Who Makes What: Telco Home Gateways

Telco home gateways are a focus of growing attention by vendors and operators attracted by the revenue potential of placing high-speed, high-performance devices compatible with fiber-based next-generation networks (NGNs) directly into users’ homes.

And the market for these remotely managed telco, in-home, broadband devices (THGs to their friends) looks to be rapidly growing. Communications market-research firm Infonetics Research Inc. reported in mid-2008 that emerging segments in the broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) market, such as cable broadband gateways and very-high-speed DSL (VDSL) broadband gateways, grew sequentially by double and triple percentages. Overall, Infonetics forecast that digital home gateway shipments would more than double between 2007 and 2011.

Certainly, the THG-oriented industry has become a little hyperactive, and mergers and acquisitions are in full swing. Since June 2008:

TranSwitch Corp. (Nasdaq: TXCC) said it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Centillium Communications Inc. Both produce next-generation communications ICs. The acquisition closed in late October. (See TranSwitch Sweeps Up Centillium.)

Cortina Systems Inc. (chipsets for core, metro, access, and enterprise networks) acquired Storm Semiconductors for its solutions for distributing digital multimedia content in wired and wireless home networks. (See Cortina Acquires Storm.)

Arques acquired Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices and renamed it Gigaset Communications GmbH . (See Siemens Sells Device Unit.)

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) completed the acquisition of Seattle-based Pure Networks, a vendor of home-networking-management software and tools. (See Cisco Buys Pure Networks.)

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) acquired Motive , a provider of service management software for broadband and mobile data services. (See AlcaLu Completes Offer.)

There’s also a lot going on in developing home-network technologies themselves. Developments such as Gigle Semiconductor ’s system-on-a-chip (SOC) to handle all home-networking wired PHYs are clearly very relevant to THGs, as the home networks they exploit will have to become both high performance and easy/inexpensive to install and operate. (See Gigle Takes Home $20M.) But this LAN side is not strictly about the home gateway, although home gateways obviously have to incorporate it. So this Who Makes What report does not consider companies exclusively (or mainly) focused on the LAN side.

Instead, this report aims to update Light Reading's 2008 report of the same title: Who Makes What: Telco Home Gateways. It adds additional companies and makes a few changes and corrections to the earlier entries, highlighting some of the developments of the last 12 months.

We have tried to make the listing as complete as possible, but this is where you, the readers, can help with any companies that have been missed and products that need to be added.

If any companies need to be added or any information corrected, please bring it to our attention either on the message board below or by sending an email to [email protected] or [email protected], placing "Who Makes What: Telco Home Gateways" in the subject line.

Here’s a hyperlinked contents list and categorization:

• Page 2: Telco Home Gateways
  
  
• Page 3: Management Systems
  
  
• Page 4: Bits & Pieces: Silicon Devices & Software

— Tim Hills is a freelance telecommunications writer and journalist. He's a regular author of Light Reading reports.

Next Page: Telco Home Gateways