Residential gateways

THE TELECOMMUNICATION Technology development is highly centered around the Residential connectivity to provide different types of Network services like Plain old telephone on twisted copper pair network, the Cable TV coaxial cable network, Hybrid fiber and Coaxial cable network, ADSL network, ATM networks for high band width applications. These networks are incompatible to each other and hence the price to provide will sharply go very high. In the recent past whole telecommunication industry, which is looking forward to the development of the network of the future, have initiated a new concept that is a basic enabler for that network.

The new concept is so important to the realisation of a multiple provider, competitive residential environment that is necessary for the future to have any realistic chance of providing all services from a single Network. This new concept of providing all the services from a single network is called the ``Residential Gateway.'' The residential gateway is not meant to compete with, but integrate into, and to provide the best service to the residential sector. The residential gateway concept approach is dedicated exclusively to residential requirements, rather than compromising those needs with business and institutional related concerns.

The present individual networks, which provide the different services, are incompatible to each other and naturally it will reflect in the basic economics to provide the service at higher cost. Ultimately residential customers will be faced with the prospect of dealing with very complicated multi-node switching problems. The residential gateway solutions will device a technology that will handle this function of complicated multi- node switching and hide the complexity from the consumer.

The idea of the residential gateway, then, is to hide all of this complexity from the consumer and perform the needed functions in the background, similar in concept to the present day devices to program every thing on a single touch button. The residential gateway provides an intelligent device capable of terminating all the proposed networks bound for the home. It, also, is capable of terminating all of the in-home networks like twisted pair, coaxial cable, security, Data LAN, video, audio etc. and provides for seamless interconnections between inside the outside networks as well as proving a user friendly control interface. Ultimately it allows the customer to operate his in home devices over the networks of his choice, at the highest level of functionality and without concern as to the switching and interface complexities involved.

While the residential gateway concept is primarily aimed at filling needs for the consumer, it also meets the needs of network operators and consumer electronic device designers. The main concern for these latter two groups in having a standardised interface point for their operations and for their design efforts. Consumers will see the benefits of technology developments quickly integrated into consumer products.

The residential gateway believes that the consumer must be brought to prime focus of our future network plans. To do so, a standardised interface must be developed for the home. This interface must simplify the control and operations to the consumer, while simultaneously allowing him to take advantage of the vastly expanding capabilities of the competing networks. It also must simplify the network operators and the designers' job. It is believed that the residential gateway will lessen the cost burden of the customer through the benefits of standardisation, and hat it will successfully eliminate the complexity. Different standard bodies, such as DAVIC, ATM forum, and IEEE, simultaneously take up the similar type of work. It is hoped that with in a year a standard ``residential gateway'' interface will start working.

V. Raman Kumar

Deputy General Manager,

Chennai Telephones

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