New Models for Personalized Media Distribution

A couple of articles from today's Wall Street Journal coincided nicely with a keynote at last month's CONNECTIONS conference from Dan Scheinman at Cisco Systems. I was reviewing the audio recording from his keynote this morning and writing a summary for our CONNECTIONS key takeways. Scheinman made four major points that caught my attention during that keynote:

1. Consumer-driven spending for electronics and services was actually helping to increase the rate of growth of overall IT spending - boosting the market from 5% year-over-year to a projected 10% YOY growth;

2. The old model for technology development and distribution - from universities, to big money banks, enterprises, and service providers has been turned on its heel. Consumers and service providers are now leading in many categories of technology development;

3. Hollywood and the major content providers' tight grip on content and its exclusive nature is slipping, as consumers become more empowered; and

4. Content associated with communities was going to characterize the new media distribution models.

When I checked the Journal at lunch, there were a couple of pieces that fit nicely with these main points. First, there was an interview with Radical Media's Robert Friedman, discussing the emerging trend of "branded entertainment" (basically, video content that is highly ad-oriented and aired outside the traditional realm of TV advertising, usually on cable TV or via the Web). Friedman spoke of the need for more (and higher quality) types of ad-oriented programming in light of the fragmentation of the TV audience, but also consumers' willingness to spend time in more immersive ad experiences, if created in a high-quality format.

Then, Carl Folta, Executive Vice President for Viacom Inc. wrote a scathing letter where he rebutted much of what was written in a previous article about the company in a June 2 WSJ article ("Viacom's Split: A Big Why?"). Folta stresses that Viacom has been among one of the most-active media companies in developing a digital strategy. He writes that Viacom has agreements with partners including iTunes, Yahoo, and Joost. In addition, they have 230 Web sites, with more on the way. He notes that the Viacom Digital is the number one entertainment destination on the Internet, and one of the many reasons why revenues attributed to digital entertainment are expected to double to $500 million in 2007.

So, while some might take issue with Dan Scheinman's point that "Why should consumers search for content; it should seek them out" (click on the link to one of our media attendees' reactions to the keynote), the fragmentation he spoke about and the need for media companies to figure out how to best link customers to their content in much more personal ways definitely does resonate. It's one of the reasons why we argue that the intrepid IPTV start-ups around the world should make their move into embracing more highly-targeted and measurable advertising solutions now, rather than wait for their cable competitors to get a leg up on them. It's also why we continue to be very interested in the whole search/user interface category as an emerging opportunity within digital lifestyle markets.

Originally posted by Kurt Scherf on the Parks Associates' blog.

Key Topics at CONNECTIONS™ Europe: Strategies for Digital Living Markets include IPTV, Mobile Entertainment, Home Controls and Management

CONNECTIONS™ Europe: Strategies for Digital Living Markets today announced preliminary topics for its upcoming three-day executive conference and showcase, to be held Dec 4-6, 2007, at the Adlon Kempinski Hotel in Berlin, Germany, and is currently accepting speaker submissions from industry executives interested in participating.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe, produced by Parks Associates in partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®), is an executive conference focused on the global market for advanced digital lifestyle solutions.

Topics for 2007 include services, equipment and hardware, and emerging areas for future opportunities:

• IPTV: Business models, consumer segmentation, & forecasts by region
• Remote Self Monitoring: Incremental vs. Core Revenues
• Mobile Entertainment: Shift from portable to mobile video and TV
• Wireless In-home Networking
• Consumer Media Habits
• Social Media and Web 2.0
• Infrastructure Elements: Supplying the Service Providers for IPTV
• Segmenting and reaching consumers
• Social Benefits to E-technologies
• IP-based Entertainment and Control Systems
• Digital Media Servers & Adapters
• Digital Health
• End-to-End Managed Digital Home Solutions

Recent research from Parks Associates indicates the number of IPTV subscribers will reach nearly 60 million worldwide by year-end 2011. Television choices for European consumers in particular will expand greatly in the next several years, due to a growing number of IPTV providers per country, a surge in digital terrestrial offerings, and a resurgence of cable providers in certain markets.

“On many levels, digital home business cases on the European continent are indicative of things to come worldwide for service providers and manufacturers,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst, Parks Associates. “Europe holds a great deal of promise and insight into the next developments in the digital lifestyle space, and we’re pleased to be hosting CONNECTIONS™ Europe to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and business cases for these growing markets.”

Anchor sponsors for the 2006 event included Deutsche Telekom, Echelon Corp., and Siemens Communications.

Current 2007 event sponsors and supporters include Casero, NXP, the Broadband Services Forum, the Wi-Fi Alliance, BPL Today, Connect-World, HiddenWires, HomeToys, IP Television Magazine, Multimedia I.T., Multiroom France, TVover.net, and xchange Magazine.

View the Sponsor Benefits for more information about sponsoring CONNECTIONS™ Europe. www.connectionseurope.com

Shock, horror - UK homes get connected and energy smart

Here in the UK The Daily Express, the self styled `World’s Greatest Newspaper` (that’s code for ` mid-market tabloid desperate to re-live its former glories), decided to lead its front page recently with the sensationalist headline `Gas and Electricity Spies in Your Home`.

The `Spies` to which the newspaper was referring were the consequence of the announcement from the UK Government that EVERY (they are very fond of capitalising what they believe to be the scary implication of the decision) home in Britain is to be fitted with a high-tech meter to track its energy usage.

Shock horror, the so-called `smart` meters will show precisely how much gas and electricity is consumed by households `down to the nearest penny`, says the paper

The Express can hardly control its discovery of the awful truth. `They (the meters) send the information to the power supplier, ending the need for visits from meter readers,` it gasps. Barely able to contain itself further, and in a seemingly brazen attempt to stir up at least some sort of indignation let alone fear, uncertainty and doubt in Middle England, The Express then announces that `Critics fear that the devices will give energy firms the ability to snoop on customers.`

Just to put any nascent incredulity in perspective, just bear in mind that this is a newspaper addressing a population that lives in country that houses around one quarter of the world’s CCTV cameras. And that also has a mobile phone using community that willingly or otherwise lets its network providers know exactly where you are the moment they switch on their trusty Nokia and whose every web site visit is known to their ISP? And precisely what is it that the gas and electricity meter readers have been able to do by entering our homes regularly for the last few decades or so?

The point is that under the Government blueprint, energy suppliers will have to take a lot more responsibility for green issues rather than simply selling gas or electricity. Householders will be offered free devices from May 2008 to monitor their energy usage on an LCD display in their home. The smart meters will be rolled out within a decade, believes the paper. Hurrah might those of us involved in home automation say – in raising general awareness about the importance of energy efficiency it’s precisely this sort of development that will make people keener to control their homes remotely and that’s where Intamac and others come into the picture.

As Phil Bentley, managing director of British Gas, says in the article: `Smart meters will revolutionise how energy bills are calculated. They'll bring an end to estimated bills and give the householder more transparency and control over their consumption.` Yep, that seems to sum it up nicely.

Of course there is always the cash question. Such as who will pick up what The Express says is the estimated £8billion bill for installing the meters. Suppliers or customers? Whatever, given there are around 21 million households in the UK that looks like 380 quid a household including a cost – according to The Express again - of 180 pounds for the meter. For those of us actually involved pioneering internet enablement that looks like a lot of money. Maybe someone needs to look at the infrastructure model or maybe even the business plan again.

If you want to see the article in all its glory go to http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/7829



Posted by Kevin Meagher, CEO, Intamac Systems (www.intamac.com)

Interesting Technology Developments Throughout History

I had an interesting conversation today with an industry contact who reminded me that he's been waiting for the inflection point for his company's solution to occur for about ten years now! It's a reminder that even the most-promising of technologies can take years - and even decades - to reach their full potential. Look at Wi-Fi as an example. Although it seems that wireless networking came out of nowhere to infiltrate every coffee shop, development of the actual 802.11b standard took years, and not many folks gave it much thought as a consumer-facing solution (it was viewed more as an enterprise or vertical market fit inititially). For even longer developments, look at the home controls industry. We love to bring up the early home controls initiatives, characterized (literally) by basement-sized computers. After 50 years of experimentation, home and lifestyle management looks to be on the rise.

Last night's History Channel program Modern Marvels is another case in point on how technology developments can sometimes take surprising turns as they mature over the years. The "70's Technology" showcase on Modern Marvels featured everything from Mr. Coffee, the Microwave, the Pontiac Trans-Am, and the Concord. In addition, there were a couple of TI people interviewed about the use of DSP technologies in calculators and the “Speak and Spell” toy. They also referred to how the early work in LEDs for calculators eventually found its way into the TI DLP solution for high-definition televisions! I actually had a Speak and Spell as a kid – it was a cool educational toy!

At our recent CONNECTIONS conference, we were reminded that the DSP actually has its roots even further removed from bell-bottom pants and bad disco music! The original implementation was for submarine detection! So, yes, there are always a few surprises in this space.

Greg Jones from TI was a keynote speaker at this year's CONNECTIONS conference. Jones serves as the General Manager for DSP Systems Strategic Marketing, and he highlighted the importance of the DSP in building a wider array of needed consumer solutions, noting that DSL services as completely enabled by DSPs.

Jones sees a larger role for DSPs in the future across a wide array of emerging consumer applications. Digital entertainment, he noted, is obviously going to be a key area, as digital signal processing will be a needed ingredient for managing bandwidth use and encoding and decoding for the many different video codecs and formats that require processing. Jones said that there may be 30-40 different codecs to manage.

Beyond entertainment, Jones brought up interesting examples of where signal processing will play a role in improving learning and communications (instant translations during phone calls) and transportation (the nearly-automated automobile). He also mentioned digital healthcare applications as an opportunity for TI to expand its role. Finally, he discussed how DSP technologies will help service providers offer a higher-quality of services by measuring and monitoring traffic and applications with PIQUA solutions.

Originally posted by Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Parks Associates at http://parksassociates.blogspot.com

Connectivity Changes Everything

Thanks for the invite to contribute to the private blog: CONNECTIONS

I am Ken Sinclair Editor/Owner of www.automatedbuildings.com

AutomatedBuildings.com is an on line magazine and web resource providing the news, as well as connection to the exciting and rapidly evolving industry that automates large buildings. We have become the industries B2B web site providing connection for all new and existing automated building industry stakeholders.

We are a media sponsor of the connection events but my message to the blog is that our June issue is all about connectivity in the large building automation space.

Our last two issues of AutomatedBuildings.com have focused on change in our industry; this change is being driven by the powerful ever evolving connectivity. This new found substance "connectivity" is no longer a concept; it is a reality that is changing how we work and what our industry will look like in the near future. Connectivity concepts such as the smart grid, the greening of buildings with better connections to everything, coupled with connections to powerful web services plus the notion of Buildings 2.0 are all creating several new directions and markets for our industry. This requires that we all re-examine our core business models and make adjustments for connectivity. Our June issue gives you a peek at how connectivity changes everything as our authors talk about aspects of this new virtual substance that you may not of even thought about.

For more and connection to follow this url
http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/jun07/editorial0906.htm

Thanks for reading! Looking foward to the several connection events