Digital Home Connectivity - a View from the Carrier, the Consumer Electronics OEMs and the Subscriber

Carriers are becoming increasingly aware of the strength and necessity of a robust connected home network. Value-added services (VAS) are being deployed, seeking increased ARPU, reduction in churn and higher levels of customer satisfaction. Content consuming devices, such as TVs, BluRay players, PCs, gaming consoles, set-top boxes, etc. are making their way into every corner of the home including mobile and fixed platforms. Over-the-top (OTT) business models are challenging the operators' dominance in the home, by promising to use generic broadband as their delivery vehicle. Once again, a robust and deterministic network in the home is key to the OTT player and the success of their financial business models.The rhetorical question, "why shouldn't home networks be as manageable as an enterprise environment?" should be asked and answered. CE OEMs are finding that their products, in an effort to make them more feature rich and competitive in the market versus their peers, need to be "connected" to the cloud. Consumers and subscribers alike, all demand more access to other applications, content and experiences that may not be available from within the home. In contrast, consumers are storing and aggregating more and more rich multimedia content in the home that they seek to redistribute across all personal platforms.The convergence of content, media, services, utility management, CPE and CE devices, along with the management of these platforms and their associated experiences, is catalyzing a new and significant growth phase in the semiconductor marketplace. Connectivity, communications, conversion, transcoding, transrating, aggregation, HAN, WAN, LAN & PAN connectivity and finally, standards-based messaging, will be key to this unprecedented opportunity expansion phase in the communications IC semiconductor sector. This presentation covers the challenges and opportunities for increasing the number of points of presence in the connected home and smart energy markets, and the growth prospects that these exciting new applications provide.