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April 2003 Issue

MAXIMIZE

Home Networking: Comcast Tests, Cox Deploys

Editor's Note: Welcome to "Maximize." In this monthly department you'll learn how cable engineers are using the latest broadband technologies to drive new services and revenues.

The cable industry is homeward bound.

The mounting momentum of its home networking efforts has several sources. Cox is greatly expanding its home networking offerings, while behemoth Comcast is gathering data from home networking trials in its Atlantic region. The biggest development, of course, is that CableLabs gave CableHome 1.0 certification to gateways from Linksys and Netgear late last year.

Cox is the most aggressive operator to date. The company offers service in Hampton Roads, Va.; New England; San Diego; Lubbock, Texas; and Palos Verdes and Eureka, Calif. It is planning to roll out to 25 systems during the next several months, according to John Webster, the product manager for Cox High-Speed Internet. Cox will transition to CableHome-approved devices.

Comcast elected to wait until CableLabs certified gear before jumping fully into home networking. The trials are in the Prince William County and Chesterfield, Va., areas, according to Abigail Caspar, the company's national marketing director, product management, for Comcast Online. Caspar says Comcast is happy with the trials, but won't elaborate.

Few doubt that home home networking potentially is a big money maker. The learning curve will be steep, however. Among the biggest issues:

* Wired versus wireless: Cox reports that more than 50 percent of its customers are opting for wireless "WiFi" connectivity in the home, while the Comcast test is wireless only. How operators decide this issue will impact product purchasing, installer training and pricing.

* Port forwarding: This relates to how applications are mapped to computer ports on the home LAN. Port forwarding, according to David James, Netgear's product line manager for residential gateways, is a big issue in configuring advanced applications such as FTPs, gaming and instant messaging beyond basic text. These apps often are used by tech savvy home networkers, who may want control themselves. If granted, this control could cut down on service revenues.

* Pricing, the three major variables: Pricing is impacted by whether the home LAN is wired or wireless, how many devices are networked, and if home networking is positioned as a managed service or as a product. The latter point is key as operators battle to position themselves against retail offerings.

Pricing is all over the map now. For instance, Cox, which supports as many as four PCs in the home, is charging $9.95 per month beyond normal monthly high-speed data fee. The setup fees are $199 for the wired LAN and $299 for WiFi. Comcast is charging $64.99 per month with installation charges of $99 for two PCs tracking upward to $199 for five.

James sees the early part of 2003 dominated by trials, with volumes not hitting before the middle of the second quarter.

External "No-Wire" Adapters for Networked A/V Devices, World Market, Moderate Forecast: 2008

External adapters for networking home audio/video devices will survive the mass-market adoption of built-in devices and products, says a report from Allied Business Intelligence. Vamsi Sistla, senior analyst at ABI, attributes this longer product life of external adapters to their enabling of legacy devices for ten years or more, ease of use, flexibility with multiple devices and scenarios, and with the high-cost factor associated with the first few generation built-in devices. Sistla also expects significant reduction in the size and price points of external adapters even as their QoS capabilities are increasing. Each of the "no-wire" technologies will have its place in home networking based on throughput, QoS and price points. See accompanying chart for 2008 forecast of external adapter market for 802.11 derivates, Powerline and Ultra Wideband (UWB)-enabled devices. For more information, contact ABI at www.alliedworld.com.

-- Carl Weinschenk

Cell Backhaul: A Growing Opportunity

The growing needs of cell phone providers for back haul from their towers present cable operators with an attractive opportunity.

The market is growing in two ways. First, the number of cell sites in the United States are expected to increase 15-20 percent in 2003, putting some "$500-600 million of revenue up for grabs," says Chuck Kaplan, v.p. of marketing for Narad Networks.

Second, traffic at the towers is increasing. "The actual cell sites themselves are exhausting capacity," Kaplan says.

Herb Dougall, director of engineering and operations at Cox Communications' master telecommunications center (MTC) in Phoenix, agrees: "The biggest thing that we've seen over the years is the size of that pipe that's required at the cell site."

Dougall, who worked with Sprint PCS in Nebraska from 1995 to 1998, says he has seen individual cell-site requirements increase from a single, 24-voice channel T1 line, up to multiple DS3s, each capable of carrying 672 voice channels.

Cox got into this business by partnering with Teleport Communications Group about a decade ago, Dougall says. While managing backhaul for Sprint in Nebraska, he dealt with TCG (now owned by AT&T), tapping into both Cox and LEC fiber according to the location of cell sites.

In Phoenix, Cox Business Services is offering backhaul directly to cell providers, and as a primary, rather than backup service.

"It's us leveraging our infrastructure that's out there, and these providers coming to us much as I did back in the early days (with Sprint) looking for an alternative, for pricing, for reliability," Dougall says.

The service entails dropping SONET-based bandwidth to each cell site, transporting the traffic around Cox's fiber rings, and delivering it to the required drop site. In Phoenix, Cox also is backhauling not only from the cell site, but also between a cell provider's multiple switches.

Narad's Kaplan says his company and partner RAD Data Communications can extend an operator's reach through technology that converts T1 formats into IP over Ethernet, for delivery over coaxial cable.

The current approach employs gear from both companies. A prototype integrating the RAD circuit into Narad's broadband interface unit promises a one-in, one-out design.

Either way, the approach exploits the operator's last-mile infrastructure, putting it within striking distance of cell sites closer to coax than fiber.

To get an idea of the demographics of a residential play of this sort, just think of your neighborhood Starbucks. "The Wi-Fi backhaul category is going to be gigantic," Kaplan predicts.

-- Jonathan Tombes

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