One of the central themes across this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is connectivity. And one of the areas where connectivity will be most evident is around the concept of the connected home, specifically as it relates to shared entertainment.
Connectivity in the home isn’t new, but it’s getting more advanced and becoming more mainstream – and that’s already creating some excitement ahead of this year’s CES kickoff. Next week, Broadcom will be showcasing an update to a technology called MoCA, short for Multimedia over Coax Alliance.
Among consumers, MoCA may not be a familiar buzzword – largely because it’s a technology that consumers don’t have to think about. In the industry, though, the technology is widely recognized and already utilized by some of the bigger names in the business - from Comcast and Cox to DirecTV and Dish Network, among others. It’s fast becoming the industry standard for home entertainment networking.
Consider the obvious benefits: Coaxial connections are common in most homes today, used by the cable and satellite industries since their inception as a means of delivering high quality video through set-top boxes and into television sets. Coax offers high capacity and low latency and is shielded from noise and interference, especially when compared to wireless. Coax also works across various platforms – whether cable, teclo/IPTV or satellite – and allows communications between all connected home devices.
At the show, Broadcom will showcase the industry’s first MoCA 2.0 integrated portfolio, including six new set-top boxes and Hybrid IP Gateway System-on-a-Chip platforms. MoCA 2.0 more than doubles the home network performance and enhances the quality of video distribution in the home. It also enables more energy efficient systems and supports higher levels of security for enhanced content protection.
MoCA is already providing services that today’s consumers love, from video-on-demand and multi-room DVRs to multi-player gaming and personal content sharing. But it also makes other, non-entertainment services possible, from home security and home automation to smart grid applications.
The non-profit MoCA Alliance was established in 2004. The technology is found in more than 100 certified products, including set-top boxes, network-attached storage, routers, gateways and other home network equipment.
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