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Quick Jump Menu to this Issue’s Articles November 11th, 2004 Overview A Gateway to Faster IPTV Deployments?: Content Protection Is a Must-Have:
A Gateway to Faster IPTV Deployments?
by Ken Pyle ([email protected]), Viodi, LLC
November 11, 2004 Issue
The Hydra Home Gateway is one of the worst kept secrets around. I first heard of it approximately two years ago. In principal, what was envisioned then is what Entone is delivering today. At a high level, it provides three outputs from a single device, reducing the cost significantly as compared to three separate IPTV set-top boxes. Another thing that differentiates it from a set-top box is an optional, integrated ADSL2+ modem.
The difference between the product of two years ago and today is a completely new hardware design. Steve McKay, President of Entone, explained to me that, just about a year ago, they had the opportunity to start from scratch. McKay took his engineers to the Consumer Electronics Show last January and examined state-of-the-art home electronics design and incorporated what they saw in the latest incarnation of Hydra.
The other thing Entone factored into the design of this product is the costs to an operator of deploying multiple set-top boxes. Entone correctly points out that the true cost is not just the set-top box, but the cost and time associated with installation. A gateway approach allows the existing home cabling to be reused, saving some material costs and, more importantly, installation time and associated costs.
The fact that installation time can be 33 to 50% faster with a residential gateway approach was reinforced by a presentation from Steve Klein of Zhone Technologies last month at the IP Video @ Telecom 04 conference. Zhone is currently the only other supplier of an IP residential gateway and Zhone makes a similar argument that operators need to look at both the capital expenditure costs, as well as the overall operational costs for deploying a particular technology.
And the Hydra Home Gateway is starting to be deployed, albeit in small quantities. Entone has been fine tuning Hydra from feedback obtained from three early adopter customers, two of which are using the Myrio middleware. General availability for the Hydra is set for January, 2005 Entone uses the same manufacturer as one of the large satellite equipment suppliers, so they plan on being able to ramp up to volume and, in doing so, will meet RUS, U.S. content requirements .
It will be interesting to follow Hydra, as it definitely has the opportunity to be a leader in a new product category that is potentially critical to making IP Video a widespread success.
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