Smart Home in the Spotlight

On the first big day for Virtual CES 2021, there was a ton of news to check out as every major and minor consumer brand tried to take center stage. We’ll be bringing you highlights all week, of course, but to help you make sense of what’s going on, we’re going to focus on key verticals each day.

Today, we’re looking at the Smart Home and how brands like CommScope, P&G, and TOTO are bringing Smart Home IoT technologies to consumer markets to make users’ lives simpler, safer, and smarter. 

Let’s dig in. 

CommScope

CommScope is a well-known connectivity brand, often associated with enterprise or industrial IoT, but with two announcements from CES, the company is setting itself up to splash in the B2B2C pool. We spoke with Joe Chow, SVP and home networks segment lead at CommScope, about the companies’ investment in Wi-Fi 6 for the Smart Home, who gave us the skinny on what the company is bringing to the game.

The news centers on two announcements: the NVG578LX GPON home network gateway that is designed to provide gigabit speeds for streaming data; and an expansion of its gigabit whole-home mesh portfolio—the ARRIS SURFboard mAX and the ARRIS SURFboard mAX Express.

The new gateway reportedly handles the delivery of managed voice, video, and data services with improved connectivity via Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet WAN/LAN (switchable) support. The CommScope NVG578 gateways are all under the PON family of optical networking standards and the company said that the newest member delivers high-speed broadband services via on-board GPON optics up to 2.5 Gbps downstream into the home and 1.25 Gbps upstream on dual-band Wi-Fi 6, which includes the 2.4 GHz 3×3 802.11ax and the 5 GHz 4×4 802.11ax bands.

Also, the company announced an expansion of its gigabit whole-home mesh portfolio with the ARRIS SURFboard mAX and the ARRIS SURFboard mAX Express. These mesh Wi-Fi 6 systems are designed to provide customers with high-end connectivity, CommScope said, turning any home into a Smart Home. The SURFboard mAX is a tri-band Wi-Fi 6 mesh system and uses two routers, each delivering up to 6.6 Gbps speeds over an area of up to 5,500 sq. ft. The third band, with 4×4 Wi-Fi 6, provides a dedicated backhaul to ensure the maximum service speeds across the entire home, according to the announcement. The SURFboard mAX Express will be out in the first quarter, CommScope said, and is a single extender unit, bundled with the SURFboard mAX. The wall-plug unit reportedly will offer the Wi-Fi 6 mesh in a smaller size to provide coverage up to 5,550 sq. ft. as a two-unit system. 

P&G

Procter and Gamble, or P&G, really brought reality to the virtual for its CES experience this week. Built on a gaming platform, the booth, if you can really call it that, is divided into several interactive virtual areas, all staffed with avatars of live hosts and product experts who can interface vocally with the visitors. We got a tour of the Smart…