CONNECTIONS Summit at CES to address video strategies as U.S. online video viewers to reach 215 million by 2014

The final session of CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, "Video Everywhere: Key Strategies," will examine market implications of TV Everywhere, VOD, and connected TVs, along with the risks of cord cutting, featuring speakers from Rovi, Korea Telecom, DivX, ActiveVideo Networks, and Sigma Designs.

The penetration of connected TVs and Blu-ray players has tripled in the past year, and over one-third of U.S. broadband household report increased time spent watching long-form videos on a PC. Consumer expectations for the video experience are expanding, and service providers and CE manufacturers must meet these demands or risk losing customers to competitors and over-the-top sources.

"Video Everywhere" session speakers:

• Sean Besser, VP, Business Development, Rovi Corp.

• Woo Seung Lee, Team Manager, Media Business Planning Department, Korea Telecom

• Matt Milne, EVP and GM, DivX

• Edgar Villalpando, SVP, Marketing, ActiveVideo Networks

• Michael Weismann, VP Corporate Marketing, Sigma Designs

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES provides consumer data and analysis of business and marketing strategies for operators, CE manufacturers, utilities, and communications companies delivering connected devices and advanced services and applications to consumers.

For information about CONNECTIONS™ Conferences, visit www.connectionsconference.com.

DivX Announces New Partnership With China TV Market Leader, HisenseDivX

DivX, Inc. a leading digital media company, and Hisense Electric Co., Ltd., the number one TV company in China, announced that Hisense has selected DivX Plus HD technology to be integrated in its new line of digital TVs. These revolutionary TVs will enable the playback of DivX Plus HD video using the MKV container, enabling consumers to enjoy videos at HD resolutions up to 1080p in the DivX format using the TV's USB slot.

Hisense is the number one LCD TV brand in China for seven consecutive years, and its share of the LED TV market in China was more than 30% as of May 7, 2010. Its products are also exported to over 130 countries and regions throughout the world. As the first DTV OEM in China to support DivX Plus HD, Hisense's first DivX Plus HD Certified DTV will be available to consumers first in China and soon after in Europe.

DivX Plus HD Certification is the premium level of certification available from DivX, optimized for consumer electronics products and supports the playback of all content created with DivX software. Available on here, DivX Plus Software allows users to create and playback H.264 video in an .mkv file container. DivX Plus HD Certified devices will playback all previous versions of DivX video and DivX Plus HD video files with the .mkv file extension and AAC audio created with third-party tools.

Known for great performance, visual quality and interoperability on any DivX Certified device, DivX provides consumers with a comprehensive digital media solution supporting the majority of high-quality Internet video on their TVs or other consumer electronics devices. In addition, DivX also supports the secure playback of major Hollywood titles from major studios, and many online movie download sites now distribute Hollywood content in the DivX format worldwide.

For more information, click here.

New Content Available from CONNECTIONS 2010 Speakers & Sponsors

The 2010 CONNECTIONS Speakers and Sponsors have shared marketing materials, product information, company media kits, and lots more.

The U.S CONNECTIONS Sponsors include Verizon Wireless, Cisco, Intel, Accenture, ActiveVideo Networks, Allegro, DivX, D-Link, Gigle Networks, Intamac, ProVision Communications, PacketVideo, RedMere, Rovi, Support.com, 4Home, Accedo Broadband, Affinegy, AlertMe, Arxan, IBM, iTOK, LEVEL Studios, PlumChoice, Vuze, Zenverge, and Roxio.

Speakers (that submitted information to share) include Cedric Arnaud-Battandier, VP, Strategy & Corporate Development, Technicolor; Cathy Bradley, Global Lead, Customer Contact Business Process Outsourcing Services, Accenture; Savinay Berry, Vice President, Granite Ventures; William C. Brown, Assoc. VP Technology and GM, Service Provider Business Unit, North America, D-Link; Mike Buckingham, Director of Marketing, SmartLabs, Inc.; Alfredo Choperena, President, SimpleHomeNet; Martin Flusberg, CEO, Powerhouse Dynamics; Todd Hinders, Senior Vice President, ExtendMedia; Scott Hublou, Co-Founder, SVP of Products, EcoFactor; Tony Masterson, COO, CTO and Co-founder, Zenverge; Kevin Meagher, CEO, Intamac Systems; Andy Melder, Vice President Business Development, Gigle Networks; Kevin Morgan, CTO, Arxan Technologies, Inc.; Tom Pollard, Director of Product Management, Verimatrix Inc.; Yaron Raz, Director of Video Solutions Marketing, BigBand Networks; Rick Schwartz, Senior Product Manager, PacketVideo (PV); Loren Shade, VP Marketing, Allegro Software Development Corporation; Melissa Simpler, CEO, Affinegy; Peter Smyth, CEO, RedMere; Steve Tranter, VP Interactive and Broadband, NDS; Edgar Villalpando, SVP, Marketing, ActiveVideo Networks; Dr. Kenneth Wacks, Member, GridWise Architecture Council, U.S. Department of Energy; and Nate Williams, CMO, 4Home.

To view all materials, click here.

Thank you 2010 U.S. Sponsors!

Parks Associates wanted to thank all of the U.S. CONNECTIONS sponsors for helping make 2010 another great event!

Reception: Verizon Wireless

Gold: Cisco, Intel

Silver: Accenture, ActiveVideo Networks, Allegro, DivX, D-Link, Gigle Networks, Intamac, ProVision Communications, PacketVideo, RedMere, Rovi, support.com

Bronze: 4Home, Accedo Broadband, Affinegy, AlertMe, Arxan, IBM, iTOK, LEVEL Studios, PlumChoice, Vuze, Zenverge

Breakfast: Roxio

Thank you again for your continued support!

CONNECTIONS US sponsors include Verizon Wireless, Cisco, Intel...

Parks Associates announced CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference & Showcase will feature more than 60 sponsors and supporters from the digital living markets. Parks Associates will host CONNECTIONS™ on June 8-10 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, with more than 500 executives focused on new media, home controls and energy management, mobile and entertainment platforms, value-added services, and connected consumer electronics.

Our CONNECTIONS™ sponsors reflect a broad array of companies all adding value to both home networks and access services and helping to create new value from these exciting applications.

CONNECTIONS™ sponsors:

Reception: Verizon Wireless

Gold: Cisco, Intel

Silver: Accenture, ActiveVideo Networks, Allegro, DivX, D-Link, Gigle Networks, Intamac, ProVision Communications, PacketVideo, RedMere, Rovi, support.com

Bronze: 4Home, Accedo Broadband, Affinegy, Arxan, IBM, iTOK, LEVEL Studios, PlumChoice, Vuze, Zenverge

Breakfast: Roxio

Platinum supporting organizations are Churchill Club and JETRO. Supporting organizations include ADMIN, ATIS, CABA, CEDIA, ChinaCCM.com, Circle F Media, Digital Media Pipeline, Electronics Technicians Association, EMA’s GamePlan Summit, ETSI, Experiential Marketing Forum, FTTH Conference & Expo, HomePlug Powerline Alliance, HomePNA, IDMA, MoCA, MPEG Industry Forum, SIP Center, Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi Technology Forum, Wireless Industry Partnership, and WITI.

Platinum supporting media are Connected Planet, Digital Media Wire, and Home Toys. Supporting media are BoogarLists, Conference Guru, Connect-World, FierceIPTV, FierceMobileContent, FierceOnlineVideo, FierceWireless:Europe, Gadget-t, Global Electronics & Electrical Appliances, HiddenWires, Home Media Magazine, IPTV Industry, OSP, Residential Systems, Screen Digest, TVover.net, VentureBeat, and WiMAX Industry.

DivX joins CONNECTIONS Sponsors

Parks Associates welcomes DivX as a 2009 CONNECTIONS(TM) Sponsor. DivX will be the Wednesday, June 3rd breakfast sponsor at the US event from June 2-4 in Santa Clara, California.


DivX, Inc. is a digital media company that enables consumers to enjoy a high-quality video experience across any kind of device. DivX creates, distributes and licenses digital video technologies that span the "three screens" comprising today's consumer media environment -- the PC, the television and mobile devices. Over 100 million DivX Certified devices have shipped into the market from leading consumer electronics manufacturers. DivX also offers content providers and publishers a complete solution for the distribution of secure, high-quality digital video content. Driven by a globally recognized brand and a passionate community of hundreds of millions of consumers, DivX is simplifying the video experience to enable the digital home.

For more information about DivX, visit http://www.divx.com/.

Qualcomm's CEO says future gadget will be a connected gadget

Qualcomm's CEO provides his thoughts on the future of connected devices. (Read Full Article)

"There is a place in the world for other kinds of connected devices beyond the mobile phone. You are going to see small lightweight computing devices, you are going to see smarter smartphones," said CEO Paul Jacobs.

"It makes sense to me to have a connected satnav device rather than an unconnected Satnav" Jacobs told Pocket-lint, confirming Qualcomm is working with satnav manufacturers on devices for the future. "Just as the connected PDA killed the unconnected PDA, the same will happen here. You are going to have up to date street maps, you’re going to be able to search. The same things will happen with cameras. The Flip [a cheap digital video camcorder] could offer you the ability to share video without the need for a computer by automatically uploading content over a network by what appears to be by magic, just like the magic experienced downloading a book with the Kindle."

At Parks Associates, we agree and think the living room is getting more crowded with digital devices. Key drivers for this growth include consumers’ insatiable appetites for high-definition television programming and services and a sharp decline in HDTV display prices. At the same time, television service providers, who are under pressure to ramp up highdefinition and DVR features of their own, are investing in more set-top boxes.

As key components for networked consumer electronics drop in cost (chief among them storage, silicon, and software), we will see a growing number of products targeting not only in-home connectivity but also connections to premium multimedia services. The connected consumer electronics market will evolve on two fronts, which will not necessarily be independent of each other. First, there will be a continued emphasis on creating products that interoperate and can share resources, such as centralized hard drives (multiroom settop boxes and network-attached storage devices chief among these examples). At the same time, with the onset of huge amounts of premium content and services available from the Internet, CE device manufacturers will launch new efforts to create connected devices that link to these services.

Parks Associates will be addressing the growth of connected devices at CONNECTIONS on June 25 at 2:30 pm. CONNECTED DEVICES: A Grown-up Home Network: Imagine the Possibilities! will address the role of home networking for entertainment, communications, and multimedia applications.

This panel will be moderated by Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates. Speakers include:

Jim Chase, Director of Business Development, Ubicom, Inc.
Chano Gomez, VP, Marketing, DS2
Eiji Kobayashi, President, HD-PLC Alliance
Adam Powers, Principal Engineer and Architect, Macrovision
Dan Salmonson, Director, Product Management, DivX, Inc.
Russell Zack, VP, Product Management, Anystream