2Wire Unveils the Industry's First Fully Integrated Solution for Digital Home Connectivity

Interoperability, Intuitive User Interfaces, Place Shifting, Centralized Storage, and Unified Management Are Keys to Successful Integration of the Digital Home

LAS VEGAS, NV — CES — 2Wire, a provider of broadband service platforms, today unveiled the industry’s first fully integrated multi-service connectivity solution, with the addition of the new 2Wire intelligent home server, and the 2Wire Shifter™ remote video and multimedia access feature.

The fully integrated solution creates the opportunity for service providers to be the sole source of the subscriber’s entire digital experience, by offering bundled service plans that cover the full breadth of subscriber data and entertainment needs.

For broadband subscribers, the integrated platform finally solves the digital media dilemma. Having embraced digital media, subscribers are ultimately disappointed to discover that file types are mismatched, platforms are proprietary, and media access is limited to specific devices and locations. The result is scattered content and a fragmented digital experience.

2Wire solutions resolve these issues by providing seamless integration of interoperable devices, applications, and services. Key features of the 2Wire platform include automated storage, backup, and universal access to all media types, from purchased video, to photos, music, and user-generated video. Content and services are accessible via a single intuitive Web portal, whether at home or away.

“Since our inception, 2Wire has been opening the door to the digital home for our telco customers, with platforms that provide subscribers uncomplicated, whole-home networking solutions,” said Pasquale Romano, president and CEO of 2Wire. “We are now able to provide subscribers with the most unified digital experience available, while giving telcos new products, services, and software that create the unprecedented opportunity to assume ownership of the entire digital home experience.”

Both the 2Wire intelligent home server and the 2Wire Shifter leverage the 2Wire HomePortal® intelligent gateway and MediaPortal™ platforms to provide DSL subscribers with a unique, fully convergent digital media experience. HomePortal intelligent gateways feature a high performance ADSL or VDSL modem, high-speed router, professional-grade firewall, integrated voice over IP, and flexible home networking options. The 2Wire MediaPortal platform allows providers to combine broadcast satellite or off-air TV programming with broadband services, to deliver a comprehensive entertainment solution.

The new components of the 2Wire multi-service connectivity solution include:

• 2Wire intelligent home server – This category-defining new solution combines the functionality of a network-attached storage device with the flexibility of a media server. Discover™, an application bundled with the intelligent home server, actively seeks out content from other networked devices and, keeping metadata intact, aggregates it into categorized libraries which can then be accessed directly — through any networked device, such as a PC, or remotely, through any Internet-connected, media-capable device such as a computer or even handheld devices and mobile phones. The intelligent home server features a Web-based user interface, customizable by the service provider, for simple subscriber access and configuration on the provider’s portal site, utilizing the subscriber’s existing username and password.
• 2Wire Shifter – 2Wire Shifter is the pivotal place-shifting component of the 2Wire multi-service media platform. This feature is enabled by an adapter the size of a deck of cards. Interoperable with a variety of networked devices, including set top boxes and the 2Wire intelligent home server, it enables Web-based remote access of any multimedia content, including live streaming television, to any content-capable device, such as a laptop computer or even a mobile phone.

Each component of the 2Wire multi-service connectivity solution is interoperable and standards-compliant. The entire system is fully manageable by the 2Wire CMS CPE management system as well as a variety of 2Wire server applications. Such applications include business rules and analytics, home automation controls, data backup management, and media management, a server application that mediates third-party content providers and manages subscriber content purchases and downloads, DRM, and billing. As a customized, bundled solution, this suite of intelligent, interoperable products and services features Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) functionality, and a single service-provider-branded, Web-based portal.

All components of the 2Wire multi-service connectivity solution will be made exclusively available to the world’s leading telecom broadband service providers. Components are also compatible with many third-party devices, and customized platforms may be provided for integration in a variety of configurations.

2Wire will be demonstrating the new platform to broadband service provider customers in private meetings during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.