Motorola introduced the EDGE Home Center for home network management today at SCTE. It’s a cloud-based software tool for diagnosing and tinkering with the gadgets on your broadband network, and it’s designed for consumers to access anywhere. The photo above shows the Home Center portal on an iPad.
We’ve known for a long time that the MSOs are looking for ways to give subscribers more visibility into their network connections and the devices attached to them. That’s not altruism on the operators’ part. Consumers are demanding it, for one thing, and for another, the service providers want to minimize their customer support load wherever possible. If a subscriber can diagnose a problem or provision his own equipment before even picking up the phone to call a CSR, so much the better.
The Home Center is an extension of Motorola’s EDGE platform, and builds on a whole host of other Motorola diagnostic tools – STDC for set-tops, the Timbuktu technology for remote PC access, a speed test solution (in use by Cablevision today), and many, many more. As we move into the era of gateway devices with embedded DOCSIS 3.0, these types of management tools become increasingly useful. Suddenly everything hangs off one network connection point – set-tops included.
From today’s press release:
The EDGETM Home Center is a cloud-based, multi-screen, self-help console that now enables consumers to set up and manage their home network equipment and services. With expanded visibility, flexibility and control capabilities, the EDGE Home Center helps subscribers answer support questions and resolve problems on their own, minimizing burden on service provider call centers…
An intelligent business-rules engine with automated scripts and fast service adaptation capabilities has been built into EDGE Home Center to meet the emerging support needs of the digital home. The solution’s modular framework supports the introduction of optional value-add services such as anti-virus, PC backup, home automation or third-party applications.
Filed under: Cable, Internet, Mobile device, Motorola News, Networks, Telecom, TV
[...] a blog post, Motorola noted that the EDGE platform builds on a host of other Motorola diagnostic tools, including STDC for set-top devices, the Timbutu technology for remote PC access, and a speed test [...]
[...] way for operators to provision and support home broadband devices remotely. Motorola also launched the EDGE Home Center in October, which pulls that management function into a cloud-based interface, making greater use [...]