Q&A: What will be at the centre of the digital home?

D-Link Systems' mooted path to digital nirvana throws a spanner in the works for computer makers and consumer electronics giants.

Company CEO Ken Kao believes neither the PC nor consumer electronics devices will emerge as the nerve centre of the future networked home.

Companies like Dell, HP, and software behemoth Microsoft envision the PC to be the cornerstone of digital home entertainment, capable of everything from video recording to wirelessly streaming music and pictures from desktops to stereos and televisions. On the other hand, firms like Sony and Panasonic are increasingly adding Wi-Fi connectivity and storage features to TVs, DVD players and Hi-Fi sets in their quest for living room dominance.

Both camps have their inherent weaknesses, Kao said. Given his firm's expertise in networking products, it is of little surprise his key to unlocking the digital home rests in a "box" which combines the functionalities of many of today's internet-related appliances.

"There should be a box with everything in it. It acts as a firewall, router, switch, wireless access point, and can handle not only data but also voice, images and videos," he said.

In a recent interview with silicon.com sister site CNETAsia during his Singapore stopover, Kao explains the need for this yet-to-be-developed console and why it cannot be replaced by TiVo-like PCs or next-generation TVs or DVD players.

Q: Digital home is a buzzword among PC makers, the consumer electronics market and networking firms nowadays. How will D-Link fit into the digital home picture?
A: Digital home is an exciting area. Everybody's looking into it, not just communications companies like us but also computer companies and consumer electronics manufacturers.

There should be a box which can connect to the internet. There should be a box with everything in it. It acts as a firewall, router, switch wireless access point, and can handle not only data but also voice, images and videos.

Why does this box have to be in a computer or TV? It must be independent, one that's easy to use, with a very good GUI and remote control. We think it [the digital home] will be network-centric. It's not a computer or TV thing. Computers, TVs, cell phones, stereos, digital cameras, MP3 players or IP phones are all components of this network. Even refrigerators will be connected to this box.

The PC is a commodity. It should be very cheap. If you add more things, PCs become very expensive.

Our DSM 320 digital media player and i2eye video conferencing devices are based on this concept. We bypass the PC. Why?

Once you turn on a PC, how many minutes does it take for it to start up? The box should be like the TV, once you press "on" it's on and when you press "off", it's off.

Wouldn’t one more box add to the clutter in the digital home?
Digital home is not as easy as what the consumer electronics (CE) and computer makers think it is. You need to have QoS (Quality of service) for voice, images and data. There are a lot of protocols to handle, a lot of things on the security side as well as routing and switching. There is a lot of technology which is not so familiar to PC makers and CE players.

Everything has a market position. Why built a switch into a PC if I don’t need one? Why built an ADSL modem into the PC if I don't need it? There is ADSL and now ADSL 2 and ADSL2+. If you built [the modem] into a PC, two years later you will need to change your system. Most cannot afford to change their PCs so rapidly.

There's also a lot of software to support. For example, many years ago our NIC (network interface card) couldn't be built into a PC. This is because there were a lot of software drivers, drivers to support Windows, Novell, Sun, Unix and Apple. How can PC people support so many platforms?

There are a lot of issues. This box cannot be built into a PC or a TV.

Intel stepped into your territory with its Centrino chipset. So there's no chance they might even add this "box", routing or switching functions into its future chipsets?
It's impossible. For a long time, Centrino was b (802.11b) only. This year, they delivered g (802.11g). Networking companies delivered a (802.11a) and g long time ago.

Intel cannot move at that kind of speed. It's changing so fast. It's a different battle.

How soon can we expect this box?
It will probably take a few years. Meanwhile, we'll have many boxes at home, ADSL modems, wireless routers and another one if you buy a firewall, switches and a DSM 320 to play digital media.

Will D-Link diversify into consumer electronics?
We will maintain our focus on networking-related products. However, the convergence of communications, computers and consumer electronics means it's very hard to differentiate between the products. Consumers are but one part of our business. We still have the business side.

What kind of digital home products can we expect?
There will be more and more of these. We will announce more products at the CES show in Las Vegas in January next year, like digital media players with storage.

We will add more features in our basic platforms. We may add more storage devices, DVD players or hard-disk storage. There will be more wireless features and portable devices like a portable display for photos and videos.