8 posts categorized "AT&T"

Guest Post from AT&T's Vernon Reed - "3 Cheers Are in Order for G.hn"

December 01, 2011 4:12 PM in AT&T , Vernon Reed  | 1 comments  | 0 TrackBack

By Vernon Reed

I am fortunate to be one of the “early adopter” test homes for emerging G.hn products, and I’m thrilled to report that I have been up and running a full G.hn-enabled home network using only powerline connectivity for all my video in my AT&T Uverse for 2 weeks now….. and running flawlessly I might add.

I have long been involved with AT&T’s analysis of home network technologies, and have evaluated all revs of HomePlug and HomePlugAV over the last 5-6 years.  And using these technologies I have  observed in every case that certain device locations where HPAV either could not sustain network connectivity, or the bandwidth capacity it could muster up was inadequate to deliver video in the home.  (i.e., no link, or less than 3 Mbps of thruput).

This was certainly not the case with G.hn.  At device locations where HomePlugAV delivered only 1-2 Mbps,  G.hn delivers a thruput capacity well in excess of 100 Mbps.  And that is EXACTLY what we are looking for in a“Plug and Play” network solution. 

Bottom line:  3 cheers are in order.  

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Vernon Reed is Lead Member of Technical Staff  |  AT&T Labs, Inc | Austin, Texas

 

 

AT&T's Vernon Reed Looks Ahead at Digital Home Summit 2011

October 07, 2011 1:10 AM in AT&T , Bernie Arnason , Digital Home Summit 2011 , Vernon Reed  | 1 comments  | 0 TrackBack

AT&T's Lead Member - Technical Staff at AT&T Labs in Austin, Vernon Reed, was a keynote speaker during the recent Digital Home Summit where he shared his insights with Bernie Arnason on the service provider's future road map to integrate both LTE and wireline technologies in the home. 

AT&T's Vernon Reed Share His Insights on G.hn from Digital Home Summit 2011

September 28, 2011 8:09 PM in AT&T , Digital Home Summit 2011 , Vernon Reed  | 2 comments  | 0 TrackBack

During the recent Digital Home Summit, AT&T's Vernon Reed, Lead Member - Technical Staff at AT&T Labs in Austin was one of the keynote speakers.  After his talk, he shared his insights on G.hn with me.  What's interesting to note is one of the driving forces behind G.hn was the desire to move towards a customer self-instal using all three media with a common set of silicon that will enable more self-installation of more devices on the home network.

AT&T Joins HomeGrid Forum Board of Directors to Support G.hn Wired Home Networking Development

June 06, 2011 4:06 PM in AT&T  | 0 comments  | 0 TrackBack

As a U-verse customer, I'm thrilled to see that HomeGrid Forum has announced that AT&T joined the organization as a Promoter Member and was appointed to the HomeGrid Forum board of directors. Tom Starr, lead member of the Technical Staff at AT&T and a telecom industry expert, will serve as the AT&T representative on the board.

“AT&T U-verse® is a strong product offering, and with an always-evolving market, G.hn offers the potential to support and help continue expanding their services,” Theall said. “We are happy to have AT&T as a voice within our organization and look forward to their valuable contributions.”

AT&T is the latest in a line of high-profile, industry-leading organizations to collaborate on G.hn, a fully approved and complete wired home networking standard developed by the ITU-T. HomeGrid Forum brings together leading global service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers, OEM/ODMs, chipset vendors, and others interested in wired home networking who want to offer the best solution for their customers. Other board members include Marvell, Best Buy, BT, Intel, Lantiq, Sigma Designs, and Telefonica.

As a lead member of the technical staff at AT&T Labs, Starr is responsible for the development and standardization of new local access technologies for AT&T's network. Named one of the 2010 Global Telecoms Business Power 100 most powerful people, he is a well-known telecom figure who holds several dozen industry patents, is the chair of ITU-T working groups, and is chairman of the Broadband Forum.

In addition to Starr, Vernon Reed will serve as an alternate board member. Reed works as a Lead Member of Technical Staff of AT&T Labs in Austin, Texas, serving since 2004 as a Technical Lead in developing and testing AT&T’s all-IP U-verse TV service. He is a recognized authority in end-to-end content delivery using broadband access systems, computing technologies, and home network technologies applicable to the IPTV space.

 

AT&T's Jeff Weber Talks About The Wired Home Network and G.hn

June 01, 2010 6:06 AM in AT&T , Jeff Weber , U-verse  | 0 comments  | 0 TrackBack

Last week, I was in Atlanta at the AT&T Research Labs to get a preview of new TV technologies, products and service coming to AT&T.  In the context of the wired home network and Jeff Weber - of which AT&T is a supporter, here's G.hn, VP of Product & Strategy talking about the role of this important industry standard.

And Why Not The Energy Channel?

July 09, 2009 4:07 PM in Alan Weinkrantz , AT&T , G.hn , U-verse  | 0 comments  | 0 TrackBack

AT&T has just served up a slew of new features that I recently received overnight.  The biggest news was the software update that allows my family to enjoy new Total Home DVR capabilities and navigation enhancements, plus a new and visually enhanced look and feel which you can see here

The other new features that were added for all U-verse TV customers include a new Mobile Remote Access App for the iPhone, enhancements to AT&T’s Web Remote Access app and a free month of Starz in July as a customer appreciation promotion.

 

You can view a demo of these enhancements here, and a demo of U-verse Mobile Remote Access App for iPhone here.

With all the great technology and all the great channels, I wonder:  why not a channel that is tied to my utility company (in my case, CPS / San Antonio), that would let me watch and monitor the family’s energy consumption?

And while we’re away- why not a special app on my iPhone that is tied to my G.hn wired home network, so I can monitor the house and all energy consumption when we’re away?  Even with Microsoft’s recent announcement, promoting its new hohm offering, it’s not quite enough.

My take is that Microsoft with it being  the middleware provider to AT&T and other telcos around the world, should address how they could tie their software platform to my soon to be G.hn-based network to not only enjoy great broadcast programming, but help my family save money and help make my home a bit more green.

 

Now Available: A Service Provider's Perspective on G.hn

May 18, 2009 2:05 PM in Alan Weinkrantz , AT&T , EveryWire , EveryWire.com , G.hn , Home Networking , HomeGrid Forum , Tom Starr , U-verse , Wired Home Networking  | 1 comments  | 0 TrackBack

The service provider landscape continues to dramatically change, with growing emphasis on increasingly complex multi-play offerings that include Internet Protocol-based voice, video, and high-speed data. 

These services need to not only be delivered to the home, but throughout the home to everywhere they are needed.  

What role will the service provider play in whole-home networking?  And what do these companies require from the next-generation wired networking technologies that will come to market?  Find out by downloading the new webinar from HomeGrid Forum. 

WHAT: This new webinar will deliver a service provider’s perspective on next-generation wired home networking, including:

·       Technical requirements for a next-generation standard

·       Critical improvements necessary for adoption

·       Considerations in transitioning from current- to next-generation standards

·       Differences in implementation in single and multi-dwelling units

·       Advantages of single vs. multiple standards/approaches

WHO: The webinar is presented by Tom Starr, lead member of technical staff at AT&T, and Mario Finocchiaro, director of business development for Aware, Inc. and secretary of the HomeGrid Forum.  (Note:  I recently had the chance to interview AT&T's Tom Starr, Lead Member of Technical Staff, which you may read here.)

     WHERE: To download the webinar and other materials from HomeGrid Forum, visit the organization’s Resource Library at http://www.homegridforum.org/resource_library

WHEN: The webinar is available now.

AT&T Participating in G.hn Standard Development

February 19, 2009 10:02 PM in Alan Weinkrantz , AT&T , EveryWire , EveryWire.com , G.hn , HomePNA , P1901 , Tom Starr , U-verse , Wired Home Networking  | 0 comments  | 0 TrackBack

I recently had a chance to visit with Tom Starr, Lead Member of Technical Staff for AT&T.  Tom is a recent AT&T award winner.

It stands to reason that the world’s largest telecommunications company would have an interested in G.hn.  After all, the company has over 1,000,000 American homes on its HomePNA based wired network that runs its U-verse triple play offering. 

After installing this many homes you learn a lot about wiring and the realities that not all homes are wired equally.  In a perfect world, you’d have what Tom kept referring to “no new wires,” but the reality is that each home has different wiring types in each room that lend themselves better at connectivity and delivering services.

From day one, Tom has been active and working with the ITU’s development of the G.hn standard (which is now officially called G.9960).  He told me that AT&T is watching the development of the G.hn standard for a few reasons:

1. Connect to any room no matter what the wiring type may be.  Get to a point where the customer can self-install new hardware- something considered to be the holy grail of any video provider
2. Have built-in diagnostics and tools that allow for remote manageability and ease of use.
3. Have multiple supply sources.  And when you have an industry standard like G.hn, you get to a certain point of critical mass where you will have many technology, equipment, parts and product marketers all supplying the channel with compatible and industry standard offerings.  This helps grow the industry ecosystem and supply chain.

I’ve been an AT&T U-verse customer for over three years.  Some of my readers may also know my 3Screens blog, in which I write a consumer facing blog about AT&T’s three screen strategy.