Sereniti: Home Networking a Revenue Opportunity for Service Providers

April 4, 2006

The other day the WiFi card in my PC picked up eight wireless networks within range around the courtyard of the condo complex where I live. "Wow, I'm living in a WiFi cloud!" I thought to myself. Most of the networks on my availability list were unsecured, which was no surprise to me -- I'm sure the other network owners around the courtyard suffer as much frustration and confusion as I do trying to keep a stable WiFi signal and get their computers and printers to keep talking to each other. More often than not, making the network secure just completely disables it.

So I was intrigued to learn about Sereniti, a company that provides a "smart" home networking service that includes a wireless G gateway device, security applications and 24/7 tech support for a reasonable monthly fee. The company is marketing its solution as a value-add offering for service providers. I thought it would be interesting to get some comments from Wade Callison, vice president for program management at Sereniti, about current trends in the service provider business and in the world of home networking. Wade responds to some questions in the exchange quoted below.

What would you say are the important trends for cable service and ISPs to take note of?

The most important trend is bundling, that is, the integration of other hardware and services in with basic service provision, as a way to increase revenues and reduce subscriber churn.� Delivering new value-added services on top of basic broadband service is essential for service providers to maintain customer loyalty and counter the constant price decreases for basic service.� (A comparable example receiving mainstream promotion is the bundling of DVR services with cable and DBS services.)

How can providers cope with or make the most of those trends?

Providers need to be looking at value-adds like serving content, remote 24/7 tech support, automatic backups and VoIP services, which make the basic broadband service little more than a commodity in the eyes of customers.

Your brief says that Sereniti is in the business of providing a solution for home wireless networking.� Can you say more about what your product does?� And how do you define your market?

Sereniti Inc. makes wireless home computer networking, security and technical support safe, easy and affordable.� Sereniti's network and PC support services combine hardware and software, security and parental controls software, an easy-to-use graphical user interface and 24/7 technical support.� It also includes $25,000 in identity theft protection insurance per household and $1,000 virus protection.� A unique feature of Sereniti's service is 80GB of network storage, for automatically backing up important files from PCs as well as digital media in the household, such as photos and music.�

Our channels include any service provider, whether they provide high-speed Internet access, or other services to consumers, such as technical support or security services.

What are the big challenges in the home wireless networking area, and what are the best strategies for handling those challenges?

The biggest challenges faced by most consumers are too much complexity and not knowing who to call for technical support.� The proliferation of digital devices in the home drives support incidents when consumers cannot intuitively make their gadgets connect to the Internet and work together.

Most people do not know how to set up and secure their wireless home network.� Others are limiting their usage because of fears of identity theft and inappropriate content finding its way into their childrens' in-boxes.� Right now, many service providers are missing the opportunity to provide a solution to their problems, passing up a chance to build real loyalty with customers and monetize the support burden they are nonetheless forced to shoulder.

Does Sereniti have any news coming up soon?� New products or services?

We will launch the next generation of our service, EasyCare 360, this spring.� It will include 80GB of network storage built into a smart home server, providing automatic wireless backup of all home computers on the system.

What's the most exciting thing about the market space you're working in?

Most ISPs are using the "homes with high speed access" metric as the measure of penetration.� To be sure, many homes with high speed access are not making good use of the available resources because of a lack of customer sophistication and fears about viruses, identity theft or online predators.� Adoption of iPods and digital cameras is nonetheless driving a "wave" of digital complexity in the home.� We are now achieving critical mass of devices and applications that will require the adoption of home networks.� Overcoming complexity remains an issue.� The market could be so much bigger for the firms that crack this problem - we think we have that solution, and we want to work with service providers bring it to their customers.

What do you think is the solution to some of the big technical challenges in the area of wireless networking, especially spectrum conflicts?

The frequency range used for Bluetooth and Wifi (802.11b and 802.11g wireless networking) are other in the 2.4 GHz band.� In addition, these channels are also used for such devices as wireless video cameras and cordless phones.� Spectrum conflicts are inevitable, but are mitigated by new technologies, such as Adaptive Frequency Hopping, which is designed to switch channels dynamically and reduce RF interference issues.� New specifications for these wireless standards will offer continual improvements to address this challenge.

Another technical challenge will be compatibility among the multiple flavors of wireless standards, but in time we can expect this will also be addressed by the adoption of new standards.

AB -- 4/4/06

Tags: home, networking, providers, security, sereniti, service, wifi, wireless
Related Tags: service providers, technical support, wireless networking, identity theft, service, wireless