Broadcom shows strong interest in IoT and wearables. Broadcom India sees ‘Connecting India’ a great opportunity and introduces solutions to drive nation progress. In Interview with Rajiv Kapur, Managing Director for Broadcom India shares company innovations and vision for these opportunities.
1. IoT and Wearable technologies were top buzzwords for 2014. As key semicon company, what is your idea in bringing these innovations in global and India market?
We believe that the IOT devices will leverage Wi-Fi and BLE (BT Low energy) connectivity protocols. We have invested in creating simple to use BT and Wi-Fi kits so the smallest to largest companies can now realize their IOT ideas into prototypes in matters of hours, enabling a lot of new applications. We have very simple to use and low cost kits available for this.
2. Where is the market heading for IoT and wearables?
A variety of solutions are emerging that fit into the diversity of applications from Industrial, to home to healthcare and wearables. Early days, but a lot of interesting applications are surfacing.
3. According to you what is the importance of ‘Digital India’ and how it will perform the role of ‘Connecting India’?
This is strategic to the nation’s progress and future growth
4. How Broadcom will drive this opportunity?
We have created a very simple to use kit called WICED to enable easy creation of IOT devices using Wi-Fi, BLE, NFC technologies. We have a vibrant online community of over 10,000 users across the world helping each other. We see many users in India also leveraging this. Our plan is to support a variety of initiatives in India such as University interactions, support for small companies and entrepreneurs who want to design their own devices, support for ODMs who can white label to Indian brands, operators looking to expand their services with home automation & security, establish partnerships with companies like Anaren and TCS to take technologies to a diverse set of applications in India, and more.
5. What is your outlook on 2015 trends and technology?
In India, higher digital TV subscriber base is expected with higher deployments of STB. Subscribers are adopting better quality TVs and desire HD broadcast. Broadcasters are preparing to deliver ‘more than TV’ to the home. Broadband penetration continues, and national and private initiatives drive solutions for last mile access leveraging a variety of wireline and wired technologies, some designed perfectly to overcome unique challenges in India. Networks are being upgraded as usage of video and data saturates the backhaul and core networks. Datacenter build out continues. Mobile remains a popular screen for the consumer, and growing smart phones make it the primary device for the consumer. IoT is creating a buzz as entrepreneurs and also academia embrace it. What is exciting is the interest in solving India’s unique problems with IoT.
6. Can we know about your products highlighted at CES 2015 in short?
At the 2015 CES, Broadcom showcased a range of new innovations optimized to enhance connectivity in the home, on-the-go and on-the-road. New product announcements include the world’s first DOCSIS 3.1 offering, new small form factor set-top box platforms and the world’s fastest 4×4 Multi-user MIMO 5G Wi-Fi device. More details about Broadcom’s new products/technologies announced at CES 2015 can be found at: http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=s890053
7. What is fueling the consumption of pay-TV and broadband in India market?
Govt. policies for analog shut of fuels a lot of digital TV. Also, increasing purchases of HD screens, and appetite to get a better entertainment at home remains a key driver of growth of digital services. Operators desire to differentiate with VAS and interactivity and that brings its own stimulus.
8. What are the Current and emerging technology trends for Indian Pay-TV and Broadband market?
Broadband solutions from GPON, EPON, DOCSiS and VDSL are popular across telecom operators and broadcasters. Emerging interest in Wi-Fi and CMC/C-DOCSiSis also visible. For PayTV hybrid technologies, HEVC and UHD are quite popular at this time.
9. Discuss Broadcom’s innovations for the country’s Pay-TV and Broadband market?
With cost in mind, we have invested in single chip solutions for zapper class STB for Cable, DTH, Terrestrial and also IPTV. We also bring unique differentiation to the lowest end STB, allowing subscribers and operators to enjoy better digital experiences. We have brought very optimized UHD and HEVC solutions to the PayTV operators in India. For broadband, we uniquely offer all options of wireless and wireline options with leading edge technical options. We also mix and match these technologies to allow telcos to address last mile challenges. We have unique solutions to overcome inability to lay new cables, reduce capEx, and also address lack of power supply in curbside/basements. These are used to deliver broadband and PayTV.
10. What is Broadcom’s strategic focus and roadmap for India in 2015 and beyond?
We continue to invest heavily in all our portfolio items continuing to integrate and also enhance the technology offerings. Look out for future announcements from us.
