Sets stage for certification of first products delivering multiple streams of HD video and other digital entertainment throughout the home
SAN DIEGO, CA – November 9, 2005– The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) today announced completion of its first “Plugfest”. At the Plugfest, eight member companies tested eight products to verify that they interoperate and perform at levels consistent with the specifications set by the MoCA Certification Board. The Plugfest featured an 8-node MoCA network using all companies’ products simultaneously sharing three HD videos, eight SD videos, and interactive gaming for a total of more than 90 Mbps of full motion, no excuses digital entertainment.
Companies taking part in the Plugfest included Actiontec Electronics, Entropic Communications, Linksys, Motorola, Mototech, Panasonic, 2Wire, and Westell Technologies, which tested various home networking products including, residential gateways, Ethernet/coax bridges, reference designs, and chipsets. Comcast and Verizon attended the Plugfest as observer proctors. By participating in Plugfest, these vendors were able to increase their ability to have their products pass the suite of certification tests and become “MoCA Certified”, upon completion of the first certification wave, which is expected to take place in December.
MoCA is about to become the first home networking alliance to have logo-certified multi-sourced, interoperable products that can deliver multiple streams of HD video and other digital entertainment throughout the home. As MoCA was launched less than two years ago, the imminent certification of products represents one of the fastest implementations of a technology by an industry alliance.
“MoCA members are now the first to Plugfest, and will be the first to offer certified products that can deliver multiple streams of HD anywhere in the home,” said Ladd Wardani, President of MoCA. “Reaching this important milestone in such a short time period shows the hard work and commitment of the many companies in the MoCA family. It was particularly exciting to see all eight companies’ products form an interoperable MOCA network delivering multiple simultaneous streams of full motion HD and SD video.”
At the 4-day Plugfest, each of the eight companies paired off with each other to do detailed interoperability and performance testing. The companies also tested with the Golden Nodes that MoCA will use for its certification process. The final day included a single home network made up of products from each of the eight companies. The 8-node network included five separate sources of video, as well as two game-boxes doing interactive gaming, all sourced from separate nodes. All videos were available at all eight companies’ nodes, simultaneously carried over the interoperating MoCA network. The video sources included 2 HD DVRs each sending one HD video, a HD PC Media Center sending 1 HD video, a SD server sending 3 videos, and a second SD server sending 5 videos, for a total of approximately 94 Mbps. The HD streams were full rate at approximately 20 Mbps each.
MoCA is the first technology that consistently delivers glitch-free HD and DVD quality digital entertainment throughout the whole home. MoCA technology was developed from the ground up to address the key requirements for networking digital entertainment: high throughput, quality of service, security, and ease of use. A MoCA network can transport video, voice and data to TVs, set-tops, DVRs, game boxes, Wi-Fi repeaters and PCs at physical speeds of up to 270 Mbps homes and has been field tested across America in real world situations to deliver over a net usable 100 Mbps at greater than 97% of coax outlets.
MoCA’s Board of Directors include Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), Cox Communications, EchoStar (NASDAQ: DISH), Entropic Communications, Linksys, a division of Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Panasonic (NYSE: MC), Radio Shack (NYSE: RSH), Toshiba and Verizon (NYSE: VZ).
Quotes from MoCA Members Participating in Plugfest
“Participation in the Plugfest demonstrates our commitment to MoCA and its crucial role in the digital home,” said Dean Chang, President and CEO of Actiontec Electronics.
“We were very pleased to participate in the MoCA Plugfest and have the opportunity to interoperate with these industry leading companies’ products,“ said Patrick Henry, CEO of Entropic Communications. “Entropic is committed in every aspect to help drive MoCA as the industry standard for home networking of digital entertainment, and the Plugfest is a key milestone.”
“Our participation in MoCA’s Plugfest demonstrates an ongoing commitment to delivering products to help our service provider customers provide the highest standards for home networking solutions,” said Malachy Moynihan, Vice President of Engineering and Product Marketing at Linksys.
“Our participation in MoCA’s Plugfest demonstrates Motorola’s commitment to providing consumers with one of the easiest ways to create a rich home media network, and service providers with a cost-effective solution for driving digital video and advanced seamless mobility solutions deeper into the home,” said Marc Kauffman, VP Engineering at Motorola Connected Home Solutions.
“We are very pleased to be one of the many companies to participate in the Plugfest. The wide industry interest in the Plugfest provides a prelude to the potential of MoCA. The Plugfest is an significant event for Mototech to make sure our products will seamlessly work, which is important to help building customer confidence.” said KY Chou, President of Mototech.
“The Plugfest is important landmark to pave the way for delivering MoCA certified products that provide a network backbone to transport multiple streams of HD video throughout the home, said Dr. Paul Liao, Chief Technology Officer of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC). “This is the kind of benefit that consumers can
easily understand and want.”
“Plugfest represented a great opportunity for 2Wire to help strengthen standards-based interoperability for MoCA’s high-speed home networking solution,” said Brian Sugar, VP of Marketing at 2Wire. “This type of industry-wide cooperation is an important milestone, and a positive indicator for the future of digital home entertainment.”
“The Plugfest proved that the integration of MoCA technology is a key element in our strategy to deliver ‘no new wires’ solutions to our service provider customers,” said Gordon Reichard, Jr., Westell Vice President of Marketing.
About MoCA
The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) provides the solution for home networking digital entertainment without compromise. The mission of the alliance is to develop industry specifications and interoperability certification for delivering high bandwidth digital content over in-home coaxial cables. MoCA members gain access to specifications, plugfests, certification waves, and licensing guarantees for use in developing MoCA certified products. MoCA stands alone as the only home networking alliance to include Tier 1 members from each of the key digital entertainment service providers – cable, satellite, and telecom, as well as leading networking equipment and consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers. For more information on MoCA, please see www.mocalliance.org.