Soundbites from Analysts at CES

Some of the Parks Associates' analysts were captured highlighting the significant new products at CES 2011.

Featured analysts include:
Stuart Sikes, President
Farhan Abid, Research Analyst
Bill Ablondi, Director, Home Systems Research
Laura Allen Phillips, Research Analyst
Brett Sappington, Senior Analyst
Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research

The connected home (including refrigerators), the smart grid and personalized video were among topics mentioned by these industry experts.

To view these sound bites, visit: http://www.viodi.tv/2011/01/10/ces2011-analysts-views/

CONNECTIONS Summit at CES to feature analyst roundtable, 3DTV, smartphones, connected home services, and consumer buying habits

Parks Associates will open CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES on January 6 with the session "Analyst Roundtable: The Connected Home is Here!" at 10:00 a.m., featuring expert analysis on the expansion of enhanced connectivity in the home.

Sales of Internet-capable consumer electronics will exceed 200 million worldwide in 2011. Mainstream adoption of digital technologies is reaching all corners of the home. Multiple players, including content owners, CE companies, retailers, broadband and communications providers, and energy utilities, will seek to enhance their consumer relationships through new applications, services, and features that fit with these new market demands.

• In 2011, 36% of new flat-panel TVs sold worldwide will be Internet-capable, growing to 76% of all units in 2015.

• Smartphones and Internet-capable CE remain popular purchases despite CE purchase intentions plunging from almost 50% in 2009 to 38% in 2010.

• In 2011, U.S. sales of smartphones will reach nearly 60 million, and Internet tablets, including Apple iPads , will exceed 13 million.

• By 2014, 80% of new flat-panel TVs sold in the U.S. and Western Europe will have 3D capabilities.

The analyst roundtable will feature data from recent consumer projects, including Consumer Decision Process, Residential Energy Management, Consumer Demand for Technical Support Services, and Digital Video: Three Screens and Beyond.

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES is on the first day of 2011 International CES in the South Hall Convention Center, Rooms S206-207. Summit sessions:

Analyst Roundtable: The Connected Home is Here!
Operator Strategies: Video, Services, and Support
Monetizing Connected Consumer Electronics
Executive Roundtable: The Smart Grid and the Home Area Network
Anytime Anywhere Entertainment & Communication – Mobile Applications
Video Everywhere: Key Strategies

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES includes support from CONNECTIONS™ Europe sponsors Accedo Broadband, ActiveVideo Networks, ADB, Gigle Networks, Latens, PacketVideo, ProVision Communications, Radialpoint, Ralink Technology Corporation, Virgin Media, and Zeitera. CONNECTIONS™ 2011 sponsors include Association Sponsor CEA and Affinegy, Allegro, HCL, iTOK, Rovi, and Roxio.

CONNECTIONS Europe features service providers, wireless solutions providers, CE and content management experts

The composition of the connected home will shift dramatically in the next five years, with connected consumer electronics and mobile devices (mainly smartphones and tablet computers) comprising 80% of the seven billion connected nodes worldwide by 2015. This changing landscape is the main focus of the CONNECTIONS™ Europe conference, November 15-16 in Amsterdam.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe sponsors include the companies leading the development and deployment of new solutions to enhance the digital lifestyle.

Accedo Broadband is a leading provider of applications for IPTV and Connected TV.

ActiveVideo Networks intelligently streams Web-infused television to any STB or Web-connected CE device.

Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) provides set-top solutions to the worldwide digital television industry.

Gigle Networks provides System-on-Chip (SoC) integrated circuits and complete system solutions for multimedia home networking.

Latens is leading the way in IPTV and fully DVB®-compliant software Conditional Access and Middleware.

PacketVideo’s software facilitates the sharing and enjoyment of media wherever it is stored, by converging devices, applications, and services.

ProVision Communications delivers high-quality video reliably over wireless and works with leading pay-TV service providers and CE manufacturers.

Radialpoint helps the world’s largest ISP, Retail, OEM and other Consumer Technology Providers meet and monetize the growing consumer need for technology advice and assistance.

Ralink Technology Corporation is a leading innovator and developer of wireless chipset solutions recognized for superior throughput, extended range, low-power consumption and consistent reliability.

Virgin Media is the U.K.'s first quad-play provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile, using a unique fibre optic cable network to deliver next-generation ultrafast Internet access of up to 50 MB.

Zeitera is leading the emerging market for intelligent content recognition solutions and will demonstrate advanced content recognition technologies and different applications for interactive television, advanced advertising, and immersive social networking.

For more information, visit http://www.connectionseurope.com.

Digital Living Conference & Showcase features keynotes from Sony Pictures, Samsung, Sony Electronics

Parks Associates announced the preliminary agenda for CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase, which will address the future of digital entertainment and connected CE with keynotes from Sony and Samsung. In addition to the focus on digital content and new service offerings for consumers, the three-day event will feature research presentations and speaker panels on support services, DRM, energy management and controls, advertising, and mobile applications and services.

CONNECTIONS™, in its 14th year, will take place June 8-10 at the Santa Clara Convention Center and is the premier event for research and analysis on connected home technologies and digital living solutions. CONNECTIONS™ attracts over 600 executives in the connected home industries and is the only event that addresses developments within each industry sector while also focusing on the impact and opportunities for convergence across industries.

Keynotes include:

· Scott Birnbaum, Vice President, Samsung LCD Group

· Mitch Singer, CTO, Sony Pictures Entertainment; President, DECE

For more information, visit www.connectionsus.com.

Success Stories in the Connected Home

Summary information from Day 2: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA

Are we there yet? We've been talking about the connected home for more than two decades. It's evident from our research that there are few connected homes, but the landscape is changing. Widespread use broadband Internet access, familiarity with digital technologies, and technology market movers looking for the NEXT "next big thing" all add up to a market on the move. This panel will discuss what's working, why, and when the market will catch up with the technology.

Ken Fairbanks, VP Sales & Business Development, SmartLabs, Inc.
Doug Hartman, VP Global Sales, Corinex Communications Corp.
Kumu Puri, Global Managing Director, Consumer Electronics, Accenture
Robert Rodenbucher, Business Development Director, AwoX
Eric Smith, Chief Technical Officer, Control4
Moderator: Bill Ablondi, Director, Channel Research, Parks Associates

Specific Questions to Address:

• Which vendors have been successful in building sales of connected systems?
• Which manufacturers are the market movers that can spur adoption of control systems to the next level — GE, Honeywell, Cooper Electric, SquareD (Schneider), Leviton, Intel, Cisco, Microsoft?
• Have multiroom, distributed entertainment systems stimulated adoption of other control and management systems?
• What surprises have occurred as new solutions have made their way to market? What applications for the original solution were not considered?
• Where was success in the last 12 months, and where will new opportunities be in the next year?
• Most people are unaware of current capabilities of low-cost control systems. What are the most effective ways to build awareness?
• Luxury homes typically have a wide array of control and management systems installed. What lessons, if any, have been learned in the high-end market that translate into broader markets?
• Will higher energy costs drive adoption of home management systems?

This session began with a review of Accenture's research to understand what factors drive high performance in business. Three building blocks were discussed: 1) Market Focus and Position – deciding where and how to compete, 2) Distinctive Capabilities – doing business in a way that creates value, and 3) Performance Anatomy – developing a "winning mindset.” Ken Fairbanks explained how SmartLabs is organized into three groups to focus on product development, online sales, and technology licensing. Each group has a clear mission, yet all three work together synergistically. Eric Smith pointed to the seasoned executives in Control4 that have guided it to become one of the most popular control suites among electronic systems contractors.

The discussion moved to the importance of reliable technology as a key to success in these early stages of the connected home market. Doug Hartman pointed out how Best Buy chose its power line technology for the ConnectLife.Home package introduced at 2007 CES. Robert Rodenbucher explained that his company's modular architecture and internationalized user interface are the keys to its success in developing software and electronic products for license to consumer electronics manufacturers.

Opening Keynote — Media Mobility and the Connected Home

Summary information from Day 1: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA.

Opening Keynote — Media Mobility and the Connected Home
Presented by: Ray Sokola, Chief Technology Officer and Corporate Vice President, Motorola, Inc.

More than ever, consumers expect providers to offer seamless, on-demand access to a wide array of personal and professionally created media. The next-generation of technology for the Connected Home will not only enable this access, but expand the consumer's choice and offer more individual personalization than ever before. With these new technology platforms come new and emerging business models: content mobility, on-demand ad insertion, push-to-consumer technologies, mobile advertising and more. In his presentation, Mr. Sokola spoke about the technology innovations that enable the Connected Home environment and discussed how these technologies open the door to new revenue streams for service providers.

In his CONNECTIONS™ keynote, Ray Sokola discussed the underlying trends that allow a product to be “mobility-enabled.” A key starting point is the rise of very affordable storage, both for local (the in-home DVR) and network-based applications (such as video-on-demand with DRAM-based VOD servers). Take every single conversation that a person has during his or her lifetime, for example. They could all be stored on a terabyte (and it could be accomplished rather cost-effectively).

The consumer is going to benefit from the evolution of the set-top box (STB), Sokola noted. First, the STB was all about controlling the channel. It then evolved to a platform to control the time and place of viewing (with DVRs and whole-house DVRs). The third stage will be user-motivated control of programming and content, which leads to interesting applications, such as Motorola’s Follow Me TV™, where time-shifted programming can flow from room to room using home networking.

Finally, Sokola discussed the evolution of advertising, where $70 billion was spent last year just on television ads. Sokola wondered aloud whether this was an inefficient use of ad dollars and if there are ways to make it more meaningful – “repartitioning” it, as he put it. Two new models that may come to fruition are location-based and personalized-driven advertising.