Digital home conference calls for papers

Parks Associates and the Consumer Electronics Association have revealed the preliminary topics and call for papers for the 2006 Connections: the digital home conference and showcase.

Parks Associates and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have revealed the preliminary topics and call for papers for the 2006 Connections: the digital home conference and showcase.

Connections, produced by Parks Associates in conjunction with Consumer Electronics Association, will be held from 2nd to 4th May 2006, at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Now in its tenth year, Connections is the largest executive conference and showcase dedicated to advanced digital lifestyle solutions for residential and mobile environments.

Recent research from Parks Associates, the leading market research firm in this area, points to significant growth opportunities within these industries in the coming years.

Specifically, Parks Associates' analysts project the following.

The number of broadband households with a residential gateway (RG) will reach 47 million by 2010, driven in large part by carrier needs to acquire and retain customers and build ARPU from new revenue-generating services.

Television manufacturers will see a surge in cumulative HDTV sales over the next few years, which will boost the overall market value to $65 billion by 2009.

The number of US households with a networked storage device will grow from 300,000 at the end of 2004 to nearly 10 million by 2010.

Cumulative shipments of portable multimedia players will top 13 million units by 2010.

By the end of 2006, the worldwide digital music market (not counting mobile) will account for 4.5% of all music sales.

Digital music revenues will grow at a 57% CAGR between 2005 and 2009.

Revenues from premium VOD downloads will total $530 million at year-end 2009.

Home builders sold $11 billion worth of technology products in 2004 and expect sales to increase 10-12% in 2005.

"Connections is the principal conference to discuss both the opportunities and challenges in today's key digital lifestyle categories", said Tricia Parks, President of Parks Associates.

"As the first and largest executive conference and showcase focused on these industry topics, Connections will continue to provide the best quality and content within our sessions, relevant discussions between key executives, forward-thinking keynote speakers, and great networking opportunities for marketing and strategy executives".

Executives can submit a proposal to speak at Connections through the call for papers form at www.connectionsconference.com.

The deadline for submission is 20th January 2006.

The tracks for Connections in 2006 will focus on the following topics: digital entertainment; business challenges for digital home technologies and services; mobile platforms and services; broadband and IP services; home management and digital health; and home networking and infrastructure.

"We are pleased to bring together the industry's thought leaders each year and engage them in dynamic discussions and debates", said Kurt Scherf, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Parks Associates.

"The opportunity for speakers, participants, and sponsors to learn from each other and the Parks Associates team provides an excellent forum during this period of dynamic growth for the industry".

Connections will also host six interactive sessions during the 2006 International CES on 5th and 6th January 2006 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Parks Associates' analysts will moderate these sessions, which will focus on the following topics: portable entertainment devices, advertising in the digital age, TV on consumers' terms, whole-home entertainment, making the network work, and global buyer preferences.

Session participants represent the following companies: Affinegy, Akimbo, ANT, Atlas On Demand, BigBand Networks, Cauldron Solutions, ComVentures, D-Link, DLNA, Eastman Kodak Company, HP, IGN Entertainment, Logitech, Mediabolic, Metalink, Microsoft Corporation, MobiTV, NDS, Philips Semiconductors, RealNetworks, Royal Philips Electronics, Semiconductor Division, Ruckus Wireless (formerly Video54), Scientific-Atlanta, Sereniti, Streamload, SupportSoft, Tandberg Television and Wi-Fi Alliance.

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