Just a few years ago, service providers drew a very clear line defining their responsibility once they connected a residence to their network. They refused to partake in the home’s internal network, especially the devices that consumers use. However, this attitude has since changed in the face of fierce competition and in a market where consumers are looking to connect multiple devices to the home network for rich media distribution around the home.

A recent ABI Research study focused on residential gateways forecasts intelligent broadband gateways to produce double-digit annual growth results over the six-year forecast period ending in 2013.

ABI Research industry analyst Serene Fong says, “Intelligent broadband gateways will gain popularity and account for more than 40% of home networking CPE shipments by 2012. Basic equipment with limited intelligence and management capabilities currently dominates more than half of the market, but it will soon be phased out as full-fledged intelligent multimedia boxes with high throughput take over”.

Broadband households have a much higher propensity to adopt home networks, and the number of households with data networking and gateway solutions will continue to grow. However, a key hurdle that gateway vendors must actively seek to overcome in its development is price. Serene says, “Home gateways generally cost more upfront compared to available alternatives, which puts them at an obvious disadvantage in any price-sensitive market. Additionally, gateway equipment is usually purchased separately or as a hardware upgrade.”

Nevertheless, if it is of any consolation to vendors, future gateway solution deployments are expected to be catalysed largely by service providers.

ABI Research’s study, Global Residential Gateways, analyses gateway activities around the globe. The report addresses leading gateway solutions offered by service carriers, IC and CPE vendors. Regional growth patterns are discussed in light of leading broadband technologies, subscriber penetration and current and future market dynamics. Detailed market trends, and market forecast information by regions are provided where available.