Service hosting gateways

The success of broadband residential Internet access is changing the way home users consume digital content and services. Currently, each home service requires the installation of a separate physical box (for instance, the NetFlix box or IPTV set-top-boxes). Instead, we argue for deploying a single box in the home that is powerful and flexible enough to host a variety of home services. In addition, this box is managed by the Internet Service provider and is able to provide service guarantees. We call such a box a service-hosting gateway ( SHG ), as it combines the functionalities of the home gateway managed by the network service provider with the capability of hosting services. Isolation between such services is ensured by virtualization. We demonstrate a prototype of our ( SHG ). It is based on the hardware platform that will be used for future home gateways. We illustrate the features of the SHG with multiple use cases ranging from simple service deployment scenarios to complex media distribution services and home automation features.