AT&T, Q’comm start next battle of home nets

SAN JOSE – AT&T and Qualcomm separately rolled out broad ecosystem of home and building automation products. AT&T’s Digital Life and Qualcomm’s M2MSearch are among the first shots in a coming battle between ecosystems for the Internet of Things.

About 15 years ago I wrote a story about how Microsoft was quietly considering the underpinnings for its support for home networks in Windows. At that time, their thinking was beyond the bleeding edge of what anyone was actually making or buying.

Fast forward to 2012. At the CTIA show in New Orleans this week an AT&T executive rolled out Digital Life, a broad set of services the phone giant hopes will become its next billion dollar business. It will start modestly enough with trials in Atlanta and Dallas this summer.  

Digital Life is based on Xanboo, a software platform that integrates a set of Wi-Fi, Insteon, Zigbee and ZWave systems into a single service that supports security systems from Honeywell and others. AT&T will customize Xanboo, offering a version of the DIY service that is “professionally monitored and installed.”

The Xanboo service alone supports at least 30 different devices. They range from Wi-Fi baby cams to bed wetting moisture sensors, night vision cameras, gateways, alarms and motion, temperature and water sensors. AT&T will link them all to its IP network.

The carrier has “built the first two all-digital monitoring centers in the industry,” it claims. Ultimately, it aims to sell the service through its “2,300 company-owned retail stores, online presence and dedicated call centers.”

In short, home networking is going mainstream.

Qualcomm sees this too and is jumping on the bandwagon. Today it created the M2MSearch Web site that essentially shows in once place the various offerings based on its cellular and (newly acquired from Atheros) Wi-Fi module and systems offerings. Interestingly, the site lists more than a dozen suppliers of Qualcomm-based cellular modules but only two Wi-Fi card makers so far.

Qualcomm’s asperations extend far beyond the home. Products on its site also address “automotive, industrial automation, retail and enterprise” markets—then broader Internet of Things. No doubt, AT&T will someday expand into this turf with its service offerings.

Like AT&T, Qualcomm realizes home networking is a polyglot country. It already supports HomePlug powerline networking through its acquisition of Intellon, as well as its smorgasbord of cellular and Wi-Fi chip sets suitable for M2M apps.

In the old days--five or ten years ago--we used to write about the physical layer wars of Wi-Fi versus powerline versus coax, or even one flavor over powerline versus another. Those days are over.

This week marks the beginning of a battle of ecosystems in home networking. AT&T and Qualcomm have fired the first shots. Before the smoke clears, combatants will include many other major carriers, systems providers and chip set designers.

If you are still fighting some PHY battle, put down your swords. Find a way to hop on Internet Protocol or some other interoperability mechanism and link up with other technologies and partners, fast. There’s a big battle brewing.