At Broadband TV in Anaheim, our President Donna Yasay argues that technology providers should work together to provide in-home coverage that really works.
In-home networks can be put under enormous strain by the growing interest in on-demand streaming video, driven by new OTT service offerings such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video. This, coupled with the rapid proliferation of Internet-enabled devices, mean networks can struggle to cope with the demands on bandwidth and reliable speeds throughout the home. This is the message that HomeGrid President Donna Yasay took to the Broadband TV event in Anaheim, California this week (30June-02 July).
Donna highlighted how more and more people are choosing to opt out of traditional broadcast TV in favor of all-IP services and that they generally no longer have just one entertainment point or internet outlet in the home – it’s more likely to be one in every room. OTT streaming services are predicted to reach over 330 million subscribers globally by 2019, according to a recent Juniper Research study. And a UK YouGov survey conducted last year reveals that the UK home already has an average of 7.4 internet-enabled devices.
This, of course, is not necessarily a problem, providing the in-home network is up to the task of handling so much bandwidth and dispersing content to all four corners of the home. In addition, for those who live in a dense residential environment, such as an apartment block, the network must be able to handle the close proximity of other networks, something wireless often struggles with.
The quality of experience these services require and the bandwidth block that can arise with so much going on in one small space, can only be handled in multi-room, multi-device homes and multi-dwelling units (MDUs) by mixing and matching the wireless and wireline networking to fit individual consumer’s or family’s needs.
Donna told the conference: “We are excited at what the future holds in terms of the Smart Home, the Internet of Things and home entertainment. We believe that open standards technologies available over any medium make the home network much more reliable and simpler to install and connect. That’s where G.hn comes in!”
For more about what Donna said in Anaheim, please read our news release here.
• Read more from the Juniper Research here.
• For further details from the UK YouGov survey, click here.
• A Cisco survey also carries interesting data on this topic at : http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/sp/vni/vni_forecast_highlights/index.html