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IPTV Over In-Home Wi-Fi Network Distribution

CNET reports that Airgo Networks, which makes Wi-Fi chips, announced that Caton Overseas and STMicroelectronics will use its latest generation of wireless technology to distribute multimedia content over Wi-Fi links throughout the subscriber home.

Caton is a Chinese maker of set-top boxes for satellite and cable TV providers in Asia and Europe, and STMicroelectronics provides chips to set-top box manufacturers such as Siemens and Cisco Systems' Scientific Atlanta.

Airgo has already been supplying wireless routing companies such as Linksys with high-performing Wi-Fi chips using a technology called MIMO or multiple input, multiple output, which improves Wi-Fi's range and throughput. MIMO is currently the primary basis for next-generation Wi-Fi standard 802.11n.

Now Airgo says it has tweaked its MIMO technology to improve the throughput, range and reliability of the signal enough to deliver high-quality video. Airgo's next-generation chips, called True MIMO Gen3, provided transmission speeds up to 240mbps when tested in Airgo's 6,000-square-foot model home, said Dave Borison, director of marketing for Airgo. This speed is enough to transmit three high-definition TV (HDTV) channels, he said.

Carriers, such as AT&T, know that most homes today aren't equipped with Ethernet cabling, which has traditionally been used to deliver IP services. So one of the problems carriers face as they try to deliver IPTV is finding a way to distribute the service to multiple TVs throughout the home. Moreover, they need to reduce the costly four- to six-hour typical labor-intensive IPTV installation process.

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