernet ports be required on the backs of set-top boxes, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association have come out in favor of an open standard such as Ethernet (or even better, the tru2way standard developed by the cable companies) but against any sort of federal mandates. The trade group filed an ex parte filing with the FCC last night in which it argued that industry groups could work together to figure out how to deliver digital content without any pesky government interference.

The effort to put Ethernet ports on cable boxes would be a boon to carriers delivering content via their own IP networks and to companies such as Intel that are trying to get Wi-Fi as the home networking standard of choice. Anyone inclined to point out that they can already connect their set-top box to devices via Firewire, HDMI, optical ports and coax, and hence to ask why Ethernet is necessary, may not realize the stakes at play when it comes to controlling digital content in the home.

Most vendors, be they carriers, networking gear makers or computer manufactures, view the set-top box as the key to digital content for consumers as ports will dictate how easy it is for consumers to plug their boxes into a variety of networks without adaptors. So as the computer industry and the telecommunications companies get deeper into the digital TV and home networking market, we’ll wait to see if the FCC decides to make Ethernet ports mandatory. Even if they do, a showdown between those in favor of Ethernet and those on the side of cable’s tru2way standard is likely to ensure as each industry seeks to control the home network.

image courtesy of Chris Albrecht

Unless you’re actively seeding torrent files or dream of one day having HD content streamed from the web to your TV, the debate over managing networks can seem hopelessly abstract. To help the rest of us understand why fast networks with a lot of capacity are so important, I asked networking giant Cisco for what it considers to be the top five bandwidth-hungry applications. Cisco mined the data it gathered for its visual networking index and came up with the top five in the consumer, business and mobile categories. I have chosen the following five based on how much bandwidth they use and how much speed they require in the network. While they don’t take up much capacity today because they’re not in widespread use, they are representative of what one could do with a fast network with a lot of capacity.

1. High-Definition Telepresence: This could be Cisco’s product or another setup from a different vendor. The point is this: high-definition telepresence requires 24 Mbps and about a 50 millisecond latency to recreate the feeling of sitting in a room speaking with people. Maybe it’s a luxury, but the travel savings and potential business deals that could be struck using such systems are impressive. Companies such as Shangby, which is using standard video to sell jewelry from China, would benefit from faster bandwidth that would allow them to show their products in HD. Continue Reading

Forget HD. In its perpetual quest to provide bigger and better entertainment (and to sell new gear), the consumer electronics industry is pushing 3D televisions. But first it needs to figure how to deliver the 3D tech and what types of standards need to be set so the experience is the same as that of 3D movies. The Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California said it has formed a 3D working group to solve some of these issues, and plans to make an announcement regarding the group in the coming days.

The effort, chaired by a representative from Dolby Labs, will also involve the major movie studios and consumer device makers. A spokeswoman for the ETC said each year the center focuses on a new technology, and this year that focus will be 3D for televisions. “3D is going to become more and more pervasive and we need to know how to carry it all the way from the theater into your home and what products will be best for the consumer in the end,” she said.

We’re eager to learn more, and 3D is certainly on the minds of movie makers. Last month, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers formed a 3D task force to address the appropriate standards to deliver 3D content to the home via cable, DVDs, the web and other formats. My guess is if we think HD content requires a lot of data, 3D is going to blow our bandwidth caps out of the water.

Hat Tip to EEtimes

photo courtesy of nickstone333 via Flickr

Two studies came out today touting the conclusion that the multiple types of home networking technologies will not compete with one another, but will happily co-exist within the home. I, on the other hand, am beginning to think that Wi-Fi will take the lion’s share of the market and edge all others into one-trick pony status, à la Bluetooth for headsets.

Cisco’s investment yesterday into WiFi-based wireless video transfer company Celeno Communications just drives this point home. While some may argue that videophiles will choose a specialized standard such as WirelessHD or WHDI, plain old Wi-Fi will likely work for most people, and won’t require the average consumer to do a lot of interoperability research before buying products.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Motorola has divided itself its home and networking business into three units, rather than two. In March Motorola said it would spin off its handset business in the wake of poor performance. Now, according to WSJ, it has further split its home and networking unit into: a set-top-box and home-networking business, a networking gear business, and the handset broadband business. Analysts view the move as a precursor to selling those divisions, although the company denied this in the article.

The set-top-box and home networking business appears to hold a lot of promise for a rich valuation as information technology companies seek to get a toehold in the home market; Cisco’s $6.9 billion buy of Scientific Atlanta is the most obvious example. Companies such as Dell and HP are eying the convergence of consumer technology with information technology, and they aren’t blind to the fact that a set-top box is a perfect way to marry the two. As much as I want to hope that my PC will send content directly to my TV, that’s not happening anytime soon — despite cool services such as Apple TV or Amazon’s streaming service.

On the cellular networking  and broadband access side, the existing market for telecommunications equipment isn’t robust, prompting mergers as well as expansion into other areas by industry players. But Motorola is still a big fish in that small pond of major telco gear makers. If WiMAX takes off, Motorola could find itself holding a desirable asset, especially for a company such as Ericsson, which has so far stayed out of providing any WiMAX equipment.

As a side note, I checked with Motorola to see where its growing RFID and corporate radio assets might fall within this new organizational structure, and I will update the story when I hear back.