A new wireless distribution system from Ruckus Wireless was deemed the new technology most likely to succeed by cable technologists gathered at the CableLabs Winter Conference in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ruckus’ demo of a Wi-Fi router based on the proposed 802.11n standard amazed the crowd at the conference’s Innovation Showcase. Using five access points, Ruckus fed in three separate MPEG-2 high-definition (HD) streams – all at 20 Mbps – and brought in yet another video stream via a Slingbox, all while providing Internet access for the approximately 300 people in the exhibition room.

Comcast SVP Mark Coblitz explained that customer complaints are frequently about home networks, and that was why the flawless operation of the Ruckus system was particularly impressive. The Ruckus system, he explained, looks like it could work consistently, avoiding all the problems commonly associated with in-home Wi-Fi.

Ruckus CEO Selina Lo said versions of the Ruckus router are available for $99 but would be available for equipment vendors to integrate into cable CPE for substantially less.

Other presenters at the Innovation Showcase were Ciena, Cisco, BigBand Networks, Ditech, Grid Networks, iControl, Move Networks and Comcast’s thePlatform. If there was a theme to the presentations, said CableLabs chief scientist Jason Gaedtke, it was the distribution of media across multiple devices.

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