2Wire

2Wire, Inc.
Company type	Private
Industry	Computer hardware, Telecommunications equipment
Founded	1998; 28 years ago
Founder	Brian Hinman, Pasquale Romano, Brad Kayton, Timothy Peers, Tom Spalding
Defunct	2010
Fate	Acquired by Pace plc
Headquarters	San Jose, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Home networking equipment, software solutions, service platforms, remote management systems, HomePortal residential gateways, MediaPortal media platform
Number of employees	1600 (2010)

2Wire, Inc. operated as a computer hardware producer from 1998 until 2010, specializing in providing telecommunications firms with home networking equipment, software solutions, service platforms, and remote management systems for Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). Based in San Jose, California, the enterprise employed approximately 1,600 staff worldwide by July 2010. This workforce included 550 personnel in research and development, sales, and administrative roles, 450 dedicated to customer support, and 600 agency workers spread across five U.S. locations and nine international branches. Its HomePortal line of residential gateways was supplied by broadband providers such as AT&T, Embarq, Windstream, and Qwest in the United States; Bell in Canada; Telmex in Mexico; BT Group in the United Kingdom; Telstra in Australia; and SingTel in Singapore. In July 2010, the UK-based company Pace plc acquired 2Wire for $475 million (£307 million).

History

Established in 1998 by founders Brian Hinman, Pasquale Romano, Brad Kayton, Timothy Peers, and Tom Spalding, 2Wire debuted its initial product—the HomePortal residential gateway—at CES 2000. This device combined DSL modem/router capabilities with home networking features, firewall security, and remote management functionality. A wireless residential gateway followed in January 2001.

In 2002, the company developed a remote management platform for customer premises called CMS and introduced the Open Gateway Management Protocol (OGMP), which later influenced the DSL Forum’s TR-069 WAN management standard ratified in 2004.

By early 2003, 2Wire launched a wireless gateway based on a system-on-a-chip design and acquired Sugar Media, a provider of digital media services. In spring 2004, it released MediaPortal—a multi-service media platform integrating DSL broadband with satellite television services. AT&T utilized MediaPortal-enabled set-top boxes in its Homezone service beginning in 2006.

The HomePortal intelligent Network Interface Device (iNID), an outdoor broadband residential gateway supporting VDSL2 and fiber to the premises (FTTP) connections, was introduced by 2Wire in January 2006.

In October 2007, the company expanded its capabilities by acquiring Kenati Technologies, a firm specializing in embedded device software.

By mid-2008, over 20 million residential gateways had been shipped by 2Wire to telecommunications customers worldwide.

In November 2008, a collaboration with Blockbuster Inc. resulted in the launch of MediaPoint Digital Media Player—a set-top box designed to stream video content across home networks.

Products

2Wire’s portfolio includes residential gateways marketed under the HomePortal brand that support home networking with interfaces ranging from ADSL 2+ to fiber to the node (FTTN) technologies such as VDSL versions 1 and 2, as well as FTTP. These gateways incorporate integrated system-on-a-chip designs featuring built-in support for TR-069, alongside compatibility with HomePNA, MoCA, USB, and wireless standards including 802.11b/g/n. They also provide web-based remote access capabilities.

The company created MediaPortal—a multi-service media platform that combines high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) broadcast satellite or over-the-air television with broadband services. It offers digital video recorder (DVR) functionality along with music and photo storage and sharing features integrated within home networking environments.

A notable issue arose with the 2701 gateway model due to power supply failures which led Bell Canada to replace affected units in 2008. Additionally, connectivity problems involving certain Intel wireless adapters were addressed through updated driver releases.

The Pace 5012NV-002 Gateway was exclusively used for Singapore’s SingTel exStream Fiber Service; outside Singapore, comparable devices were distributed under the 2Wire brand name.

Affiliations

Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions
Broadband Forum (previously known as DSL Forum)
Digital Living Network Alliance
Femto Forum
HomePNA (formerly Home Phoneline Networking Association)
Home Gateway Initiative
Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA)
UPnP Forum (Universal Plug and Play Forum)
Wi-Fi Alliance

Partnerships

External links