In the spotlight: Entone CEO Steve McKay

In today's living room, it is not an extreme scenario to have 10 to 12 devices surrounding a television. And with most households owning upward of four TV sets, the number of set-top boxes required is proliferating. IPTV vendor Entone envisions a home where STBs and wires don't exist. CEO Steve McKay spoke with Telephony Associate News Editor Sarah Reedy about why IPTV should only be a one-box kind of system.

On the next wave of IPTV: The next wave of services will be around the ability to store, move and stream rich media sets throughout the home and beyond the home and to have those assets be not only traditional linear TV, but increasingly Web-based forms of video as well.

On why today's STB influx can't last: The model we don't believe in is what you see today: not only a TV but a high-cost and highly capable STB sitting on every one of those TVs. That is the model we think is broken. First of all, it is way too expensive to have duplicate electronics throughout your house. Secondly, no consumer in the world wants an additional box in their home. Thirdly, the wiring requirements are very expensive.

On why TV-makers should stay away from software: The versions of software are changing constantly. The amount of interop testing that is required is extreme, so it's hard enough to get [high definition] and the HD control protocol to work with today's TVs. I'm not optimistic that your typical TV manufacturer is going to be able to take on the role of software integrator as well. … I know people are talking about that model, but there is just no way I believe that TV manufacturers are ready to be the software integrators for IPTV.

On the value of a central hub: Over time, what will happen is we expect every TV in the home — without having the STB and the complicated software built into the TV — to be able to view your entire photo library, access your music library, home videos, [digital video recorder] and live TV. That vision is very close, at least for Entone.