Amedia AmiNET Aims to Replace Computer with IPTV Gateway

January 8, 2007, 5:34 PM by Scott M. Fulton, III

Scott Fulton, BetaNews: One of the unresolved issues with IPTV is whether consumers want a computer at the center of their living room, or whether they'd prefer it to stay in the office. Both sides of the issue claim to have conducted research, and both say their research confirms their own respective take on the market.

Nothing more clearly demonstrates the dividing line than Amedia Networks, a network equipment provider that sells switches and gateways to Internet service providers seeking a route into the home - looking to bridge the "last mile." Today, it's partnering with Amino (not the acid), which produces IPTV set-top boxes that use Amedia equipment. The result is something called the "Broadband Entertainment Center," and Amedia may be very wisely refraining from positioning it as just another STB.

Instead, the product tries to take a back-seat approach, in that Amedia knows its customers are telcos, and that telcos will want to use their brand names on their IPTV service - never mind what the STB is called. Here's how the company describes it:

Amino Networks: [from prepared statement] The Amedia Broadband Entertainment Center is designed to replace the computer as the media hub and central point of networking within the connected home. It will allow users to store, organize, and search all types of multimedia content -- from movies, to home videos, to music, to games -- within a personal media library right on their residential gateway, and then play that content on virtually any television, monitor, or networked device.

Scott Fulton: I underlined the key phrase above, because it's critical to the company's message. Amedia is appealing to service providers who want to get the computer out of their way; and it's important to note that, with Viiv still a factor in the Internet service game, Amedia must have ascertained its customers don't want computers in their way. If it's correct, then Intel may be in trouble.