Our Digital Home Summit Conference kicked off this morning to an energetic crowd here in Las Vegas. We’re focusing on the important and emerging trend of the digital home and the opportunities it provides broadband service providers.
There is a well documented (and sometimes colorful) debate regarding the standards that drive the digital home. The two standards that are drawing the most attention are G.hn and MoCA. Representatives from both ecosystems are well represented here in Las Vegas.
I moderated a panel this morning of some industry thought leaders including Christopher Albano, Senior Director, Office of the CTO, Comcast, Richard Nesin, Executive Director, HomePNA Alliance, Josh Pettiette, Vice President of Product Management, GVTC, and Al Servati, Senior Director of Marketing, Entropic Communications. The topic of G.hn vs MoCA was a recurring discussion point.
Servati, a board member with MoCA, pointed out that the issue of MoCA vs G.hn has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with service provider choice. “The technology needs a customer, and in this case the customers are service providers, not consumers,” Servati said. He went on to point out that major service providers including Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable have selected MoCA and as a result a major ecosystem has formed around it. Albano chimed in on the importance of a robust ecosystem to Comcast when they select a technology.
In rebuttal, Nesin suggested “that you must take a global view of the technologies driving the digital home, and not just focus on North America,” suggesting that while MoCA has some momentum with cable operators in the U.S., G.hn’s momentum comes from across the globe. Nesin also pointed to AT&T, “who passes 80 million homes,” as North America’s largest HomePNA adopter, and presumably will migrate to G.hn.
I asked the panelists is it possible that there will be no winner take all scenario and G.hn and MoCA could coexist? I’m not sure I got a straight answer.
Here is how I see MOCA (Continued):
Most of the ODMs I have had discussions with will not offer MoCA unless specifically asked. This same group is working on HPNA/G.Hn reference designs to fit into their CE models.
Throughput over coax for G.Hn (1Gbps PHY rate) is far better than even MoCA 2.0.
G/Hn chipsets are fully interoperable with HPNA 3.1 chipsets. No stranded CE in the MDU markets we are building today.
G.Hn supports all in-home wiring (coax, phone line, wifi, power lines) where as MoCA only supports coax.
Although there is only one HPNA chip manufacturer currently, G.Hn will have multiple chip manufacturers in 4Q10. MoCA has only 2 with no other manufacturers showing roadmaps for MoCA.
MoCA 2.0 chipsets will not be available until 2Q11. G.Hn chipsets will be available in 3Q10.