The Demarc Evolves Beyond Traditional Endpoint

By the end of this year, it may be tough for folks to locate the traditional telco demarcation, which, thanks to IPTV over FTTH deployments, has been moving from outside the premises to inside the home, adding capabilities every step of the way.

Evidence of this evolving trend came from Amedia Networks Inc., which said it will begin beta testing a gigabit passive optical network (GPON) gateway later this year equipped with home networking capabilities and a personal media library.

So what’s in a multipurpose gateway? Amedia said its planned home media gateway system, the HG-G1000, will comprise a broadband home router and an optical network terminal (ONT), with battery backup. Typically, these devices are located outdoors.

“It’s an interesting idea,” remarked Vince Vittore, senior analyst covering broadband infrastructure for the Yankee Group. “My first thought when I saw this was that it truly does wipe out any concept of a traditional demarc point.”

Moving intelligence, functionality and devices inside the home is an ongoing trend, necessitated by the rise in important and soaring needs – and bandwidth demands – for telco TV deployments, such as that of AT&T Inc., which use a FTTH architecture. Even FTTP approaches are starting to feature more versatile and integrated media devices for location in the customer home.

With the demarc migrating to inside the home, the need for care and feeding weather-hardened devices is diminished, which can mean savings for telcos rolling out big-bandwidth bundles to the home.

According to a recent report by Infonetics Research, the worldwide PON FTTH subscribers doubled from 2004 to 2005 and is projected to grow from 4.1 million in 2005 to 38 million in 2009. In aggregate, the firm predicts the Bells could spend $3 billion to $5 billion on GPON gear alone for U.S. deployments through 2010.

Soaring bandwidth demands, driven by uses other than simply delivering video – including popularity of HD sports programming, interactive gaming and Internet-viewed video – are eating up much more capacity than some originally anticipated. That is driving some telcos to turn up 100mbps links to customer homes.

Amedia said its HG-G1000 acts as an endpoint and supports Multimedia over Coax Alliance, Ethernet and wireless home networking capabilities.

The company said its product will have a built-in software API to support the development and delivery of proprietary or third-party software programs as well as networked applications to subscribers, such as Web surfing, in-home messaging, remote home monitoring and control, a virtual family calendar and other innovations. Utilizing a Web browser interface from any television or monitor, users can browse the Internet as well as download, organize, store or playback multimedia such as videos, digital pictures, music, voice messages, and much more. Additionally, the GPON BHR has four wired LAN interfaces with 10/100/1000 BASE T auto-negotiating, which supports GbE for client devices capable of communicating at that rate.

Amedia Networks Inc. www.amedia.com

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