CONNECTIONS™ Tracks at CES

CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Home Conference and Showcase, produced by Parks Associates in partnership with CEA, will host four sessions at CES focusing on various aspects of digital entertainment regarding the consumer.

These interactive sessions featuring industry executives, moderated by Parks Associates' leading analysts, discussed and evaluated the evolution of the consumer music experience, portable entertainment devices, digital distribution of media, and the management of home networks.

JAN 6, 2005  10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Requiem for the Hi-Fi: Audio in the Digital Age

JAN 6, 2005 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
 Fun on the Run: Portable Entertainment Devices

JAN 6, 2005 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Crossroads: Hollywood Meets Silicon Valley

JAN 6, 2005 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Making the Network Work: The Role of Managed Services

TRACK DETAILS

Thur.  JAN 6, 2005 
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM

The evolution of the consumer music experience in and outside of the home continues at an unremitting pace. Given the trends in music acquisition and personalization that have occurred because of the rise of broadband Internet connections and “Media PCs,” what will be the future role of the home stereo? This session brought together representatives from the PC and CE industries to discuss the user requirements and form factors of tomorrow’s “Di-Fi” – digital audio players.

g Panelists

John Dahl, THX
Product Line Manager

Mike Kobb, Roku
Senior Software Strategist

Ted Laverty, DTS Europe
Director Business Development

Greg Rodehau, Dolby Laboratories
Director, PC & Gaming Technology Marketing, Consumer Division

Phil Whitworth, XM Satellite Radio
Director, Product Marketing

g Moderator

Kurt Scherf, Parks Associates
Vice President & Principal Analyst

This session discussed challenges facing portable media players, including interoperability of different DRM formats and consumer reservations regarding emerging portable video and gaming devices. It also considered opportunities such as introducing multipurpose portable devices (cell phone/MP3 player) and delivering entertainment services through these platforms.

g Panelists

Peter S. Henry, National Semiconductor
VP Portable Power Systems

Scott Horn, Microsoft Corp.
Director of Marketing, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division

Hyeon Lee, Samsung Electronics
Vice President of Mobile & Home Solutions

Peter Percosan, Texas Instruments
Executive Director Broadband Strategy

Rutton Ruttonsha, Philips Semiconductors
Vice President & General Manager, Business Line Personal Entertainment Solutions

g Moderator

Will Cheek, Parks Associates
Analyst

To fully leverage the dramatic WAN and LAN developments from the past few years, the "content highway" must be fully paved from headend into the home. Certainly, content protection issues are among the chief concerns of both the content developers and technologists, but it’s not the only challenge. This session examined the ways in which the myriad of content sources will get linked to home networks and end-user devices through enhanced networks, emerging connectivity solutions, enabling software, and unique content receiving platforms, both fixed and portable.

g Panelists

Dave Clark, Scientific-Atlanta
Director, Product Strategy & Management, Home Entertainment Products

Jordan Greenhall, DivXNetworks
CEO

David Grubb III, Motorola Broadband Communications Sector
Vice President, Advanced Network Technology IP Communication Gateways

Steve Shannon, Akimbo Systems
Founder & Executive Vice President of Marketing

Chris Smith, AOL
Director, Broadband Gear

g Moderator

John Barrett, Parks Associates
Director of Research

Home networks are largely invisible to consumers until they stop working. Interruption of Internet service, printing capability, or content sharing will immediately precipitate calls to the service provider. This presents opportunities and challenges for both service and hardware providers. The panelists discussed these issues and the potential for remote management of home networks, virus protection, and other services to reduce churn and generate revenue. 

g Panelists

Steve Bush, Pure Networks
Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer

Inder Gopal, Lemur Networks
Chief Product Officer

Steve Iverson, Streamload
Co-founder, President & CEO

Vivek Pathela, NETGEAR
Senior Director, Product Management and Marketing

Ken Smith, Digiticians
Founder & CEO

Charles Verdict, Jungo Software Technologies
Director Business Development - North America Region

g Moderator

Kurt Scherf, Parks Associates
Vice President & Principal Analyst

JAN 5, 2005 
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Parks Associates hosted a pre-show workshop, The Digital Home Highway, providing consumer data, insight, and analysis on broadband services, multimedia applications and platforms, on-demand content, DRM, and the connected consumer. The workshop featured information from Parks Associates’ most recent consumer studies and industry report .  Workshop passes can be purchased for a half-day or full-day.

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