Open Service Gateway Gets Real

The first real indication that the Open Service Gateway initiative (OSGi) will bear fruit came at Connections '99, a residential technologies conference held in Vancouver in May. At that event, sponsored by Parks Associates (Dallas) and CABA (Ottawa, Ontario), Ericsson, Inc. demonstrated the e-box, on which the OSG was patterned, and Domosys Corp. demonstrated a preproduction unit of a gateway device.

The OSGi was launched earlier this year, primarily as an effort to link smart consumer appliances with Internet and other outside services using a Java platform (see 3/99 HNN). The proposed specification is modeled after the e-box service gateway, a thin server developed by Ericsson for European markets.

At Connections, Ericsson representatives discussed the company's progress in American markets, but limited its demonstration to modest display of computer networking.

A more compelling demonstration of OSG came from Domosys, the Canada-based developer of CEBus-compliant technologies, chipsets, products and developer kits. Domosys showed a prototype service gateway-a cube measuring about five inches on all sides-that utilized its CEBus powerline modem for in-home automation; HomePNA-compatible silicon from AMD for phoneline-based data networking; a 1-Mbps DSL modem from Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.; and firmware from IBM.

For the demonstration, Domosys president Evan Price used a Web-browser interface on a PC at the Connections conference in Vancouver to send signals to a prototype gateway device residing at Domosys's Sainte-Foy, Québec headquarters. In the remote Sainte-Foy location, the gateway was plugged into an AC outlet to control a CEBus-compatible thermostat (RCS), smart light switches (Smart Corp.) and electric load controller (Cutler-Hammer) over the facility's existing powerline. A Web camera beamed live-action images from the Domosys playroom in Sainte-Foy to the Domosys booth in Vancouver, and the gateway returned data on the status of devices in the room.

For instance, on the exhibit floor, if a user clicked the light icon and set a new intensity for the bulb, the video images showed the light dimming, and the computer data reflected the adjusted light-level. Meanwhile, users could turn on and off a water heater that was plugged into a CEBus-compatible Domosys Domometer by remotely flipping the circuit breaker on a CEBus-compatible load center from Cutler-Hammer. Simultaneously, users could monitor the current electricity-usage levels on the PC.

In this particular demonstration, nothing was connected to the HomePNA card, but an obvious application for the phoneline technology would be to use a HomePNA-compatible video camera to feed images to a remote computer.

Since the OSG specification has not been finalized, neither has the service gateway demonstrated by Domosys. However, Price said that the box on display conformed closely to what the OSG will eventually be. Completed demonstration units are expected to be available this year, with production beginning in 2000. The gateway should sell for less than $300, and it is expected that the cost will be borne by the likes of utilities, ISPs, and other service providers who will recoup costs from recurring service fees.

Exactly who will manufacture and market the proposed gateway demonstrated at the Domosys tabletop has not been disclosed, although IBM's Pervasive Computing group is expected to take an active role in the deployment of the units. IBM's Mark Ireland, the Pervasive group's representative to the OSGi suggests that, with IBM's wide-reaching Global Services group, the company will be in a strong position to peddle OSG devices to service providers worldwide. "We have a lot of leverage with our Global Services team," says Ireland. "People are already coming to us for service support. We will be in a position to offer turnkey service."

Ireland stresses, however, that his group does not aim to slap IBM's name on this or other products. Rather, it is to spur the proliferation of computing-type devices, be they IBM's or others'. "We're not a branding group. That's not the Pervasive Computing strategy," says Ireland. "We'll be under anybody's brand name pretty happily."

When IBM Pervasive announced its active participation in the OSG initiative earlier this year, the Home Director division, which markets IBM-branded home control systems, expressed support for the initiative; however, product line manager Mark Schmidt says the HD won't be the guinea pig in OSG deployment. "You'll see these kinds of gateway devices coming from us as soon as we feel like the technology and partners are there," says Schmidt. "It all depends on how quickly broadband becomes available and what kind of channels exist to deliver."

Ever since IBM introduced Home Director (see especially 8/98 HNN), the company anticipated the ultimate delivery of a service gateway. "Our [Home Director] Home Network Connection Center is not contemplated to be just a wired connection center; it's contemplated to be what connects things inside the home with things outside the home."

That could mean the ultimate adoption of an OSG-compatible device, or some other gateway that suits the Home Director line.