Eight companies from the consumer electronics, cable, satellite, technology and retail sectors have formed an alliance to promote the use of existing coax cable to network consumer devices including TVs, digital set top boxes, DVRs, PCs and MP3 players throughout the home.
The founding companies of the Multimedia Over Coax Alliance (MoCA) include Cisco Systems, Comcast, EchoStar, Entropic Communications, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Motorola, RadioShack Corp. and Toshiba.
The goal of the alliance is to develop specifications and certify equipment that will tap into unused available bandwidth to send DVD-quality video over in-home coax without the need for new connections, wiring, point of entry devices or truck rolls. The MoCA network also can be used as a backbone for connecting multiple wireless devices as well.
MoCA-enabled devices would be connected to the network with a standard coax F connector. It is anticipated that the first MoCA-enabled equipment will be released within the next year.
