January 03, 2017

Immersive Experiences Get G.fast Boost Into the Home

Technicolor’s Karel Adriaensen discusses the importance of broadband to immersive VR and AR experiences – and bringing the cost of delivery down.

  • Ultra-broadband is a major pre-requisite for acceptance of immersive experiences.
  • G.fast technology enables final stretch of existing copper wires to support immersive VR and AR.

New immersive technologies and experiences such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are growing in popularity and are really expected to take off in the coming new year. But whether they are widely accepted and enjoyed by consumers – or go the way of 3D TV – depends on how fast service providers deliver connectivity to the home – and that means ultra-broadband.

Appearing in a recently-released Telecom TV interview, Technicolor’s Karel Adriaensen, Director of Product Management, Connected Home, discusses just how important broadband is to the acceptance and consumption of immersive experiences. But there is one concern: connecting fiber directly into the consumer’s home can be difficult and costly.

“In Telco, you have the evolution to fiber to support ultra broadband,” explains Adriaensen. “But it’s very expensive for the last fibers to be laid out, because you have to gain access to people’s homes.”

That’s where G.fast technology comes in and why Technicolor is providing G.fast gateways to the home. G.fast enables service providers to roll-out ultra-broadband less expensively by permitting gigabit services to be delivered over the last few hundred meters of existing copper wires. In other words, with G.fast, you get the same 1GB per second of broadband speed over copper as you do from the new fiber connections to the home.

In the video, Adriaensen talks more about this, the compatibility issues being resolved, and how Technicolor is working to make VR more social – in another drive for greater acceptance.

Watch the Telecom TV video to hear more about the incredible technology behind the delivery of immersive experiences.