broadband

The Digital Home refers to a residence where different devices are connected through a computer network – it is considered a network of consumer electronics, mobile and computer devices that cooperate transparently to simplify usability in the home. The Digital Home facilitates the automatic or semi-automatic control of lighting, doors and windows, and security, surveillance systems and control of home entertainment systems. In this article we will discuss the minimum requirements for a digital home and propose how a digital home should be configured for successful operational use.

Britain has kicked off its 4G trial for mobile broadband. The county of Cornwall was selected by BT and Everything Everywhere two of the country’s leading telecom providers.  The technology which promises to offer better wireless broadband speed for those in rural areas where wired is not feasible.  The telegraph said Around 200 households in St. Newlyn East and South Newquay are selected to participate in the trial.

O2 is set to join the likes of BT and Virgin media in offering fibre optic broadband service.  According to the Cable website, O2 will launch a commercial trial before the end of this year.  Felix Geyr,  the companies managing director, said they are making sure “the right customer experience” is in place before the pilot starts.

Gridline Communication in partnership with Cable and Wireless Worldwide, Electricity Northwest and T-Systems U.K., has setup a Smart Grid and Broadband over Powerline pilot in the U.K. According to Gridline, The purpose of the pilot is to demonstrate the viability of both consumer broadband services and smart meter operations within a deep rural environment. Full implementation of the project is expected to finish by the end of this month.

When some of us in the West can brag about having 50M broadband and can only talk about 100M, South Korea is planning to give its citizen broadband speed some of us can only dream of.   According to the New York Times South Korea is moving it broadband speed up another level to one gigabit per second.  The country is piloting the project at the moment and hope to have it completely rolled out by the end of 2012.

Netgem, will outline its "IPTV 2.0" strategy at the upcoming IP&TV World Forum in London and demonstrate its new Home Cloud software platform. Also as part of the IP&TV World Forum's conference programme, Christophe Aulnette, Netgem's CEO, will highlight Netgem's open strategy. He will deliver Netgem's vision for the future of TV in a Leadership Insight session, "Connected TVs - IPTV 2.0: the Home Cloud" on Wednesday 23rd March.

BT (British Telecom) is the UKs largest telecom provider and it is one of those companies that you would love to hate but you can’t, because from time to time they do or say something that causes you to love or hate them all over again.  This week BT pledged to spend an extra £1bn pounds to bring super-fast broadband to UK homes; this is one of those occasions.

Home Box Office and Comcast Corporation announced partnership to offer award-winning television and movie content from HBO and Cinemax online for the first time as an added value to Comcast’s HBO and Cinemax customers nationwide. The HBO and Cinemax broadband services will be available as part of Comcast’s On Demand Online trial, accessible via Comcast.net and Fancast.com. On Demand Online is a new service that will significantly expand the number of top-rated TV choices available online to Comcast cable customers free of charge.

NTT DOCOMO, Inc. announced today the development of a highly compact indoor base transceiver station, or femtocell BTS, that supports extra-fast data communication and highly practical services under DOCOMO's "Home Area" concept of linking mobile phones to the DOCOMO network via broadband connection in the home.

Virgin Media - the largest residential broadband provider in the UK and Motorola – leading broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions will be collaboration on providing the next generation of home entertainment services to customers. With the growth in digital home devices, the two companies said they will be looking at providing a flexible content solution for their customers.