CONNECTIONS SUMMIT Agenda Announced

The CONNECTIONS™ SUMMIT Sessions, January 7, 2010, in Room S225, South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, feature commentary, insight, and debate on successful market strategies and deployment for “digital living” products and services.

Sessions include:
• Consumer Electronics Purchases: Are Consumers Back in the Buying Mood?
• The Connected TV – Displays and Beyond
• Service Provider Strategies for the Connected Home
• The Mobile Aspect of Unified Infotainment: Opportunities and Challenges
• Advances in Television Advertising
• Bringing the Smart Grid to the Smart Home
• 3D: Adding New Dimensions to Entertainment

More info at: www.connectionssummit.com

Wrapping it Up – Predictions for the Next Five Years, CONN EU panel

Parks Associates wraps up CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit with a recap of key findings on the last panel, Wrapping it Up – Predictions for the Next Five Years . Parks Associates provides perspectives and predictions for five key digital lifestyles markets in Europe:

• Broadcast and entertainment services

• Communications and broadband services

• Home networking

• Home monitoring and green-living technologies

• Device management and support services

Speakers include:

Fabrizio Caffarelli, CEO, TVBLOB
Philippe Calvet, Head of Home & Broadband Networks Standards in Orange Strategy & Development group, Orange/France Telecom; Head of Business Group & Board Member, HGI
Bill Correll, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Eyecon Technologies
Trond Neergaard, Founder and Managing Partner, Cloudberry Associates; Member of CTAM Europe Board
Paolo Pastorino, Business Development and Marketing Manager, Loquendo
Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates
Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates

CONNECTIONS EU: Enabling Technologies - Connecting It All

Consumer electronics manufacturers have many choices when it comes to the design of network-connected products. This CONNECTIONS Europe panel, Enabling Technologies: Connecting It All, brings together companies developing connectivity solutions for both fixed and mobile platforms to discuss these challenges:

• Home networking architectures

• Device discovery software

• Media server solutions

• Conditional access and rights management

• User interfaces

• Software development and execution solutions

• Device and service management elements

Participants on this panel include the following:

Matthew Huntington, VP, Product Marketing, OpenTV
Wouter Leibbrandt, Manager, Advanced Systems Lab, NXP Semiconductors
Peter Smyth, CEO, RedMere
Jon Finegold, Co-Founder and COO, Thinking Screen Media
Ian Walsh, VP of Business Development, ProVision Communications

Moderator: Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates

Decreasing Piracy in the Modern Digital Environment

At the upcoming CONNECTIONS Europe event in Amsterdam, I will be taking part in the "Digital Furnace: Residential Gateways and Set-Top Boxes" paneldiscussion, which will explore the increasingly popular 'home hub' experience.This is an especially critical topic for the industry right now as it considers hardware developments, environmental factors, applications, and features as well as content delivery and protection.

Currently, consumer demand for media-rich home entertainment services is driving innovation and new revenue opportunities in the set-top box industry. Next generation set-top boxes will integrate video content from multiple signal sources such as broadcast television, premium video-on-demand and Internet-based services. They will also provide value-added capabilities like time-shifting and enabling content to be distributed to a variety of viewing devices including multi-room TV networks, personal computers, portable media players, and other mobile devices.

Yet this level of source variety and content portability is inherently more susceptible to piracy attacks, which dramatically increases the complexity of security requirements. Set-top boxes, their associated conditional access systems and digital rights management technologies are under constant threat from device tampering, software security breaches and hacker attacks that can significantly impact the reputation and bottom line for both set-top box manufacturers and operators.

How do manufacturers and operators alike achieve sustainable security in the set-top box ecosystem thus preparing their devices to safely deliver high-value premium content to global consumers?

If the manufacturers get it right, they can fight against attacks, while creating a profitable business model.

The “Digital Furnace: Residential Gateways and Set-Top Boxes” panel discussion will take place at CONNECTIONS Europe, Amsterdam on Wednesday 4th November, 2009 at 11.45 a.m. CET.

By Andrew Wajs, CTO, Irdeto

Business Models for On-Demand Lifestyles

The CONNECTIONS Europe Summit afternoon begins with the Business Models for On-Demand Lifestyles panel moderated by Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates.

Where is profitability in the connected lifestyle? What are the “rules of engagement” (business, regulatory, consumer) for implementing access to new content and applications? This panel examines the critical factors for monetizing the connected lifestyle:

• Monetizing online content

• The role of advertising and other revenue-generating programs

• Understanding the needs of content producers and owners

• Application stores, microtransactions, and the mobile provider

Speakers include:
Wim Bus, Senior Vice President of Product Management & Operations, Civolution
Keith Donovan, Sales & Marketing Director, Intamac Systems
Rob Lewis, CEO, Omnifone
Theodore May, VP Content & Value Added Services, Synacor
Neerav Shah, VP Business Development, Verimatrix

Evolution of the “Digital Furnace”: Residential Gateways and Set-top Boxes

New trends such as cloud computing, green living, mobile connectivity, and hybrid Internet-TV services are reshaping the role of the set-top box. Carriers, squeezed by low subscriber revenues and the demand for more features, need a home hub that offers more capability for less capital.

The Evolution of the “Digital Furnace”: Residential Gateways and Set-top Boxes session explores:

-- The evolution of features that home hubs will support
-- Support for features such as home monitoring, energy management, and health monitoring
-- Network and hardware requirements for “future-proofed” home hubs
-- The role of retail-purchased consumer electronics as compatible nodes

Participants on this panel include:
Art Lancaster, CTO, Affinegy
Christer Larsson, CEO and Co-founder, Makewave (formerly Gatespace Telematics AB); VP EMEA, OSGi Alliance
Bill Stanley, Executive Director, Operations Solutions, Telcordia
Frederic Van Durme, Head of Product Management, Thomson
Andrew Wajs, CTO, Irdeto Group, Irdeto/Cloakware

Moderator: Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates

CONNECTIONS EU: Defining the New Video Experience

The consumer video experience is incorporating more than just television and movie content. This CONNECTIONS Europe panel identifies the near- and long-term roadmap for the shape of television, video, and entertainment consumption from both CE and service perspectives: New services as supplements to the core video experience; Integrating mobile, online, and PC content into the three-screen ecosystem; The emergence of 3D video and gaming solutions; Cloud services to the set-top box; and Visual networking – bringing social networking to the TVisual networking – bringing social networking to the TV.

Panelists include:
Ronald Brockmann, Managing Director, ActiveVideo Europe
Richard Bullwinkle, Chief Evangelist, Rovi Corporation
Patrik Nilsson, Director, Adobe
Geof Todd, Director of Sales & New Business Initiatives, NDS

Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates will be moderating this interactive session.

CONNECTIONS Europe announces new speakers including Orange, TVBLOB, Adobe, Omnifone, and ProVision Communications

Parks Associates today announced new speakers for CONNECTIONS™ Europe, featuring executive expertise in IPTV, connected CE, and advanced video services.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe panelists will address key industry issues: the development roadmap for digital lifestyle technologies and applications; adoption and revenue forecasts of key connected device and service categories; an examination of the business models for video and entertainment content and applications, online services, and communications

Pierre François Dubois, VP Very High Broadband & Digital Home Products, Technocentre, Orange, will present the opening keynote. Other participating speakers include:

- Ronald Brockmann, Managing Director, ActiveVideo Europe
- Richard Bullwinkle, Chief Evangelist, Rovi Corporation
- Wim Bus, SVP, Product Management & Operations, Civolution
- Fabrizio Caffarelli, CEO, TVBLOB
- Bill Correll, VP, Mktg & Bus Development, Eyecon Technologies
- Keith Donovan, Sales & Mktg Dir., Intamac Systems
- Jon Finegold, Co-Founder & COO, Thinking Screen Media
- Matthew Huntington, VP, Product Mktg, OpenTV
- Art Lancaster, CTO, Affinegy
- Christer Larsson, CEO & Co-founder of Makewave; VP EMEA, OSGi Alliance
- Wouter Leibbrandt, Mgr Advanced Systems Lab, NXP Semiconductors
- Rob Lewis, CEO, Omnifone
- Theodore May, VP Content & Value Added Services, Synacor
- Trond Neergaard, Founder & Managing Partner, Cloudberry Associates; Member, CTAM Europe Board
- Patrik Nilsson, Director, Adobe
- Paolo Pastorino, Bus Development & Mktg Mgr, Loquendo
- Kurt Scherf, VP, Research, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates
- Neerav Shah, VP, Bus Development, Verimatrix
- Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates
- Peter Smyth, CEO, RedMere
- Bill Stanley, Executive Dir., Operations Solutions, Telcordia
- Geof Todd, Dir., Sales & New Business Initiatives, NDS
- Frederic Van Durme, Head, Product Management, Thomson
- Ian Walsh, VP, Bus Development, ProVision Communications/AXAR Media
- Andrew Wajs, CTO, Irdeto Group, Irdeto/Cloakware

CONNECTIONS™ Global Sponsors are HD-PLC Alliance, DSC, NXP, Radialpoint, Rovi Corporation, ActiveVideo Networks, Affinegy, Icron, Irdeto, ProVision Communications, Telcordia, and Zilog. CONNECTIONS™ Europe Advisory Sponsors are Eyecon Technologies, Intamac Systems, and CONNECTIONS™ Premier Sponsor RedMere.

For information or to register, visit http://www.connectionseurope.com.

Parks Associates supported Storage Visions 2010 announces speakers

Parks Associates supported Storage Visions Conference (SV2010) preliminary agenda and initial selected speakers are now posted on the conference web site, www.storagevisions.com.

Announced keynotes include Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmel from Microsoft Research as well as Dean Klein from Micron.

Here are a few of the confirmed speakers from the preliminary conference agenda:

Storage for Content Creation and Editing: Clyde Smith, Turner Broadcasting; Alex Grossman, Active Storage; Dr. Frederick Carlson or Manu Pillia, Nethra; and David Flynn, Fusion-io

Finding, Protecting and Using Content: Mike James, Toshiba; Scott Linfoot, Fiteris; William Qualls, Imation

The Technology of Storage: Melissa Perenson, PC World; Conrad Maxwell, Silicon Image; John Rydning, IDC; Justin Sykes, Micron Technology; Troy Winslow, Intel; Jeff Ravencraft, Intel

Storing More Stuff in CE Devices: Mike McKean, STMicroelectronics; Gary Palmer, Datalight; Rana Kabir, FlashBridge

Enabling Technologies for High Resolution Consumer Electronics: Jeff Janukowicz, IDC; Ethan Shur, TDVision; James Borden, Microsoft; Kyle Wiens, iFixit; Daniel Beneke, Imation

France Telecom Keynote at CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit to focus on service opportunities in connected devices

Executive Summit features the Roadmap for Connected CE

Parks Associates announced that Pierre François Dubois, Vice President, Very High Broadband and Digital Home Products, Technocentre, France Telecom Group, will present the keynote at CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit on November 4.

Mr. Dubois will discuss the key role of telcos in shaping the future of the Digital Home. He will focus on the new opportunities for Internet service providers developing as a result of the increasing number of connected devices at home.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, titled The Roadmap for Connected Consumer Electronics and hosted by international research firm Parks Associates, will take place in Amsterdam at the Mövenpick Hotel.

Europe is a strong market for connected CE, and service providers continue to be active in enabling advanced services and deploying devices such as hybrid set-tops. The worldwide telco /IPTV subscriber base exceeded 20 million in 2008, and France had over 27% growth in IPTV subscribers. France Telecom has been aggressive in connecting and managing consumer services, and Mr. Dubois’s insight will be invaluable to CONNECTIONS™ Europe attendees.

Summit Speakers
ActiveVideo Europe
Affinegy
Civolution
Eyecon Technologies
Intamac Technologies
Irdeto
Loquendo
Makewave
NDS
NXP Semiconductors
Omnifone
OpenTV
OSGi Alliance
Parks Associates
RedMere
Rovi Corporation
Telcordia
Thinking Screen Media
Thomson
TVBLOB
Verimatrix

Register for CONNECTIONS™ Europe at www.connectionseurope.com.

Smart Energy Summit addresses emerging market for in-home energy management devices and services

Research firm Parks Associates to host Residential Energy Management event in Austin

International research firm Parks Associates announced plans to host the inaugural Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, in cooperation with Austin Energy, on January 25-27, 2010. The event will feature expert speakers and analysts discussing the latest developments in residential energy management (REM) and the successful strategies capable of engaging consumers in new programs for energy conservation and cost savings.

The event, taking place at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas, will feature market research from Parks Associates’ landmark Residential Energy Management service and real-world expertise derived from Austin Energy's Smart Grid, the largest working Smart Grid in the U.S.

Government initiatives and stimulus funds have stoked demand for REM technologies with their emphasis on energy conservation and greater efficiency in the home. Already over six percent of all U.S. meters are smart meters, and many U.S. utilities are announcing new deployments and pilot programs, which will push the number of smart meters to almost 50 million by 2012. This event identifies the business opportunities for in-home energy monitoring and management systems, accelerated by deployment of energy smart grids.

The event agenda will focus on the roadmap for the emerging in-home energy management technology market, offering consumer and industry research and strategic insight.

For more information, or to submit to speak at the event, visit www.smartenergysummit2010.com.

Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire Starent Networks

Cisco and Starent Networks announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to acquire Starent Networks. Starent Networks is a leading supplier of IP-based mobile infrastructure solutions targeting mobile and converged carriers. The Mobile Internet is at an inflection point as IP-enabled Smartphones and other connected mobile devices gain rapid acceptance. Service Providers have been actively investing in this market as global mobile data traffic is expected to more than double every year through 2013, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index.

Starent Networks' mobile infrastructure solutions play an important role in enabling Service Providers to scale their mobile infrastructure and monetize their investments via differentiated experiences. The company provides the multimedia intelligence, core network functions and services to manage access from any 2.5G, 3G, and 4G radio network to a mobile operator's packet core network. Starent Networks' access-independent technology is deployed in CDMA2000 (1X, EV-DO), UMTS/HSPA and WiMax networks.

Prior to the close, Cisco and Starent Networks will continue to operate as separate companies. Upon completion of the transaction, Starent Networks will become the new Mobile Internet Technology Group.

CONNECTIONS Europe announces new keynote, France Telecom

Pierre François Dubois, Vice President, Very High Broadband and Digital Home Products, Technocentre, France Telecom Group will present the keynote presentation at the CONNECTIONS Europe Summit on November 4th in Amsterdam.

Pierre François Dubois started as an R&D engineer working on Intelligent Networks and Network Operations. He then held different management positions inside the Orange Group, mostly in sales and marketing. He was Marketing Director for Triple Play offers on ADSL for Orange France between 2006 and 2008. He is now responsible, for the France Telecom Group, of the strategy and development of products related to very high broadband and the digital home.

To view the CONNECTIONS Europe agenda, click here.

Cisco Helps Assure Internet's Future Amid Device Growth

Cisco announced significant enhancements to its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture that are designed to secure the foundation of the Internet, which must accommodate the exponential increase of connected devices for highly secure, efficient video delivery and collaboration. With the new Cisco Carrier-Grade IP Version 6 (IPv6) solution, Cisco helps enable service providers to effectively deal with the bottleneck created by the imminent depletion of IPv4 addresses. This new solution complements Cisco's IPv6 portfolio, the widest and most extensive in the market.

Now spanning from the core of the network to the home, Cisco's IPv6 capabilities have been expanded and added to a wide range of the company's routers and switches. Cisco is introducing new carrier-grade IPv6 capabilities to the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System for the network core and to the Cisco Aggregation Services Routers for the network edge. These new additions provide a cost-effective and efficient means to bridge to a full IPv6 next-generation network while extending the life of existing IPv4 addresses to smoothly manage that migration.

Highlights / Key Facts:

•An IP address is required for each device that connects to the Internet, and IPv6 is designated as the successor to IPv4, the first implementation used in the Internet and still the most widely used today.
•Exhaustion of IPv4 addresses is predicted for sometime in 2011, according to various sources, including potaroo.net, a Web site that tracks IPv4 address allocation by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. IPv4 has a finite set of unique addresses, numbering approximately 4 billion, which is rapidly depleting due to the ever-growing number of Internet-connected devices and smart devices.
•The industry foresaw this and developed IPv6, which has 340 undecillion unique addresses (3.4 x 10(38)), or more than 50 billion billion billion for each person on earth, more than enough to continue to support the demand for IP addresses. However, the protocols of IPv4 and IPv6 are not directly compatible, so migrating a network from IPv4 to IPv6 requires technology solutions to preserve IPv4 while executing a carefully orchestrated, step-by-step implementation plan.
•New Cisco IPv6 offerings, which expand on the existing Cisco IPv6 portfolio, are designed to address the current gap that service providers face in their IPv6 network evolution.

For the full press release, click here.

support.com Offers Cure for Windows 7 Migration "Migraine"

Online Migration Service Most Convenient Way to Get to Windows 7

The launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd is fast approaching and with it are anticipated problems for many who migrate to the new operating system from either Windows XP or Vista. Even tech-savvy PC owners may find making the switch a challenge.

For them, as well as harried moms, tech-challenged seniors and those more interested in spending their weekend watching football instead of dealing with computer problems, support.com, a leading provider of online technology support services, is introducing its Windows 7 Online Migration Service, a more convenient and less stressful way to upgrade to Windows 7.

A customized remote service, the support.com Windows 7 Online Migration Service is a real-time, one-on-one experience for those who desire extra help when switching from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

Details of the support.com Windows 7 Online Migration Service: 1). A real-time online service by experienced Solutions Engineers; 2). Migrates programs, files and settings from Windows XP and Windows; 3). Vista to Windows 7 on an existing computer -- in-place -- without requiring a second computer; 4). Utilizes LapLink technology, a trusted leader in PC migration; 5). Supports 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7; 6). Available on October 22; 7). Costs $49 if purchased with either a Personal, Family or Home Office; and 8). Plan subscription from support.com. If purchased without a subscription the Windows 7 Service costs $149.

For the full press release, click here.

D-Link Now Offers Terabyte of On-Board Storage With Network Storage Enclosure

D-Link, the end-to-end computer networking solutions provider for consumers and business, began selling its popular 4-Bay ShareCenter™ network attached storage (NAS) enclosure with two one-terabyte hard disk drives included.

Customers now have the option to purchase the D-Link® 4-Bay ShareCenter (DNS-343) by itself and supply their own hard drives, or with two 1TB SATA drives included as a bundle. D-Link also is now shipping the 2-Bay ShareCenter Network Storage (DNS-323) enclosure with a 1TB hard drive.

D-Link ShareCenter enclosures, with drives from major disk manufacturers pre-installed, allow users to expand storage capacity and enable securing and sharing of documents, files and digital media, such as music, photos and video across a home or office network. At the same time, the storage enclosures provide advanced technology to perform file backup and proper data recovery to prevent data loss.

Other key features include a fast Gigabit Ethernet connection, built-in FTP server for accessing files through the Internet, built-in UPnP audio visual (UPnP AV) media servers for streaming digital content to compatible media players, and RAID 1 technology for mirroring important files.

Both the DNS-323 and 343 have the ability to act as a print server by using the device's universal serial bus (USB) port. A USB printer can be added to the network without the need for a dedicated computer.

Key Themes from Broadband World Forum and IBC Conferences

Kurt Scherf recently attended two big shows in Europe - Broadband World Forum and IBC. In the latest issue of Parks Associates’ Europe Research Update Newsletter, he reviews of some of the biggest themes from that trip, many of which will be discussed in depth at CONNECTIONS™ Europe on Nov. 4 in Amsterdam, the Roadmap for Connected CE. Visit www.connectionseurope.com for more information and to register.

An overarching theme from Broadband World Forum was service and device management. Home networks and residential gateways have moved the demarcation point for broadband services further into the home, and service providers need to be able to look deeper into the home with greater granularity to see performance metrics and other data.

At IBC, Kurt focused on the blending of Web and TV services, user interfaces and EPGs, content protection and rights management, and the important elements of 3DTV.

To subscribe - http://www.parksassociates.com/europe/

Residential Gateways & Set-top Boxes at CONNECTIONS Europe, Amsterdam

New trends such as cloud computing, green living, mobile connectivity, and hybrid Internet-TV services are reshaping the role of the set-top box. Carriers, squeezed by low subscriber revenues and the demand for more features, need a home hub that offers more capability for less capital.

The Residential Gateways & Set-top Box session at CONNECTIONS Europe explores:

* The evolution of features that home hubs will support
* Support for features such as home monitoring, energy management, and health monitoring
* Network and hardware requirements for “future-proofed” home hubs
* The role of retail-purchased consumer electronics as compatible nodes

Speakers are represented from Affinegy, OSGi Alliance, Telcordia, and Irdeto/Cloakware.

Connected CE key focus at CONNECTIONS™ Europe

Executive Summit features Parks Associates analysts and industry leaders, November 4 in Amsterdam

Parks Associates announced the speakers for its upcoming CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, which will detail the Roadmap for Connected CE.

The Summit, hosted by Parks Associates on November 4, 2009, at the Mövenpick Hotel in Amsterdam, will quantify consumer demand and analyze business strategies as Internet-capable devices are added to the network and create new opportunities in sharing content and expanding interactive services.

Connected CE changes the equation for the digital home, creating demand for more Web-based and on-demand content and applications on a variety of platforms. Revenues from online video and on-demand video content will exceed $16 billion in Western Europe by 2013, driven by connected devices and multiscreen content strategies. CONNECTIONS™ Europe explores the business opportunities created by connected products and services, including their impact on consumer expectations and the ripple effect to other devices and systems in the home.

Rob Timmer, Senior Director Net TV, BU TV, Philips Consumer Lifestyle, will deliver the Keynote Address for CONNECTIONS™ Europe.

Confirmed Speakers:
Richard Bullwinkle, Chief Evangelist, Rovi Corporation
Ronald Brockmann, Managing Director, ActiveVideo Europe
Bill Correll, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Eyecon Technologies
Brian Donnelly, VP, Sales & Marketing, Icron Technologies
Matthew Huntington, VP, Product Marketing, OpenTV
Art Lancaster, CTO, Affinegy
Christer Larsson, CEO and Co-founder, Makewave (formerly Gatespace Telematics AB); VP EMEA, OSGi Alliance
Wouter Leibbrandt, Manager, Advanced Systems Lab, NXP Semiconductors
Andy Nobbs, Chief Commercial Officer, Civolution
Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates
Neerav Shah, VP Business Development, Verimatrix
Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates
Peter Smyth, CEO, RedMere
Bill Stanley, Executive Director, Operations Solutions, Telcordia
Frederic Van Durme, Head of Product Management, Thomson
Andrew Wajs, CTO, Irdeto Group, Irdeto/Cloakware

Summit Sessions
Connected Europe: Trends and Numbers
Defining the New Video Experience
Evolution of the “Digital Furnace”: Residential Gateways and Set-top Boxes
Business Models for On-Demand Lifestyles
Enabling Technologies: Connecting It All
Wrapping It Up – Predictions for the Next Five Years

CONNECTIONS™ Global Sponsors are HD-PLC Alliance, DSC, NXP, Radialpoint, Rovi, ActiveVideo Networks, Affinegy, Icron, Irdeto, ProVision Communications, Telcordia, and Zilog. CONNECTIONS™ Europe Advisory Sponsors are Eyecon Technologies and CONNECTIONS™ Premier Sponsor RedMere.

Register at www.connectionseurope.com.