GreenPeak Technologies, supplier of the ZigBee chip inside Comcast-issued set-top boxes, announced availability last week of its GP510 communication controller chip that supports communication between ZigBee RF4CE-enabled devices and a set-top or home gateway. The GP510 was developed to be a low-cost solution for next-generation ZigBee set-top boxes, CEO Cees Links told us. It’s rolling out in set-tops from Comcast in select markets, according to a schedule the cable provider announced at CES earlier this year. Comcast uses GreenPeak chips in all its set-top boxes, Links said. Comcast’s Xfinity home control system allows consumers to monitor lights, thermostats, security cameras and alarm systems remotely from a computer or smartphone. The GreenPeak-enabled set-tops serve as the hub for wirelessly connected ZigBee devices and a sensor network in the Comcast home control system, Links said. AT&T’s Digital Life platform, in contrast, uses the competing Z-Wave wireless standard. Links cited the growth of sensor-based control and Wi-Fi networks in homes and said momentum was building around ZigBee as the standard for data communication for sensor control networks. Future set-tops will have Wi-Fi for content and ZigBee for sensor control for temperature, lighting, appliances and security, Links said. A connected water heater could send a signal via the cloud by email or text that it has malfunctioned, according to the Xfinity website, or a tripped window sensor could trigger a video camera to record. Links predicts that in 10 years “everyone will be used to Zigbee in the same way people are used to Wi-Fi” today. It “takes a few years before a standard settles in and harmonizes with everything around it,” he said, which is happening with ZigBee now. His view of the environmentally aware smart home of the future takes consumers “in a completely new direction.” When sensors and devices are connected over the same standard they can communicate in a transparent way, he said. In the environmentally aware smart home of the future, when a window is opened it can trigger a security breach if the homeowner is away and the alarm is on. If the alarm isn’t on, the home knows it’s occupied and the sensor triggers the heat to go off to save energy, he said. “We think there’s a place for a second network in the home,” Links said, envisioning homes with both Wi-Fi and ZigBee-based networks. Cost has been a major barrier to home automation at the mainstream level but cost is “going down significantly,” he said. There’s been a “breakthrough in the thinking of cable operators” who want to offer more in a competitive market than just entertainment content and Internet service, he said, and an emerging market needs a major player like Comcast to “shake up the market like Apple did for Wi-Fi” with AirPlay, he said. When Apple adopted Wi-Fi, “everybody else was standing in line” wondering why they needed Wi-Fi, he said. “We see Comcast as somewhat equivalent to Apple in playing this role because of their clout and reach,” he said.
A U.S. regulator gave more time to agree on set-top box energy efficiency standards among advocates at nonprofits seeking reduced energy use, and executives of consumer electronics companies and multichannel video programming distributors hoping to avoid rules. The executives said the talks on standards for set-tops have been fruitful, and they're hopeful conversations will pick up steam. The Department of Energy said Thursday it’s delaying a rulemaking schedule until after Oct. 1 to give the talks time to progress, and executives told us a fall time frame for a deal is reasonable.
CEA is no more enamored of NAB’s lobbying the FCC to encourage the voluntary inclusion of radio chips in mobile devices than it was with past NAB proposals urging Congress and the agency to mandate FM receivers in cellphones, CEA President Gary Shapiro told us in a statement Tuesday. He responded to NAB President Gordon Smith’s call on the commission earlier this week to begin “a serious discussion about the voluntary activation of radio chips” in mobile phones (CD July 5 p15). As ammunition in his letter Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Smith cited the important role radio stations played in distributing weather information during the recent storms that struck the East Coast and Midwest. Smith thanked Genachowski for convening a July 20 meeting of broadcast and wireless industry representatives to discuss the issue.
NAB “stands ready to work” with the FCC “to encourage the voluntary inclusion of radio chips in all mobile devices, NAB CEO Gordon Smith wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski this week. He cited the role radio stations played in distributing weather information during the recent storm that struck the East Coast and Midwest. “NAB believes the time is right for a serious discussion about the voluntary activation of radio chips in cell mobile phones,” Smith said. The CTIA called the plug for FM chips in phones a “shameless attempt to use natural disasters and the misfortune of others” to push a public policy agenda.
MPowa, a mobile payment app, will be available in the United States, mPowa founder Dan Wagner said. The free app processes transactions from card, cash, and checks; and card transactions include a 0.25 percent processing fee, he said. Cards can be swiped on the reader which also accepts chip and PIN devices, he said. MPowa serves businesses with previous banking arrangements for card payments as well as small and medium-sized businesses that did not previously have mobile payment capabilities.
Global Telecom & Technology promotes Michael Bauer to chief financial officer … Qualcomm promotes at its QCT semiconductor business Cristiano Amon and Murthy Renduchintala to co-presidents of mobile and computing products … Lemko Corp. names Robert Condon, ex-Comcast’s BroadNet, as president of Lemko Europe … Recording Academy’s New York chapter elects to board Richard Stumpf, Imagem Music USA … Lobbyist Registrations: Beach TV, Balch and Bingham, effective May 14.
A consortium of high-tech companies, higher education associations and public interest groups announced a partnership Tuesday to spur the deployment of high-speed Internet using the TV white spaces at colleges and universities across the U.S. through what they're calling AIR.U (for Advanced Internet Regions). The white spaces market has been slow to get rolling, especially since the FCC has taken years to approve all of the rules for use of the spectrum.
Mindspeed Technologies will include support for smart distributed antenna systems (DAS) in its PC333 and PC3032 system-on-chip products intended for use in small cells, the chip company said Tuesday. DAS helps expand the range of cellular coverage, and small cells improve capacity. The new offerings constitute “'hybrid’ systems,” the company said. Doug Pulley, chief wireless technology officer, said DAS and small cells “should be seen as complementary technologies rather than competitive."
The Senate debate over cybersecurity legislation grew increasingly partisan as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday that some Republicans are not taking the cyberthreat seriously. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told reporters he agreed with Reid and suggested there are political reasons for the Republican opposition to the Senate Cybersecurity Act (S-2105). But sponsors of the alternative Senate cybersecurity bill, the SECURE IT Act (S-2151), urged the majority leader to bring a bill to the floor for debate and see where the chips fall.
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council approved a report Wednesday recommending a testbed to collect data on 911 location accuracy when calls are made inside a building. A CSRIC working group on E-911 location accuracy had been asked to prepare a report by the FCC answering eight questions on indoor location accuracy. The group decided more data must be collected first to get a better handle on the topic, even as more people are using cellphones to call 911, in and out of their homes.