1.6. Operational Model
The residential gateway market and the business model associated with it are still in the early stages. Probably the closest resembling practices in existence today are ISP and the cable TV companies. However, the extrapolation depicted in Figure 1.3 seems to be reasonable.
Figure 1.3. Operational model using the service gateway with the Java Embedded Server software.
For example, to avoid costly customer visits by technicians, an energy company may wish to deploy a piece of software that runs on home gateways in residence and reads gas meters remotely. The energy company would be the service provider. Additionally, the following players may also be involved:
A company that manufactures the gateway box hardware
Another company that supplies basic OSGi-based framework and core service software. (This portion of the software provides a generic infrastructure and services for deployment of other application components. In Figure 1.3, the Java Embedded Server product from Sun Microsystems is an example.)
A gateway operator to install and manage the meter-reading software for its subscribers
A service aggregator, because many services may be in demand at home, to integrate and package services from different service providers, then deliver them to the gateway operator.
One entity can serve multiple roles. A gateway hardware vendor may also supply the framework and other “horizontal” software; a gateway operator may also act as the aggregator.
Unlike a conventional computer, the gateway box usually does not need to have a display or input device such as a keyboard or a mouse. It should be maintenance-free from the home user's point of view, and should be administered through the network by the gateway operator. The box should boot up as soon as it is powered up.
The hardware aspect of the service gateway and its associated business model is not discussed further in this book. Beginning with the next chapter, we focus on the software that runs the service gateways.