Parks Associates CEO Presenting at CABA's Digital Home Forum

CABA Digital Home Forum will take place in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 17, 2011.

Tricia Parks, CEO, Parks Associates will be presenting on the session, Connected Home Roadmap on Thursday, February 17 from 10 AM - 10:45 AM.

CABA’s Digital Home Forum, hosted by 3M, will bring together leading companies dealing with integration of consumer electronics and other cutting-edge technology throughout the home. Attend the forum to learn about current trends in the digital and connected home from a wide range of companies working in this space and explore future research opportunities.

Members of CABA’s Connected Home Council will share their research and insights, along with details about their current activities. Forum participants will be encouraged to openly discuss the research strategies as they relate to the industry and their respective organizations.

For more information, please click here.

3 Technologies from CES Will 2011 be the Year of the Connected Home?

CES was a great experience! The energy of the show felt entirely upbeat and positive, full of optimism for this New Year and the new technologies that will literally dominate our lives.

With such an abundance of amazing technological innovation happening all around us, I find it hard to believe that anyone can not be absolutely thrilled about the direction we are moving! So with that, I’d like to present a few of the technologies that I feel are going to be major influencers around our homes this year.

Windows Media Center and Windows Embedded

There was a ton of activity and buzz around what Microsoft has been doing with Windows Media Center in conjunction with Windows Embedded. Windows Embedded makes a lot of sense, especially when you take into account that Windows Embedded Standard 7 now incorporatesWindows Media Center into the mix. What this allows for is the ability for developers to build “a variety of smart, connected, and service-oriented advanced commercial or consumer devices.”

Gesture Technology (i.e. Xbox 360 Kinect)

Gesture Technology (also known as Natural Interaction because there are no controllers being held like the Wii and now PS3 have) could turn out to have a very big presence this year with all of the excitement around its potential uses, and most importantly, loads of development happening behind the scenes. We are talking about not just interacting with your TV, but also with your PC, and even eventually things around the home (like lighting) by using just your hand movements and voice. Trust me, this thing even out-does the clapper!

While this technology is very new, many people are recognizing the capabilities that lie outside of the gaming industry and touch upon the connected home and beyond. It’s going to be thrilling watching this ground-breaking new field grow!

The Connected Home

One thing is for sure: the idea of the “Connected Home” is still very real to a lot of people and more importantly, to a lot of manufacturers. We have only touched the tip of the iceberg, in my opinion, of where these new technologies can take our home entertainment experience. There are far too many fresh technologies coming out of CES that are geared toward creating or enhancing the Connected Home...

So while the Connected Home has been a topic of discussion for many years, there has also been innovation accompanying it along this journey. New technologies of today replace the new technologies of years past-innovation is always a forward motion path. Like all technology that sticks around for awhile, there comes a time that it will hit critical mass. You can see this trend in any technology we take for granted today, from the telephone to the TV to the cell phone. They are all examples of technologies that took years to catch on, but then suddenly, reached a point where everyone wanted it in their home.
This truly can be the Year of the Connected Home, but it will take a major push from people with louder voices than me to help people understand its meaning and benefits.

--- Content submitted from Home Toys ---

Parks Associates Releases a New White Paper - The Connected TV and Video Experience: Recommendations, Search, and the User Interface

The user interface (UI) has emerged as a key factor in the success of the connected home.

This new white paper by Parks Associates examines its evolving role as consumer habits change and multiple connected devices enter the home.

UIs must meet these challenges while also taking on new roles as platform mediator and new revenue source.

Download this new white paper today.

Motorola enters the connected home market through the acquisition of 4Home

Connected home platform developer 4Home was acquired by Motorola today (12/01/10). 4Home will now become a part of Motorola’s Mobility division; terms of the deal have not yet been announced.

4Home’s solutions include energy management, healthcare monitoring, home security monitoring and entertainment management. 4Home, a Sunnyvale, CA based company, was founded in 2005 and has been a regular participant at Parks Associates’ CONNECTIONS conference. To date the company has raised over $9 million in venture capital funding from Pond Ventures, Parker Price and Verizon Ventures.

Motorola is one of the leading Set-Top-Box (STB) brands and we predict that 4Home’s platform will be embedded on their (Motorola’s) STBs enhancing the company’s offering. We expect more details on the deal to be available soon.

In our opinion this is another great example of a market mover, such as Motorola, building the foundation for the connected home systems and services market to blossom. We have repeatedly stated that there are multiple paths to the connected home. 4Home developed a robust platform and Motorola is well-positioned to deploy it. Other recent examples of companies with market clout getting behind the connected home solutions include cable MSOs Comcast and Rogers, both deploying services based on the iControl/uControl (a recent merger) platform(s).

The bottom line for industry participants is that these firms, and others we expect to hear from shortly, will build awareness of the capabilities monitoring and control technologies can add to consumers’ lifestyles. 2011 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the connected home systems and services market. So much so, that we are formulating a new market intelligence program aimed at characterizing and quantifying opportunities in this arena for manufacturers, service providers, utilities, retailers and a host of technology enablers. Stay tuned

European Research Update: EU Developments in Digital Living

Parks Associates attended multiple conferences in the latter half of 2010, and we were encouraged by the industry developments throughout the continent. Here is a summary of some of our recent observations, which culminated with the recent CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, which Parks Associates hosted on November 15-16, 2010. Visit www.connectionseurope.com for more information on this and future Europe events.

European Service Providers Embracing the Connected Home

The operators in attendance at the Connected Home World Summit in London were from many different European markets - from Greenland, Estonia, Italy, Germany, France, and Russia to countries in between. We came away with the following takeaways from the panels and keynotes:

There are very different takes on the economics of deploying the "God Box"/über-box, which would bring in the functionality of the residential gateway (modem, routing, remote manageability, etc.) along with multiple set-top boxes (tuners, transcoding, server capability, etc.). For reasons related to cost, lifecyle differences in CPE, and the risk of one point of failure, many operators are taking a conservative approach in deploying fully integrated customer premise equipment hardware. At the same time, Intel (which was represented at the event by Brendan Traw) has had early success with some service providers, including Telecom Italia and Liberty Global, in delivering a high-powered gateway that takes on much of the functionality of the über-box.

To read more about the EU Developments in Digital Living, subscribe to Parks Associates' European Research Update Newsletter.

Click here to subscribe to other Parks Associates complimentary newsletters.

Wi-Fi Alliance joins forces with HomePlug Powerline

The Wi-Fi Alliance and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance announced a recent agreement to collaborate on applications that allow smart energy grids to interoperate with "connected" homes.

The two alliances are part of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, a forum that coordinates smart grid standards. They plan to collaborate on wireless and wired network applications for what the forum calls its Smart Energy 2 Applications Profile.

To read more about this collaboration, click here.

Parks Associates Supports Connected Home Global Summit

Parks Associates is supporting Connected Home Global Summit. The event is taking place on October 5th-6th in London, UK.

With increasing digital connectivity and intelligent devices in and around the home, the time is right to examine the key trends and influences within the Connected Home proposition.

The Connected Home Global Summit will explore whether the evolution of Broadband Access, the emergence of Converged Digital Devices and advances within Home Entertainment is ripe to explode into a full blown Connected Home revolution.

For more information, please click here.

European Service Providers Embracing the Connected Home

We're in London for the Connected Home World Summit, and I chaired yesterday's sessions. The operators in attendance are from a wide spread of European markets - everywhere from Greenland, Estonia, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, and countries in between. I was furiously writing notes during the keynotes and the panels, and came away with the following takeaways:

• There are very different takes on the economics of deploying the "God Box"/über-box, which would bring in the functionality of the residential gateway (modem, routing, remote manageability, etc.) along with multiple set-top boxes (tuners, transcoding, server capability, etc.). For reasons related to cost, lifecyle differences in CPE, and the risk of one point of failure, many operators are taking a very conservative approach in deploying a fully integrated customer premise equipment hardware. At the same time, Intel (which was represented at the event by Brendan Traw) has had early success with some service providers, including Telecom Italia and Liberty Global, to deliver a high-powered gateway that takes on much of the functionality of the über-box.
• The effort formerly known as Project Canvas (now known as YouView is making progress, and we can expect to see set-top boxes and then connected televisions with the implementation in 2011.
• There are some interesting thoughts about whether the concept of TV Everywhere is simply a nice-to-add feature or a true revenue generator. Our own research finds a good percentage of consumers willing to pay a $5 premium per month for access to their cable channels on different IP-connected devices, and Irdeto - which delivers content protection solutions - indicates that one of its European service provider customers is getting a good take rate on a TV Everywhere service at a €5-6 premium.
• Irdeto's representative also spoke of the evolution of digital rights management, indicating the the renewability DRM - that is, its ability to be updated as new threats emerge - will be a critical trend. It's one of the key reasons that Irdeto acquired Cloakware.
• A speaker from Vodafone shared the company's key connected home strategies, which includes the deployment of both residential gateways (with a port for a 3G modem) and femtocells in the U.K., French, and Spanish markets. In terms of value-added services, they have found good success with delivering an online backup service, which is one of the key value-added services that Parks Associates identified in our Customer Support in the Digital Home: Europe study in major Western European markets. Finally, they have embraced at least some basic home control applications with remote home monitoring through the mobile phone. This is an area that we're watching closely, as we expect that energy, home control, and health applications as value-added services will be important for operators to investigate in the next few years.
• Operators are mainly very pleased with the capabilities that DLNA provides to them, particularly in applications such as media servers and multi-device entertainment servers.
• Several service providers spoke of their concern about the high number of video formats that will need to be supported.
• A speaker from A1 Telekom Austria also spoke of the importance of its online backup service as a value-added service (as did a speaker from Telefónica). A1 Telekom Austria offers 1 GB of storage for free, but also will upsell tiers. The company developed their own UI and Media Manager software so different devices (TV, PC, mobile, etc.) could access and share content. The sharing of content is a critical element as well. You can push things like photos to your parents by simply entering in their telephone number into the interface on the TV or the PC, so sharing digital photos with non-tech savvy people becomes much easier.

I'm off to Budapest to speak at the CTAM EuroSummit'10 tomorrow. It will be interesting to hear the perspectives of the cable operators in Europe regarding the connected home, and what similarities and differences exist with technology, strategy, and business models.

Research Workshop features Broadband Services, 3D TV, Video Services, Connected CE

Parks Associates is hosting the special one-day research workshop Monetizing the Digital Lifestyle on September 20 to address operator strategies, value-added services, and new technologies such as 3D TV, connected CE, and multiscreen solutions. This interactive workshop takes place at the Connected Home World Summit in London.

Kurt Scherf, Vice President & Principal Analyst and Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst will present insight, analysis, and forecasts of the digital living markets in the following sessions:

-- Enhancing Broadband Services: Connected Home and Customer Support
-- Providing Depth on 3D TV Opportunities
-- Operator-provided Video Services: Coming into Focus
-- Connected Consumer Electronics: Platforms, Online Content, and the Consumer

Kurt Scherf will also chair and present on "Examining recent and forecast deployments of connected home services by operators and service providers" on September 21 at 9:30 a.m. In addition to hosting the research workshop and speaking at the event, Parks Associates is a supporting partner of the 2010 Connected Home World Summit. The Connected Home World Summit, part of the IPTV World Series, brings together key players in the connected home value chain to evaluate the commercial potential of connected home services and to clearly understand the technical and financial challenges of supporting them.

What will consumers add next to their home networks and life?

A 3D TV? A smartphone? A smart meter?

Digital Lifestyles: Outlook 2010, a new industry report focuses on the consumer, with an emphasis on expanding and enhancing user experiences in communications, entertainment, support, and connectivity.

This report provides analysis, forecasts, and industry and consumer drivers for a variety of digital lifestyle categories including: Access Services, Television Services, Mobile Services and Devices, Digital Media and Gaming, Trends in Consumer Electronics, Digital Home Tech Support, and Home Systems.

Digital Living Conference & Showcase features keynotes from Sony Pictures, Samsung, Sony Electronics

Parks Associates announced the preliminary agenda for CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase, which will address the future of digital entertainment and connected CE with keynotes from Sony and Samsung. In addition to the focus on digital content and new service offerings for consumers, the three-day event will feature research presentations and speaker panels on support services, DRM, energy management and controls, advertising, and mobile applications and services.

CONNECTIONS™, in its 14th year, will take place June 8-10 at the Santa Clara Convention Center and is the premier event for research and analysis on connected home technologies and digital living solutions. CONNECTIONS™ attracts over 600 executives in the connected home industries and is the only event that addresses developments within each industry sector while also focusing on the impact and opportunities for convergence across industries.

Keynotes include:

· Scott Birnbaum, Vice President, Samsung LCD Group

· Mitch Singer, CTO, Sony Pictures Entertainment; President, DECE

For more information, visit www.connectionsus.com.