THE FUTURE AS SEEN THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Among the early, big “gotcha” issues to creep up among service providers offering video over IP was figuring out how to get the IP stream from the side of the house to the set-top box sitting on top of the TV. For many, particularly independent telcos, the solution was installing Category 5 wiring throughout the home, a time-consuming and expensive process. The dilemma also spawned two competing technologies — from Coaxsys and the Multimedia over Coax Alliance — that used existing coaxial cable in the home and brought new life to both the HPNA and Ethernet over power lines.

But ask any executives or engineers who have developed those technologies about the ultimate solution, and virtually all will agree that it's wireless. However, establishing a wireless link in the home with enough bandwidth that is secure and reliable enough to carry video has prevented the concept from becoming reality.

That may be changing, though, as several vendors have started to mark progress on the basic technology. Last month, the newly rechristened Ruckus announced that it had secured an additional $9 million in funding, developed a wireless multimedia gateway capable of transmitting video and signed PCCW in Hong Kong as its first carrier customer.

“In general, Wi-Fi is really a data-only technology,” said David Logan, vice president of product development for Ruckus. “You've got to get whatever services that come into that ingress point to multiple areas of the house. Video usually doesn't work over Wi-Fi because of range and performance, and the bandwidth delivered is not consistent enough to deliver the viewing experience.”

Key to Ruckus' gateway is smart antenna technology that focuses only on the strongest and most appropriate communications path. Though initially integrated into a gateway, the company also is looking at set-top boxes. In that environment, the other significant innovation is the ability to actively manage all traffic within the home.

“We understand that you might have a set-top box consuming multiple video streams while you're in the kitchen on the phone and downloading e-mail,” Logan said. “We ensure that video has the appropriate treatment in the network regardless of how many streams are present.”

Ruckus, of course, isn't the only company working toward wireless elements for set-tops. Alereon this month launched a new chipset that, when integrated into set-tops, will allow carriers to stream video to a TV without wires. While not targeted at the connection between the side of the home and set-top, the technology can be extended to other areas.

Motorola, which is providing set-tops to SBC Communications' IPTV rollout, currently is using MOCA, but is investigating all technologies, said Carl Vassia, Motorola's product marketing lead for the Verizon account.

“The types of services and bandwidths are challenging for wireless set-tops right now,” he said. “Any technology will need to support all the multimedia formats, and we're keeping our eyes open as the wireless technologies improve.”