CableLabs aims to simplify home networks

Everybody who wants a home network already has one. The rest either don't want to deal with the technology or don't see the value. And with broadband penetration stalled at about 10% of households - mostly due to lack of interest - DSL and cable providers are figuring out ways to get networks into the home so they can offer attractive services over them later on. And the only way to do that is to make the network maintenance-free, the thinking goes.

In the cable world, CableLabs has set out to ease this headache. The cable industry's nonprofit research and development consortium is developing CableHome, a specification that will allow cable operators to remotely configure and manage CableHome-compliant network devices such as residential gateways, bridges and client adapters. CableHome is an extension of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) and PacketCable specification, which deliver high-speed data and multimedia, respectively.

"If DOCSIS is for the last mile, then CableHome is for the last hundred feet," says Rouzbeh Yassini, CableLabs consultant and CEO of YAS Broadband Ventures. (Yassini also invented the cable modem.)

AT&T Broadband is already doing something similar with network hardware partner Linksys, but overall, cable operators have been slower than their DSL rivals to offer managed home networks. CableHome could be just what the cable guys need to catch up.

Version 1.0 of the CableHome specification will be publicly available April 5, and the first CableHome-compliant gateways are expected by Christmas from Linksys, D-Link, NetGear and Intel, sources involved with the project say.

What can CableHome do? Version 1.0 allows the cable company to log on to a residential gateway with CableHome-compliant software, see how many devices are attached, how much traffic they've passed and troubleshoot problems. Version 1.0 works with DOCSIS 1.0 cable modems. It supports cable network address translation (CNAT), SNMP 3.0, secure software upgrades and firewall configuration updates. CableHome 1.0 manages devices networked using any technology, whether it be Ethernet or coaxial cable, home phone line, wireless or power line.

CableHome products probably won't appeal if you're technically savvy or want to keep the cable company's nose out of your home network. But if you're tired of fielding calls from friends and family, you might want to suggest they go this route.

While CableHome Version 1.0 lays out the managed network framework, the subsequent version is sure to get all the buzz. Expected out next year, Version 1.1 will work with DOCSIS 1.1 and offer differentiated quality of service, which means a variety of services can run over the connection without problems, such as voice, VPN tunnels, streaming media and gaming, as well as utility, appliance, security and medical monitoring - services the cable providers hope will spur wide-scale adoption and yield them a lot more money per subscriber than today's flat $49 per month fee.

Toni Kistner is managing editor of Net.Worker. Contact her at tkistner@nww.com.

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