Magnet Gives European Consumers Anytime, Anywhere Digital TV, Voice and Data Over Wi-Fi in the Home With Ruckus Wireless7 March 2006
Credited with developing the world's first in-home "smart Wi-Fi" system, Ruckus Wireless today announced that it has been selected by Magnet Entertainment (Magnet) to provide its products and technology for Europe's first commercial deployment of wireless digital TV in the home.
Magnet, a leading provider of broadband services in Ireland, is now offering subscribers the Ruckus Wireless system with its innovative "triple play" digital service offerings.
With the Ruckus Wireless system, Magnet is able to slash installation time, cable and labor costs by up to 84 percent for each new installation. Meanwhile Magnet subscribers can now enjoy anytime, anywhere TV viewing without cumbersome and disruptive cabling throughout their homes.
Until now, each additional TV installation cost the subscriber euro 60 and took up to one hour to install (plus a nominal monthly rental fee for equipment). The Ruckus System radically reduces this time to an astonishing seven minutes and eliminates the installation cost for each additional TV point (a nominal monthly rental fee for equipment still applies). Installation of Magnet's triple play service is further shortened since the Ruckus technology is totally plug and play and can be self-installed by the customer with no Wi-Fi expertise required. This helps Magnet get many more subscribers up and running on its service each day.
Plugging and Playing with Ruckus
To add a wireless TV, users or installers simply connect a Ruckus adapter to an Amino set top box that controls the TV using an Ethernet cable. The Ruckus adapter automatically registers with the Ruckus access point. The system then self-tunes based on the given wireless environment. All data encryption and system settings are factory-configured by Magnet. Consumers are spared from the configuration hassles typically associated with networking products.
"We deploy networks and offer services that we, ourselves, would want to use," said Ignvar Gardarsson, Managing Director of Magnet Entertainment. "We've never been satisfied with the status quo of broadband offerings and neither should our customers. Our goal is to continually push the limits of technology and create new service offers that give consumers what they really want -- freedom, flexibility and reliability at the most affordable cost possible. Ruckus Wireless fits perfectly into this ideology."
Known for its leadership in deploying cutting edge technology, Magnet Entertainment has deployed one of Europe's fastest broadband services, delivering up to 100 Mbps of capacity to homes throughout Ireland over a state-of-the-art copper (ADSL 2+) and fiber (FTTH) infrastructure. Magnet is already delivering digital voice, IPTV and Internet access services (the so- called Triple Play) over the broadband computer lines going into consumers' homes.
"Magnet has become Europe's poster child for how next generation digital broadband service will be delivered," said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. "The home has become the new battleground for providers. They need a way to quickly and easily enable new revenue -generating services at the lowest possible cost. We've developed a platform precisely for this purpose. It's that simple, and simple to use."
Lo noted that the biggest obstacle has been the negative experience of telecom providers trying to stream video over consumer-grade Wi-Fi. "They've all tried it, and it failed miserably. Simply throwing more bandwidth at video, even with new technologies such as 802.11n, doesn't solve the stability problem inherent to Wi-Fi. So when we come in and say we can do it, we're met with well-founded skepticism. World-class providers like PCCW in Hong Kong and Magnet in Ireland, are eliminating this skepticism."
Magnet currently offers 66 channels of IPTV and is rolling out video on demand (VoD) services this month. IPTV channels are compressed using MPEG-2 and streamed over the Magnet Network at bit rates ranging from three to five megabits per second. Magnet plans to utilize new MPEG-4 data compression that will allow it to effectively double the number of channels consumers can access over its networks as well as support high definition digital television (HDTV). Additionally, Magnet offers voice over IP (VoIP) services and various additional services.
Prior to providing the Ruckus system, Magnet would typically rewire homes with Category 5 Ethernet cables. These cables are bright in color and are typically "snaked" along skirting boards in the home. "This is an eyesore and potential hazard that our customers just don't want," said Gardarsson.
Unlike any other system available, the Ruckus Wireless "smart Wi-Fi" system is the only carrier-class platform built to provide simultaneous support for IPTV, digital voice and data over 802.11g technology. The Ruckus system uniquely identifies and prioritizes different types of traffic coming into the system. It then finds and uses the best Wi-Fi signal path for transmission.
If any interference is detected, the Ruckus system, on-the-fly, automatically steers the Wi-Fi beam around the interference to ensure the highest reliability of each transmission. The Ruckus smart Wi-Fi system continually keeps track of the Wi-Fi environment and ranks the best path at any given time to each end station.
"Ruckus Wireless has purposely built a platform that transforms how future broadband services will be delivered, enabled and distributed throughout the home. We believe our customers should always settle for more -- which is why we've been first to offer 100 Mbps, fiber, voice over IP and now wireless TV in the home. We do exactly what we tell our customers to do: 'always settle for more,'" concluded Gardarsson.
About Magnet Networks
Headquartered in Dublin, Magnet Networks is a digital services operator and home entertainment provider utilising the latest in broadband technology to provide residential and business customers at major centres of population in Ireland with multi-play digital telephony, internet and television services. Magnet Networks is a fully owned subsidiary of US-based private equity investment company Columbia Ventures Corporation (http://www.colventures.com), holder of extensive telecoms interests worldwide, and a sister company of Hibernia Atlantic (http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com), owner/operator of Ireland's only direct fibre-optic submarine cable link with North America and the UK. For further information visit http://www.magnet.ie.
About Ruckus Wireless, Inc.
Founded in June 2004 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Ruckus Wireless is credited with developing the first "smart Wi-Fi" system that enables reliable transmission of digital video over standards-based in- home wireless networks. The company's patent-pending hardware and software technologies improve the performance, range and predictability of wireless networks in the home, extending all the benefits of Wi-Fi to consumers' television viewing and enabling service providers to deliver 'triple play' services of voice, video and data over one broadband connection. The company, named to the 2006 "Fast 50" by Fast Company magazine, has raised approximately $14 million in two rounds of venture financing from top investors including Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, WK Technology Fund and Investor AB. Ruckus Wireless is led by Selina Lo, CEO, named in 2005 by Light Reading magazine as "Industry Statesman of the Year" and Dominic Orr, Chairman of the Board. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.ruckuswireless.com .
Contact: David Callisch of Ruckus Wireless, +1-408-504-5487, or david@ruckuswireless.com; or Kathryn O'Donoghue of Johnson King, +44-207-357-7799, or kathryno@johnsonking.co.uk, for Ruckus.
Source: prnewswire
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