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Jim Barthold
Cable modems and what they can do - real or imagined - garnered their share of the National Show spotlight once again last week.
For example ... * Philips Broadband Networks Inc. demonstrated a new modem that it hopes will get CableLabs DOCSIS certification this week.
* Zoom Telephonics, which took over the defunct Hayes Microcomputers Inc., said it would ship its first modems in the fourth quarter of this year through Zoom retailers, value added resellers and cable service providers.
* Ericsson launched a colorful, retail-targeted DOCSIS-compliant modem that it hopes to mesh with its successful cellular phones business.
* 3Com Corp. demonstrated Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities in a DOCSIS 1.0 modem, giving it the ability to control bandwidth speeds depending on customer preferences.
* And Motorola Inc., still waiting for DOCSIS 1.0 certification, backed away from predictions about retail sales by the end of this year, while emphasizing DOCSIS 1.1 certification.
The show floor was awash in fact and fantasy.
Dick Day, corporate VP/GM of Motorola's Multimedia Group, threw out a little reality with his prediction that "retailers aren't jumping off buildings to get in line (to buy cable modems) and neither are consumers. A big move to retail is not going to happen this year."
Day said that Motorola executives had gone so far as to place wagers on retail's start. "Will it be back-to-school launch or a holiday launch ... but it turns out we're not going to exchange any money because we're all wrong."
A little delay wouldn't bother Philips either, as it moves to retail branding with a still non-certified product.
"What we're planning to do with retail is obviously not launch the mass market retail in a rollout initially, but do a retail trial, late August, early September, with a few key retail operators, a few key stores," explained Kavitha Mariappan, market development manager.
Mariappan said that Philips wants to leverage its retail strengths but that a plethora of questions need answers before that can happen.
"How do you get a modem into the store? How does somebody get that modem home and know that it will work in the house? If there is something wrong with it, who is responsible - is it the MSO; is it the retailers; or will it be Philips or will it be the ISP, perhaps like or Road Runner?" she asked.
Once modems hit the stores they should be both physically attractive with features that pull in consumers, insisted Curt Matson, marketing communications manager for Ericsson's home communications business unit.
"We're going to have a whole portfolio that ... are going to be other flavors," he said.
The slow retail market gives 3Com the opportunity to expand and differentiate product offerings. New software, now in trials, lets operators control bandwidth through seven different priority queues.
An example, 3Com execs said, an operator could compete directly with ISDN speeds with a lower workday price, then open up those speeds at night for non-business users. Conversely, it could offer residential subscribers lower daytime speeds and higher ones at night.
"This is a differentiator," said Michael Pula, product management director for 3Com cable access products. "This is a complete value-added on top of DOCSIS."
Perhaps most surprising, was an additional emphasis on being named a CableLabs' approved cable modem termination system (CMTS) headend provider. Only Cisco Systems Inc. now boasts of that.
"Right now the CMTS certification is more important to us (that DOCSIS certification)," admitted Motorola's Day. "It will enable us to get going on a lot of systems. A lot of customers are ready, but they want to see the certification before they plunk down their money. I don't blame them."
It also fits with the end-to-end strategy espoused by nearly every vendor.
"We really think our value proposition here is the retail and consumer process that we have at Philips and the range of our products that we have in the home to complement what we have in terms of headend and transport products," added Mariappan.
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