2Wire
2Wire logo | |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Consumer Electronics |
Founded | 1998 |
Headquarters | San Jose, California, USA |
Key people | Pasquale Romano, President and CEO |
Products | DSL modems |
Number of employees | 1600 |
Website | 2wire.com |
2Wire, Inc., is a broadband customer-premises equipment manufacturer that provides telecommunications companies with hardware, software, service platforms, and remote CPE management systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, in the Silicon Valley. As of July 2010[update], the company employs approximately 1,600 employees globally, including 550 in R&D, sales and administration, 450 in customer care and 600 agency employees in five U.S. offices and an additional nine offices around the world. The 2Wire HomePortal residential gateways are distributed exclusively by the world's leading broadband service providers such as AT&T in the United States, Bell in Canada, Telmex in Mexico, BT Group in the United Kingdom and SingTel in Singapore. In July 2010, Pace plc of the United Kingdom agreed to buy 2Wire for $475m (£307m).[1]
History
2Wire was founded in 1998 by Brian Hinman (who also founded PictureTel and Polycom), Pasquale Romano, Brad Kayton, Tom Spalding, and Jeff Bernstein. In January 2000, 2Wire delivered its first product, the HomePortal residential gateway, after winning accolades at that year's annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This broadband modem/router combination enabled DSL connectivity with home networking, firewall protection, and remote management capabilities. The following year, in January 2001, 2Wire delivered a wireless residential gateway.
In 2002, the company created a backend, remote CPE management platform, called CMS. Later that year, 2Wire published the Open Gateway Management Protocol (OGMP).[2] The OGMP formed the basis for the TR-069 WAN management protocol subsequently ratified by the DSL Forum in 2004.
In early 2003, 2Wire delivered a wireless gateway with a complete system-on-a-chip architecture. Also in 2003, the company acquired Sugar Media, a digital media provider.
The following year, in the spring of 2004, 2Wire launched MediaPortal, a multi-service media platform that integrates DSL and satellite services. The MediaPortal-powered set-top box, combining television, digital video recorder, video, music, photo viewings, and messaging capabilities, was deployed by AT&T in 2006 as part of its Homezone service.[3]
In January 2006, 2Wire introduced the HomePortal intelligent Network Interface Device (iNID), an outdoor broadband residential gateway that supports VDSL2 and fiber to the premises (FTTP) connections.
2Wire acquired Kenati Technologies, an embedded device software company, in October 2007.[4]
As of June 2008[update], 2Wire had shipped more than 20 million residential gateways to its telecommunications provider customers.
In November 2008, 2Wire and Blockbuster Inc. developed and released MediaPoint Digital Media Player, a set-top box that delivers video content over broadband. [5][6]
Products
2Wire produces a series of HomePortal residential gateways that enable home networking via broadband interfaces that range from ADSL 2+ to fiber to the node (FTTN) (VDSL 1 and 2), as well as FTTP. The gateways are based on integrated system-on-a-chip architectures, and have native TR-069 support, as well as support for HomePNA, MoCA, USB, 802.11b/g wireless standards, and Web-based remote access.
The company also produces MediaPortal (not to be confused with the unrelated open-source software MediaPortal), a multi-service media platform that combines high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) broadcast satellite or off-air TV programming with broadband services, DVR capabilities, music and photo storage and sharing, and home networking.
Affiliations
- 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project)
- Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions
- Broadband Forum (formerly DSL Forum)
- Consumer Electronics Association
- Digital Living Network Alliance
- DVB Project (Digital Video Broadcasting)
- European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
- Femto Forum
- HomePNA (formerly Home Phoneline Networking Association)
- Home Gateway Initiative
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
- Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA)
- UPnP Forum (Universal Plug and Play Forum)
- Wi-Fi Alliance
Partnerships
- Alcatel-Lucent
- AT&T Inc.
- Bell Canada
- BT Openworld
- CenturyLink
- Juno
- MTS Allstream
- NetZero
- SaskTel
- SingTel
- Telecom New Zealand
- Telenor
- TELMEX
- Telstra
- TELUS
- Windstream
References
- ^ "Pace to buy US broadband company". BBC News. July 26, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ "Spec proposed for managing CPE routers and gateways". CommsDesign.
- ^ "2Wire's gateway to follow SBC into living room". CNET News.com.
- ^ "2Wire acquires Kenati Tech". The Hindu Business Line.
- ^ Portnoy, Sean (November 25, 2008). "Blockbuster joins movie-streaming race with 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player". ZDNet Blogs. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ Dragan, Lauren (December 4, 2008). "Blockbuster Ondemand with 2Wire MediaPoint". Home Entertainment Magazine. Retrieved 2009-01-21.