French firms form home networking venture
20 February 2008
French firms form home networking venture
France Telecom's mobile division, Orange, has joined forces with French manufacturers Thomson and Sagem to create a joint venture, which will focus on facilitating the interoperability of digital equipment in the home.
The Soft At Home venture will develop new features and applications in the home networking arena and will coordinate a network of developers.
According to the companies, the initiative is designed to facilitate the deployment and interoperability of digital equipment in the home and make it possible to combine it with enhanced services.
"For instance, it enables you to access photos stored on a computer on your TV, make a telephone call using the television remote control, or even simultaneously save multimedia content, wherever the digital equipment is located in the home," a statement from the companies read.
The next generation of residential gateways and TV decoders that will be used by Orange in 2008 will be equipped with Soft At Home software, while Thomson and Sagem will include the platform in their respective gateways and set top boxes.
Industry analyst Strategy Analytics forecasts that in Western Europe alone around 65 million homes will have a wifi router by 2011, representing an average annual growth rate of 25 per cent. The firm also believes that more than 600 million terminals that can be connected up to these domestic networks will be sold in 2012.
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