Ruckus Wireless to Conduct One of Europe's First Public Demo's of IPTV Over Standard Wi-Fi at IPTV World Forum

February 6th, 2006 -As consumer electronics and computer networks collide, Ruckus Wireless has announced plans to conduct one of Europe's first public demonstrations of streaming high definition, digital TV (DTV) and multicast IPTV over standard Wi-Fi technology at the upcoming IPTV World Forum at the Olympia Conference Centre(room 303) in London, March 6-8, 2006.

Ruckus Wireless will show how advances in wireless computer networking now make it possible to reliably transmit multiple HDTV, DTV and IPTV streams over a standard in-home 802.11g Wi-Fi network. With the new smart Wi-Fi technology developed by Ruckus Wireless, consumers can extend the freedom and flexibility of wireless to their in-home video systems, TVs and other set-top-boxes with the reliability and stability offered by wired alternatives. Demonstrations will include reliably transmitting high definition digital video content from a media centre system over 802.11g to a Microsoft XBox 360 for viewing on a TV.

"One of the biggest unsolved obstacles preventing new services like IPTV from taking off is how consumers must deal with moving this IP-based content around their homes," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, Broadband and IPTV at Infonetics Research.  "Up to now, this problem has been largely swept under the carpet because no one has really figured it out." 

According to Infonetics, while consumers love Wi-Fi, the technology was developed for data applications that can tolerate delays.  "A single Wi-Fi network for every type of multimedia content is what consumers and carriers would really love to have, if they could get it.  But the technology hasn't yet shown itself worthy of dealing with interference or providing a
connection that is stable or predictable enough to support new services entering the home like IPTV."

Recent advances in compression and networking technology are quickly bringing digital voice, IPTV and data to consumers over a single broadband IP connection coming into the home. But once dropped at the doorstep, consumers must deal with how best to distribute this digital multimedia content that is now wrapped within the Internet Protocol (IP), to televisions, personal video recorders, and other new multimedia appliances located throughout the home.

"Emerging services such as IPTV are dependent on new ways to distribute IP-based multimedia throughout the home," said Rob Mustarde, vice president of European operations at Ruckus Wireless. "Consumers love Wi-Fi for data but also want it for video and voice if they can reliably get it.  Now they can, and we're proving it."

Mustarde said that while emerging Wi-Fi technologies, such as 802.11n, will increase the overall capacity or bandwidth in the air, they will do little to ensure the integrity or predictability of the Wi-Fi link between two points.  "Our technology lets users trust the air by literally creating Wi-Fi links between endpoints that can be managed and monitored," Mustarde said.  "Until now this just hasn't been possible." 

The Ruckus Wireless smart Wi-Fi system applies Internet techniques to the air - picking the best path for a Wi-Fi signal at any given time.  It automatically steers Wi-Fi signals around interference in real time to guarantee a high-quality video experience for consumers without the hassles and complexity of wires and networks.

Demo Details
To showcase the newest technologies enabling the digital living room, the Ruckus "TV over Wi-Fi" demonstration will include different types of video streaming:

- Using the Ruckus MF2900 Wi-Fi wireless multimedia router, HD WMV-9 compressed digital video content on a media center system will be streamed at 9-12 Mbps over standard 802.11g to an XBox360 equipped with the Ruckus MF2501 adapter as well as to other Wi-Fi enabled devices.

- Multiple MPEG-2 IPTV streams, representing different TV channels, will be simultaneously transmitted over the Ruckus smart Wi-Fi system to an Amino set-top-box connected to a TV, as well as to PDAs and tablet PCs with integrated 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi.

- Finally, Ruckus will distribute live digital cable TV signals from digital set-top-boxes, satellite receivers and even recorded content from a digital video recorder, wirelessly to other devices in the home using the Slingbox from Sling Media. The Slingbox is a revolutionary consumer electronics product that takes an analog TV signal, digitises it and encapsulates it in IP for transmission over a computer network.  Ruckus will demonstrate how both stored digital content from a TiVo or other DVR or a live cable feed,can be reliably streamed over an in-home Wi-Fi network using the Slingbox and the Ruckus Wireless system.

The Ruckus Wireless "IPTV over Wi-Fi" digital living room demonstrations will be taking place in room 303 in the Olympia Conference Centre. For more information or to book a private appointment contact David Callisch at +1-408-504-5487 or visit http://www.ruckuswireless.com/iptvworldforum/

For more information about Ruckus Wireless please visit http://www.ruckuswireless.com

For more information about the IPTV World Forum please visit http://www.iptv-forum.com