Vision - November/December 2007 - (Page 32)

At CES, Netgear is planning to show an all-in-one femtocell with an integrated DSL modem, says David James, director of product management for the service provider business unit of Netgear in Santa Clara, Calif. However, he notes, because the show floor is not an ideal environment for a functional demonstration, the work- ing unit will not be switched on. “These are the early days for this technology,” James says, adding that he expects more than ten million femtocells to be sold in the next few years. “I think 2008 is the year of the femtocell,” says Ray Smets, vice president of marketing at the broadband solutions hDmi and cable ecause not all HDMI products offer the same set of features and benefits, Monster Cable will display at CES what the company says are the world’s first “speed-rated” HDMI cables. These include a new series of highend cables, dubbed Monster Advanced HDMI, that have bandwidth capacities exceeding the requirements of the latest HDMI technology specification. Some of the cables also are supported by a new “Cable for Life” upgrade program that offers free new cables to customers if the HDMI technology specification ever advances beyond these cables’ capacity. But at least one of Monster’s competitors, Belkin, contends that speed ratings are unnecessary, and says it also offers a similar upgrade guarantee. Monster’s new range, certified by Simplay Labs of Sunnyvale, Calif., includes five speed-ratings. l Standard, which offers bandwidth of at least 2.23 Gbps (Gigabits per second) for 720p or 1080i high-definition video with 8-bit color depth and 60-Hz frame/ refresh rates; l High-Speed, providing at least 4.95-Gbps bandwidth for 1080p video, 8-bit color depth and 60-Hz frame/refresh rates; l Advanced High-Speed, supplying at least 6.68-Gbps bandwidth for 1080p video, 12-bit color depth and 60-Hz frame/refresh rates; l Ultra High-Speed, delivering at least 10.2-Gbps bandwidth for 1080p video and beyond, 12-bit color depth, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD surround sound, and 120-Hz frame/refresh rates; and l Ultimate High-Speed, furnishing at least 14.3-Gbps bandwidth—beyond the needs of today’s HDMI-equipped CE devices. Prices range from $50 to $130. “HDMI cable connectivity standards have evolved to meet ever-changing improvements in source and display technology,” says Noel Lee, the Head Monster at the Brisbane, Calif., based firm. With the different speed-rated cables, consumers now have the choice to buy a lower bandwidth cable for less-advanced HDMI-enabled devices if that is all they need. Yet John Lee, product manager for audio-video at Belkin in Compton, Calif., asserts that marketing different cables according to speed ratings can confuse mainstream consumers. He says it is better to sell only HDMI cables that are designed for the highest bandwidth needed by the most advanced of today’s audio-video devices—like Belkin does. In addition, Belkin’s Lee notes that Belkin, too, will replace a cable that becomes obsolete, under its lifetime warranty. Moreover, he says, this replacement guarantee applies to all of Belkin’s HDMI cables, including its entry-level cables ($40–60), the mid-range PureAV Blue Series ($60–$100), and the high-end PureAV Silver Series ($100–$160). • B group at Motorola in Emeryville, Calif. He says he expects that at CES femtocell makers will display a variety of devices with interesting industrial designs, and that mobile operators will make announcements about femtocell trials. In July, Thomson announced that it is working on a femtocell in collaboration with Nokia Siemens Networks, a network technology supplier to mobile operators. The two companies anticipate technology trials to begin early next year, and commercial deployments are planned for the third quarter of 2008. Some field tests of femtocells may begin by the end of this year with commercial introductions by mid-2008. Devices will be available only from cell phone service providers, and not sold at retail. “This is definitely a category of very high interest for mobile operators, who see it as a way of luring people off landlines and increasing revenue per user,” says Jonathan Gaw, research manager at IDC in Minneapolis. a/V netWorking The continuing evolution of audio-video networking in the home also will be evident at CES in the form of more CE devices with built-in HomePlug AV powerline networking and Wi-Fi wireless networking technologies. Since its debut two years ago, HomePlug AV—which offers bandwidth of 200 Megabits-per-second (Mbps) over electrical wiring in the home, or enough capacity to carry two simultaneous streams of high-definition video—has been offered mainly in digital media adapters and other computer accessories. But next year, says Oleg Logvinov, chief strategy officer for the HomePlug Alliance, HomePlug AV will spread more widely into mainstream audio and video devices such as DVD players, HDTVs, iPod docking stations, speakers, PCs and whole-house audio systems—“just about anything we’re accustomed to using for listening, viewing and controlling.” One of these new product introductions at CES is expected to be the Network Aquos LCD-TV from Sharp, which in addition www.ce.org 32 November/December 2007 http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - November/December 2007

Vision - November/December 2007 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In This Issue The Economist C4 Visionary Tech Speak Going Global Eye on Business Tech Policy Special Supplement: CES Unveiled 2008 CES Technologies to Watch Eastern Europe Embraces CE M&A Fest Displaying the Future CEA Newsline Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - November/December 2007

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