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Local Companies Key Players in Hitting a Triple

Posted on: Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

As connected consumers move toward triple play and home run services - where voice, video, data and wireless all come from one delivery source - local companies are key players in providing the infrastructure and products.

Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. and Aurora-based Westell Technologies have been providing infrastructure, related network equipment and consumer products. Tellabs Inc. and Lucent Technologies in Naperville have been involved in infrastructure build-out and expansion to ensure reliability and security.

"We want to connect all of these things in a way that's easy for the consumer and doesn't shift their behavior and what they want to accomplish, even if it's just watching TV or seeing and talking with the grandparents in Florida," said Bill Taylor, Motorola marketing director for the consumer electronics business.

These manufacturers are part of the emerging battle between their customers - the cable and telephone companies that are gearing up to provide every communication and entertainment need.

In Motorola's case, cable modems and set-top boxes, including those for Internet Protocol television have become hot items.

Some consumer products that will work with triple play and home run services include the Ojo video phone via the Internet and mobile handsets.

Motorola's seamless mobility mantra - where all devices work together anytime and anyplace - could have consumers carrying their favorite music downloaded from their home PC, to their handheld device and then to their iRadio in their car, for example.

As cable expands its video offerings, consumers will be deluged with hundreds of TV channels and thousands of programs, Taylor said.

"Lots of television will get lost," Taylor said. "You'll want to access and organize your time and see television anywhere, anytime, whether it's on your PC or in the van or on a plane. We want consumers to be able to synchronize it seamlessly."

Motorola has been working with Comcast Corp., Verizon Communications, SBC Communications, T-Mobile and Bell Canada, among others to deliver triple and quadruple play services.

"Our vision is around seamless mobility," Taylor said. "We've been working on platforms to make that happen. ...The real challenge for the industry is to create a seamless experience for the consumer so it's not too complicated."

Another local telecom that has been producing both network and consumer products is Westell.

After years of making DSL modems, Westell recently introduced its first consumer product, the Verizon One Media Gateway for Verizon Communications. The videophone offers Web surfing and other features via the Internet.

"We were the last logical choice (for the Verizon bid) and were not known for doing high-end consumer products. Yet we got the bid," said E. Van Cullens, Westell president and chief executive officer. "That's because we do what we say we're going to do and our engineers are very resourceful."

Westell likely will produce other consumer products. However, it's restricted by Verizon from doing similar phones here for about 18 months, though if can sell them overseas, Cullens said.

Westell's next step will be to expand its product line for home networking.

"Triple play is all about networking and it's going to come in incremental steps," said Cullens. "It's going to be increasingly combining wireless and wireline. It's video convergence. All on one interface. People don't want several devices around the home doing what they want."

Your home network and handheld devices won't work without the infrastructure. And your cable or telephone company needs a secure, reliable network to deliver those services. Tellabs and Lucent have been selling much of this network equipment.

Tellabs has been deeply involved with Verizon and others to lay fiber optic networks, which have incredible capacity for data-heavy loads and for expansion of new technology.

The average household uses 15 megabytes to 30 megabytes. However, a home soon would need about 50 megabytes per second to use standard televisions and high-definition televisions, PCs with high-speed Internet connections and other devices, said Tellabs' Marketing Manager Bill Kautz.

Tellabs provides an optical network terminal box that attaches to the outside wall of your home. It has yellow wires inside that enclose the fiber optics, Ethernet, phone line and video line. Inside your home, another box provides the power supply. It can work with the older analog phone or the latest digital phone, computer and TV.

"IP TV is likely in two to three years to the consumer," said Kautz. "We're testing and designing equipment to ensure reliability."

Tellabs has been focusing on giving its customers, such as Verizon, SBC and Bell South, guaranteed bandwidth so voice, video and data services cross the network without interruption, said Scott Christy, Tellabs' professional services manager.

"We can give customers different levels of guaranteed bandwidth as it crosses the network," Christy said. "We could avoid traffic slowdowns when a lot of people are on it."

Also, Lucent has been deeply involved in many facets of triple and quadruple play, said Rob Piconi, vice president and general manager for Lucent's broadband solutions. Many of the products used in triple play are researched, developed and produced in Naperville.

It has been working with several major players, including Qwest, Verizon and Sprint.

Piconi said telephone companies want to get into triple and quadruple play for two reasons.

First, consumers can personalize and customize what they want to see, when they want to see it. They could whittle through 300 to 400 channels, and select around 30 for regular viewing.

Second, consumers want mobility to watch their video or television shows without being tethered to the home.

"The telephone network can give service anywhere anytime, on your cell phone or another device," Piconi said. "Just log on to the network and get that personal selection."

Lucent's Bell Labs, for example, has been working on Follow Me TV, which allows you to take a TV show, or session, from home via the network and go anywhere. You could pick it up wherever you log on, including your PC or mobile phone.

Lucent also has been working with blending voice, data and video packages that were traditionally bundled separately.

For example, you could be sitting at home watching television when you receive a phone call. The caller ID on your television screen would provide you with the phone number and name of the caller. You could use your TV remote to pause what you are watching to answer the call or let it go to your voice mail.

"This all will become very competitive in next few years as cable and telecos compete for communications and entertainment markets," said Piconi. "We believe differentiation will be how consumers choose what to buy. It will be based on cost, quality of service, security and privacy."

Source: Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.

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