Any ISP looking at the triple play or quadruple play should know that software is more important than hardware, says Jungo.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [February 23, 2009]

Jungo is based in San Jose (with R&D in Israel's analog of San Jose, Netanya). The company was founded in 1998 and got its start writing software for modems. It now has two lines of business: connectivity software (USB, bluetooth, etc.) and the line of business that this article is about: residential gateway software.

The company was acquired (.pdf) two years ago by West Drayton, UK-based NDS Group, a company that "creates the security and enabling technologies as well as the interactive applications that allow operators to generate revenues by delivering digital content to TVs, set-top boxes (STBs), Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), PCs, mobile phones, portable media players (PMPs), removable media, and other devices."

The message for ISPs
Originally, says Hadas Rozen, Jungo's marketing director, Jungo worked only with OEMs, but now it is also selling directly to ISPs. Its main product is OpenRG, middleware for residential gateways (hence "RG").

Its message to ISPs is support cost reduction. Companies pay as much to support residential gateways as they pay to purchase them, says Rozen. "On average, the service provider pays $50 to $70 to buy a box from an OEM, and the support cost for the first year is the same, about $50 to $70."

It's about the middleware, OpenRG, which is written in the C language. It runs on Linux 2.6 under an abstraction layer. The abstraction layer ensures that OpenRG is compatible with all devices.

OpenRG enables the residential gateway to connect to the outside infrastructure and to everything inside the digital home. If there's a problem, the software alerts the service provider and also attempts self healing. It either tries to fix the problem automatically or to explain the problem to the user.

"For example," says Rozen. "If the DSL cable is disconnected and the user is trying to surf the internet, we show the user a picture letting them know that the cable is disconnected and asking them to please connect it."

Another reason that users call the help desk is passwords. OpenRG allows users to retrieve passwords by using their landline or cellular phone. Users can receive a text message on a cell phone or an automated voice message on a landline phone.

"The idea is to allow customers—end users—to do more, to help themselves," says Rozen. "This achieves two things. First, it eliminates a number of support calls and second, it creates happier customers."

If the customer does, nevertheless, need to call the help desk, the Jungo Remote Management System (JRMS) speeds up the call by providing the help desk with a map of all digital devices in the digital home, a list of the current status of those devices, a list of current and old trouble tickets, and the user's history.

Large service providers, says Rozen, want a uniform software experience to lower the costs of maintenance, support, and development. Many service providers have a variety of equipment and CPE to maintain, but OpenRG can ease the introduction of new services by providing a uniform platform for those services.

Jungo has a few other products as well, including NationZone which can turn users' home gateways into wireless APs, making available only unused bandwidth. Of course, ISPs should tell their subscribers about this before they do it, and Jungo is not responsible for the business models of its ISP customers.

Pricing and availability
Jungo's products are available now. Pricing is not disclosed. The product is designed for services providers that deliver television and voice as well as data to their customers.

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