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Toys Interview - February 2000 - [HTI Home Page] |
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About 10 HomeRF member companies have already announced their intentions to ship HomeRF based products starting in the Spring of 2000. This list includes Intel's wireless Anypoint products and Proxim's next generation Symphony line. Compaq and IBM have announced wireless data networking devices. Motorola, Cayman and 2Wire have announced wireless networking enhancements to their broadband modem product lines. |
Ben Manny currently directs Intel Corporation's Residential Communications Group, which is part of the Intel Architecture Labs. This group is charted to develop new home communication technologies to increase the usefulness of the Home PC and to create new business opportunities. He is also Chairman of the HomeRF working group, charted to enable wireless interoperability for PCs and consumer devices for the home. Manny joined Intel in 1979. He holds a BS degree in Physics and a BA degree in Math from the University of Texas. |
HomeToys InterviewQUESTION 1: How do you see the home networking market shaking out over the course of 2000?
ANSWER 1: The crystal ball definitely gets less cloudy this year. By all accounts and industry surveys, 2000 should bring significant triple digit growth in end user adoption of Home Networking because of growing consumer desire to enjoy rich internet content in multiple areas of the home and greater availability and lower costs due to the expanding subscriber base of broadband access. New wireless networked Internet tablets will be introduced, but the primary home networking technology will be HomePNA based phone line networks in the United States. The home networking pace in the other geographies will also be driven by Internet deployment, but wireless will play a greater roll due to fewer phone jacks per household.
QUESTION 2: What consumer benefits does HomeRF create that makes it the best choice for the home over other standard initiatives?
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QUESTION 3: There are several proprietary home wireless systems coming to market in 2000. How can we help the consumer avoid the confusion? Will most of these diverging product offerings comply with a "Standard" such as HomeRF in the future?
ANSWER 3: With any new or recently deployed technologies, the staking out of territory is a natural process. The 100 plus member HomeRF working group has succeeded in converging some early proprietary offerings. Due to the high costs of radio development it is costly and takes awhile for a radio company to migrate to a different RF technology. As HomeRF SWAP gains market share and volume drives down radio costs, other vendors are expected to comply. The sooner this occurs, the faster the consumer market will develop because of decreased buyer confusion.
QUESTION 4: What year 2000 products will be available to the consumer?
ANSWER 4: About 10 HomeRF member companies have already announced their intentions to ship HomeRF based products starting in the Spring of 2000. This list includes Intel's wireless Anypoint products and Proxim's next generation Symphony line. Compaq and IBM have announced wireless data networking devices. Motorola, Cayman and 2Wire have announced wireless networking enhancements to their broadband modem product lines. While Siemens has not announced any products, they have stated their commitment to refine and drive the development of the HomeRF DECT voice support. Many of these announcements can be found in the news area of the HomeRF website, www.homerf.org .
QUESTION 5: What is the expected cost for setting up a HomeRF in home network?
ANSWER 5: Compaq has announced a target price of around $99 for the additional cost of including a HomeRF SWAP radio in a desktop PC. This is in line with the expected costs for adding HomeRF radios into each desktop that wishes to connect to the home's wireless LAN. A PC card radio for a Laptop or an external USB radio is expected to cost about 25% more, but no target prices have been announced. The consumer should plan on spending between $100 and $140 dollars per PC to network them wirelessly with HomeRF SWAP radios when the devices are first introduced.
QUESTION 6: What is HomeRF's long term plan for 2000? What will come next?
ANSWER 6: During 2000 the HomeRF working group will focus on ensuring interoperable SWAP devices by deploying a certification program. The working group will refine the DECT voice support to expedite the deployment of DECT handsets. The SWAP 1.3 update is targeted for Q1/2000 completion. Assuming the FCC approves their proposed wide band rule change, the working group will specify (in SWAP 2.0) how to build a backward compatible radio with a 5 times performance increase.
QUESTION 7: Were there any surprises at the spring CES? What did you think was the most significant announcement / trend at the show?
ANSWER 7: For me personally, the biggest surprise was talking to an editor who had NOT heard about Bluetooth. The second biggest surprise was having over 100 people show up for a late Saturday afternoon panel session on home networking. This is about 4 times the typical turnout for this type of panel held towards the end of a large trade show. For HomeRF the most significant announcement was the Siemens commitment to refine and drive the development of the DECT voice component of the HomeRF SWAP specification. Again in my opinion, the most significant trend was the importance of Internet (instead of digital media) as a major driver behind many of the new gadgets and new companies. Besides MP3 players, this included digital cameras for posting web pictures, web data pushed out to cell phones, connected cars, and even connected smart homes.
