Already a household name in home networking with its set-top boxes and routers, and its support of all three in premises communication specifications, Motorola’s planned acquisition of Netopia Inc. portends to help service providers better handle their triple-play challenges.
Fresh off a raft of new product introductions at the recent Broadband World Forum in Europe, Netopia brings Motorola the wares it needs for IP video deployments now that the traditional demarcation has moved from outside to inside the home, in this Wild West-type frontier.
“Motorola gets a portfolio of DSL gateway products as well as the NBBS service management platform,” says Michelle Abraham, principal analyst of the converging markets and technologies group at In-Stat. “The management software will help with telco TV deployments as it allows providers to manage devices attached to the gateway like set-top boxes, which Motorola already offers.”
Motorola, which is paying roughly $208 million in cash for Netopia, is in a race with Cisco/Scientific-Atlanta/Linksys in this make-or-break land grab. But the challenges are daunting in service rollout to consumers, as a survey conducted by home networking research and consulting firm Parks Associates found. According to the survey, nearly 11 million U.S. users had problems with a home network.
That’s where Netopia’s NBBS package comes in. Netopia's NBBS is a service management platform that has been developed to the DSL Forum TR-069 specification. Available as a hosted solution or a licensed product, NBBS uses remote, automated service provisioning and device management to help telcos expand service revenue while cutting operational and support costs. Specifically, it provides centralized service and device management for IP-based CPE including broadband gateways, modems, VoIP phones and set-top boxes, and it integrates with current OSS systems and CRM systems.
“NBBS is a key component of our broadband service assurance solutions for service providers,” said Jeff Porter, Netopia’s vice president of advanced software sales, in announcing a new revision of NBBS this fall. “It is proven, scalable and secure, currently managing more than 1 million CPE devices from multiple vendors for several different carriers. The enhancements we’ve made increase both its manageability and its performance, and deliver on our promise to make DSL the right choice for subscribers. We’re now the only vendor to offer complete deployment and management solutions, from the gateway to the desktop – and soon to the set-top box.”
In the latest release of the NBBS, support for the DSL Forum’s TR-104 and WT-135 protocols were added to accommodate VoIP and IPTV service management. In addition, performance and error events generated by NBBS now can be passed to an HP Openview client for forwarding to a system-wide monitoring console or network management system. And it has a new full-featured, XML-based Web services interface.
One of Netopia’s MiAVo DSL gateways. The MiAVo (Media In Audio Video Out) platform is optimized for triple-play services like IPTV.
Beyond the NBBS, Netopia offers a raft of access and premises-based networking gear.
Central to the Netopia product line are its various xDSL gateways, which provide for automated provisioning and configuration; support for TR-101, enabling the gateways to manage multiple services from different providers simultaneously; support for IGMPv3, which assures QoS for multiple video streams to different TVs in the home; support for wireless multimedia protocol, or WMM, which provides QoS so voice, video and data can coexist peacefully over the wireless network; and support for TR-111, which allows TR-069-based consumer devices in the home, like set-top boxes and gaming systems, that are connected to the gateway, to be remotely configured and managed.
To support the deployment of VoIP services, the company recently came out with an analog terminal adapter (ATA). Also this fall, Netopia announced plans to introduce next year a new series of wireless integrated access devices (WIADs).
The ATA lets subscribers use their existing analog telephones and fax machines to access VoIP services through the Ethernet port of any DSL broadband-connected CPE, without having to upgrade or replace the current CPE. Netopia says its ATA is unique in that it includes support for remote management and auto-configuration capabilities.
The WIADs, meanwhile, will come in ADSL2+ and VDSL2 models and will support WT-104 and TR-069. A single box will be able to be deployed and auto-configured to deliver not only connectivity, but also voice services and IPTV.
Netopia President and CEO Alan Lefkof will report directly to Dan Moloney, president of Motorola Connected Home Solutions, after the close of the deal. Netopia will, at that time, become a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola and will be integrated into Motorola’s Connected Home Solutions business.
Cisco Systems Inc. www.cisco.com
In-Stat www.in-stat.com
Motorola Inc. www.motorola.com
Netopia Inc. www.netopia.com
Parks Associates www.parkassociates.com
