Entropic Communications unveils PQoS for home entertainment networks

June 13, 2007 - Entropic Communications,  a US technology solution provider for connected home entertainment, has announced the availability of Parameterized Quality of Service (PQoS) for its c.LINK platform.

Entropic is one of a number of home networking chip companies to incorporate PQoS into its chipset, addressing service provider concerns regarding guaranteed bandwidth for premium services such as IPTV on home entertainment networks.  802.1p currently provides a method to prioritise traffic on the home network, but does not make distinctions between types of data nor guarantee bandwidth for premium services.  The new Entropic enhancements will be available with all c.LINK EN2210 chipsets and via firmware download from the third quarter of 2007.

With the new PQoS incorporated, service providers will be able to reserve consumer premise equipment (CPE) bandwidth for such services as video feeds, and also manage packet delivery to and from within the home network so data and video feeds can co-exist.  PQoS is thus expected to avoid costly operator support and poor subscriber experience.

John Graham, Vice President of Marketing for Entropic, commented: “Service providers and their OEMs have been clamouring for PQoS as a way to provide quaranteed video services while simultaneously allowing access to personal content without having to worry about service interruptions.”