A new report from The Diffusion Group (TDG) suggests that as DirecTV phases out shipments of TiVo DVRs -- a relationship that accounted for 70 percent of TiVo units sold in 2004 but will account for less than 5 percent of unit shipments by 2007 -- TiVo will be forced to come to terms with an increasingly competitive market flooded by free DVRs from video service providers. TDG argues that though TiVo will look to new cable and satellite relationships to fill the gap, these dealings will generate far too little revenue to sustain the company for the long-term. "TiVo's new president and CEO, Tom Rogers, will face many challenges as he leads TiVo into its post-DirecTV chapter," said Scott Kipp, author of the report and a contributing analyst. "Service provider relationships will no doubt be the company's initial panacea, but while such relationships may be cause for short-term optimism, their ability to contribute significantly to the Company's bottom line is limited. TiVo's long-term survival requires a major transformation in its branding and positioning strategies. It will simply not survive as a DVR solution provider. Instead, it must become a true 21st century media company, combining consumer electronics, digital audio, web-based video, and T-commerce strategies, each with a significant Internet component."
The industrial sector is on the eve of a wireless transformation, driven by an urgent demand for greater network capacity, reliability, and deterministic performance. Historically, manufacturers and mission-critical operations have relied on wired networks — favoring their predictability — because spectrum congestion in legacy 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands limited confidence in wireless for operational technology (OT) environments. However, with the introduction and rapid adoption of the 6GHz spectrum, compounded by significant advances in Wi-Fi standards, industrial facilities are now poised to embrace wireless LANs as the backbone for automation and digital innovation. Industrial WLAN Market Development Recent research from ABI Research forecasts that over 70 percent of industrial-grade wireless LAN access points (WLAN APs) shipped in 2030 will support the 6GHz band. This is a leap from 2 percent in 2023, highlighting a rapid and profound technological shift. The market for ruggedized indust...