News

Ucentric and Entropic to Show IP Network for Whole-Home Entertainment at CES (16/12/2004)

Reliable, high-speed IP network leverages existing coax to support state of the art Digital Home consumer experience

Ucentric Systems and Entropic Communications are teaming up to deliver whole-home digital entertainment networking using an Internet Protocol (IP) network in the home that leverages existing coaxial cable. Entropic IP networking silicon chipsets combined with Ucentric Whole-Home software platform allow multiple high-definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) sessions of DVR (digital video recording) functionality and sharing of personal media such as music and photos to multiple display devices throughout the home over a reliable, high- speed (270Mbps) IP network. The combined solution will be showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2005 in Las Vegas, January 6-9.

"We're pleased to work with Ucentric to provide a reliable and engaging platform to move high-quality digital media throughout the home," said Patrick Henry, Entropic president and CEO. "Our combined solution allows CE manufacturers to take full advantage of Entropic's multimedia transport technology and Ucentric's modular and customizable software suite for delivering compelling, broadcast quality applications throughout the home on a robust and low-cost IP network."

"Entropic has been a leader in leveraging existing in-home cable to create secure and dependable multimedia networks that support broadcast quality video, including HDTV, high speed data, Internet, voice, and multi-room gaming," said Michael Collette, Ucentric chief executive officer. "IP networking for Whole-Home entertainment is critical in the mass deployment of home media servers and media sharing in that it overcomes the bandwidth issues of moving HD content around the home and affords the reliability of an IP network at the lowest possible cost to CE manufacturers."

Entropic's c.LINK-270 chipset, when built into a variety of consumer electronics such as set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and televisions permits seamless networking over the existing coaxial cable infrastructure at speeds as high as 270Mbps. The high speed and reliability of coax make it the ideal medium for networking high-bandwidth applications such as video.

Ucentric's Networked Media Center software platform includes a Whole-Home DVR(TM) application featuring a single recording library, shared among multiple television sets that allows users to independently record, pause, play, rewind and fast forward live or recorded programming from any TV in the network. Additional applications available from Ucentric include Whole-Home Music(TM) and Whole-Home Photo(TM) applications that allow users to access, share, and transfer their complete digital music and photo collections to any connected device in the home.

www.ucentric.com
www.entropic.com