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continues to grow , with operators targeting commercial deployments . But there is an evident need for a clear approach for open standards with the industry drifting away from traditional regulated voice services , to accepted models for VoIP based CPE solutions . The industry must address how they sit within CPE . Whether it be fixed or mobile technology , the standards must evolve to meet the market demand .
Voice control integration from HyperScalers into third party devices such as Home Gateways , WiFi and Mesh extenders has grown extensively over the last 12 months , with many CPE vendors announcing partnerships and integration with the likes of Google ’ s Far Field Voice and Amazon ’ s Alexa Voice Service . For Service Providers , this is a balancing act between adding new services
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small but growing niche widely using these services , specifically for searching for content . Currently , for many , it remains a feature with only limited real world usage as voice recognition is seen as poor , and by some as slightly invasive . Its importance is likely to grow as services improve how well they understand different voices and usage expands beyond simple search into more complex requests . Plume : Voice control is becoming more common as a way to control TVs and set-top boxes . As CSPs provide more personalised services to their customers , voice control will certainly follow . New capabilities , such as parental controls , visitor access controls , cyber security , and home awareness and security are added to home internet services . These consumer friendly features are good |
from the large Alexa voice enabled ecosystem Technicolor : There is no doubt that voice assistance is the next generation of technology to expand in the home network and CPE . We conducted a recent study of users to better understand how consumers are using voice assistance technologies , where current limitations exist , and what they enjoy most about the voice-integrated technologies . Among the survey responses , it was clear that voice simplifies the user experience and enables faster navigation . The far-field voice technology includes custom wake words as a feature which is expected to increase customer stickiness and loyalty to an operator ’ s service .
Technicolor Connected Home and Sky Brasil recently announced the deployment of SKY Connect , the first Android TV set-top box embedding Google Assistant . This is a significant step forward in leveraging far-field voice technology in set-top boxes because consumers don ’ t have to talk to the remote anymore . Technicolor Connected Home believes voice commands will have a large role in the smart home .
As usage increases within the home , the complex array of services delivered by network service providers need to be protected . Many important processes are taking place in the edge compute environment of the home network , and this is also an important area to secure . To better address these security needs , Technicolor Connected Home is partnering with innovative players like CUJO AI to provide innovative security services especially at the edge .
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What is the right balance between |
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Cloud and on-premises approaches |
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to CPE in order maximise the value to |
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service providers and their customers ? |
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Airties : To maximise performance and |
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responsiveness , broadband operators should |
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rely on a hybrid cloud-edge architecture that |
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leverages both the embedded intelligence |
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and the battle for who owns the subscriber . Additionally , for privacy reasons there has to be a clear demarcation between the functionality of the CPE , service provision and the voice control device service . CommScope : We ’ ve seen a growing interest from operators to use voice control either in a smart media device ( SMDs ) with a far-field microphone accessory or a near-field voice microphone option in the remote control . Finally , voice recognition is expected to be used in their CPEs for additional services via cloud / casual gaming , shopping , and healthcare . Freesat : Voice is becoming more widespread , but our research suggests that whilst consumers want it to be available on the new devices that they purchase , actual current usage is much more limited with a |
candidates for voice control , so we expect to see voice control of GWs , routers , and WiFi repeaters in the very near future . SoftAtHome : Voice control is becoming a must in any single connected device or operator CPE deployment . Either in push to talk or with integrated speakers , user experience is enriched with voice enabled capabilities . Innovation is currently mainly driven with sound capabilities more than video which has not evolved so much those last years . Sound , that include voice capabilities , become the main service of segmentation of offers from a standard 4K STB up to a high end powerful CPE with HIFI integrated speakers . SoftAtHome has built a strong partnership with Amazon Alexa becoming the main integration partner to deploy operator customised voice solution while benefiting |
in CPE and cloud-based analytics . Certain functions , such as client steering decisioning , should be made locally , while analysis of consumption patterns is best done in the cloud . Airties ’ operator customers have found this hybrid approach to be far more cost effective than cloud-only solutions and essential to ensure the quality of highbandwidth low latency applications over WiFi , such as UHD video and gaming . Broadband Forum : The key term here is ‘ balance ’ as some services will always lend themselves to on-premise solutions and others will benefit from the high point of cost , but then economies of scale with a cloud approach . What is also key is driving a model that offers flexibility of services between the two approaches . A great example of this is SD-WAN for secure business and |