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• Cisco/Linksys Acquires Pure Networks: The Beginning of Home Network 2.0?

  Author: Michael Wolf | Research Director, Digital Home

  On July 23rd, Cisco announced a definitive agreement to acquire Pure Networks. The acquisition brings to Cisco/Linksys a company that has been a leader in what has been a small but important category: software for the management of consumer home networks. While in dollar terms this is a fairly insignificant acquisition, ABI Research believes that this is an indication of a much larger strategic push for Cisco as they continue to attempt to help move the industry along from the Wild West days of the home network to one in which centrally managed, mixed-device multimedia networks with seamless access to both local and cloud based services are more the norm than the futuristic exception.

  Ending the Wild West Days
  Over the past five to six years, the digital home industry has been struggling to move from a Wild West type of environment to one where the digital home is one that can be centrally managed by both the consumer as well as by the service and web services provider. This transition has been happening on a number of fronts, at the core connectivity and discovery standards level (with Universal Plug and Play, DLNA and other discovery based protocols), at the broadband access and remote management level (including the largely defunct CableHome effort by CableLabs and the more successful TR-69 from the DSL Forum), and finally at the vendor level, as hardware and software vendors have worked to integrate management capabilities to allow both consumers and service providers to manage and troubleshoot the home network.
  These efforts have resulted in some progress, as many consumer retail and service provider CPEs have integrated UPnP and TR-69 capabilities, which allow for fairly straightforward home network discovery and for some levels of remote management by the service provider. At the same time, efforts to transition the data network in the home toward mixed-device, data/voice/ entertainment-based networks has been slow going, and those that are installed today are largely done using expensive equipment in complex architectures, such as the FiOS-based MoCA networks video and home networks.

  HNAP
  For its part, Cisco/Linksys has been aware for some time of the need to create software that would allow consumers to easily connect, manage, and troubleshoot their home networks. To this end, they created Linksys Easylink Adviser (or LELA), which has been shipping with their routers for a few years now, and over the past year have used the Pure Networks base platform for the LELA software. The company also licenses HNAP, or Home Network Administration Protokoll, from Pure Networks. With this acquisition, Cisco/Linksys brings the rights to the HNAP protocol in house.

  What is HNAP? It is a SOAP-based protocol that can be integrated into devices to allow for remote management. If this sounds similar to another standard – in particular Universal Plug and Play – that's because it is. On one hand, HNAP is competitive in that it is a management protocol for networked devices, which is what UPnP is. However, while UPnP is, to some extent, a universally accepted standard for the home network management space, there are some shortcomings of the standard such as security. HNAP, while not as universally used at UPnP, has more capabilities in managing devices such as multi-radio routers, NAS devices, as well as overall home central home network management.

  Cisco/Linksys has indicated that they will keep the HNAP protocol on an open-licensing model. The tricky part here will be convincing its competitors to license technology from it. However, while vendors such as Netgear (who has implemented HNAP in some routers such as the KWGR614) may think twice from licensing technology from Linksys, if they see an opportunity to implement low-cost and easily licensable software that could accelerate the move toward more easily managed networks, they may ultimately put aside competitive concerns.

  Moving to Home Network 2.0
  One of the most interesting reasons that Cisco put forth for the acquisition of Pure is the intention to layer applications on top of its core management software. The vision here is one where Pure Networks' Network Magic management software (and LELA) is a launching point for many of the forthcoming Web services that will be coming over the Web into the home. Cisco believes that at some point there needs to be virtualization of services beyond single PCs, and by both combining the management capabilities of HNAP into the router and by having a centralized console for the management of the network and associated services in LELA, the company will be able to offer a number of cross-home web and content services.

  The first effort here will be a parental control application that is virtualized at the home network level. Cisco/Linksys sees the ability to do content virtualization, and they are even talking today with music and video content companies to enable content to be easily accessible across devices. We see this as a piece of the broader uber-trend towards centralized content management – both in-home and cloud based – and with this acquisition of Pure, Cisco/Linksys thinks that it may have acquired one of the critical pieces of moving toward this vision.

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  • Home Networking and Digital Home Network Market Analysis

• Cisco's New Linksys Router (WRT610N) Packs a Punch with Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless

  Type: Product Intelligence Report
  Analyst: B. McGregor
  Report Date: July 08, 2008
  Module: Digital Home - U.S.
  

  The Linksys by Cisco Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router (WRT610N) is competitive, because it effectively helps consumers using multiple broadband connected devices in the home manage their available bandwidth efficiently. WRT610N operates with two radio channels, 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectrums, with the unique function running both channels simultaneously. The latest WiFi Alliance specification 802.11n draft enables this new router to deliver faster speeds up to 12 times that of the 802.11g standard. Linksys recommends entertainment devices such as personal video recorders, audio players, Media Center Extenders, and gaming consoles to be connected to the 5GHz band. In addition, 5GHz works best to stream high-definition (HD) content wirelessly with less electrical interference across the home. The 2.4GHz band works well with legacy devices and common low-bandwidth data applications for PCs, printers, and storage hard drives. The WRT610N is touted as "multimedia-friendly" since it possesses the technology to automatically manage home networking traffic for maximum performance. This provides HD video applications the higher bandwidth required with a dual-channel design. The company includes new router set-up software called Linksys Easy Link Advisor (LELA) to help WRT610N users manage all the devices connected to the router. LELA offers a flash video-based installation guide designed to be user-friendly for even the tech novice. The software also helps ensure the wireless router is secured from outsiders attempting to piggyback on to its broadband connection with a SPI firewall and encryption.

  While the new WRT610N can do some innovative things with its simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless technology, it is not enough to provoke the majority of consumers to switch from their current home networking equipment. The new Linksys router will be a benefit to those few who desire a stable home networking solution with better quality for streaming video wirelessly in HD. Only the most sophisticated home entertainment solutions attempt to stream video wirelessly, with the primary application for WiFi still being basic laptop Internet connectivity. Cisco still needs to drop the Linksys brand fully and gear up to market its consumer class of products adequately as strictly Cisco with a solid marketing campaign. The 2003 $480 million acquisition of Linksys, a leading player in the home networking and small business router market segment, demonstrated Cisco's willingness to use its cash assets to enter the consumer electronics market that it views as key for creating strategic solution sets. Yet right now, Apple is a more recognized brand among digital home consumers and is currently better positioned in the home entertainment market niche to sell its advanced home networking devices such as its AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme. The price tag for WRT610N of $199 is a bit too high to attract average consumers to upgrade, since the primary benefit of better wireless HD video transmission is still in the early adopter stages. Cisco could see a jump in sales of its new routers with resale partnerships with major broadband service providers such as Verizon and its ultra-fast FiOS service.