Philips Unveils First Demo of a Wireless IEEE 1394 Connected Home Solution
Reprinted from a Philips press release:
Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) today demonstrated a key semiconductor technology development in the realization of the connected home. Leveraging its expertise in research, development and semiconductor technology, Philips demonstrated the industry’s first home networking solution for wireless distribution of digital content throughout the home based on IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.11a. With this solution, Philips meets the increased demand to connect consumer electronics (CE) and PC clusters in the home without additional wires. Furthermore, it is also a validation to Philips’ leadership in wired and wireless connectivity, including innovations in the area of 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee, USB and now wireless 1394.
According to In-Stat/MDR, IEEE 1394 ports are being installed on large numbers of CE and PC devices, including digital televisions, advanced set-top boxes, digital cameras, game consoles, cable modems, printers and DVD players. The number of CE devices expected to be attached to home networks will exceed 7 million by 2005. According to senior analyst Brian O’Rourke, “with its ability to provide high bandwidth and isochronous data transfer in a peer-to-peer network, the IEEE 1394 standard is perfect for multimedia home networking.”
The demonstration by Philips is the first to conform to both existing and new industry standards under the direction of the IEEE 1394 Trade Association (TA), including IEEE 1394a-2000 and the latest IEEE 1394.1 bridging technology draft specification. Philips is implementing technology that enables wireless connectivity via a high-performance serial bus bridge standard, IEEE 1394.1, in an IEEE 802.11a home network environment. The wireless bridging extends the 1394 bus into a complete in-home digital network. The combination of 1394 over an 802.11a network (which operates at 5 GHz and transfers data at 54 Mbps or higher) makes this wireless solution ideal for transporting bandwidth-hungry audio, video and data content streams. In addition, Philips’ technology includes the Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) capability and therefore provides a clear path to support this content protection methodology.
“Philips, a leader in wireless connectivity technology, is the first company to show the viability of a wireless home network based on standards-compliant 1394 over 802.11a,” said Gerhard Heider, general manager of Business Line Connectivity, Philips Semiconductors. “Based on Philips’ analysis, the advent of the CE/PC wireless bridge is essential for seamlessly linking 1394-equipped devices and is a natural step towards the evolution of the connected home.”
“As an active member of the 1394 Trade Association, Philips has shown its commitment and innovative leadership in the area of 1394 and has remained focused on the development of new, exciting technology based on clear market opportunities,” said James Snider, chair of the 1394 TA. “We are happy to feature Philips’ demonstration at this year’s DevCon, as it represents an industry-first for a standards-based IEEE 1394 home networking solution.”