Ethernet expert Alan McGuire from BT – one of the world’s oldest communications companies – says that the price of technology is not dropping quickly enough for telecom operators to meet rising demand and still make a profit.

McGuire was the keynote speaker at a joint IEC, ISO and ITU conference on “Digital Technologies in the Home”, which took place in Geneva on 2 and 3 February.

According to McGuire, the solution is to reduce the amount of technology in the system and increase the long-reach access. By using a passive optical network he estimates that BT could save billions. The intention is to reduce the number of pieces in the network and the number of employees needed to maintain it while increasing the service offered to meet market demand. He says this includes ensuring rural areas have the same quality and quantity of service as urban areas.

McGuire adds that doing things this way is environmentally friendly because it reduces the amount of energy needed to run the network. McGuire gave a telecommunications operator’s viewpoint.

The “Digital Technologies in the Home” conference, organized under the auspices of the World Standards Cooperation or WSC – the grouping of IEC, ISO and ITU – brought together some 80 leading chief technology officers and technologists from companies including Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Mistubishi, Intel, Philips, Schneider Electric and Swisscom, and leading industry groups such as DNLA, DSL Forum and Zigbee.

Opening the two-day event, IEC General Secretary Aharon Amit said that the market, innovation, safety and regulation and competition drive international standards. Chief technical officers, he said, were the best-placed people to decide what is needed and when and this allows the IEC to do its work. In short, Amit said, “we’re seeking guidance from you on what we’re doing, what we’re doing well, what we’re not doing well and what we should be doing.”

The conclusions from the conference were that household connectivity is growing rapidly with more and more electronic devices and networks within the home distributing and using digital information and media. In addition, remote control of lighting, heating, appliance-use and security systems attached to the home are making the “digital home” a reality. Given the various technologies involved, International Standards that enable interoperability and security are seen as key to bringing value and versatility to consumers, making possible the use of diverse products, services and sources, and therefore accelerating market development.

As to the role of IEC, ISO and ITU, the overall message from participants was a call for closer cooperation between the three WSC members, standards developing organizations and industry consortia.

The conference provided an overview of the technologies as well as an examination of standards that address access, services, performance, quality of service, electromagnetic interference, digital rights management, security issues and overall networking.