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In December 1998, the San Carlos startup Avio Digital demonstrated MediaWire, a proposed home network that used ordinary in-home wiring to carry video, audio, phone service and computer data. At the Western Cable show in Anaheim, a Scientific-Atlanta Explorer 2000 set-top box and Avio node technology sent video and audio to different locations in Scientific-Atlanta’s booth. MediaWire was a demonstration and licensing plan—not a modern Wi-Fi system—and the available contemporary accounts do not establish whether it reached broad commercial adoption.
What Avio Digital demonstrated
EE Times reported that Avio showed MediaWire at the Western Cable show in Anaheim, California, in December 1998. In the booth demonstration, a Scientific-Atlanta Explorer 2000 digital set-top box worked with Avio node technology to distribute video and audio to separate locations. The report documents a trade-show demonstration; it does not establish a residential installation or a mass-market launch. EE Times’ 1998 report
How MediaWire was intended to work
Avio described MediaWire as a synchronous, media-centric network. Rather than treating every transmission as ordinary IP traffic, the design used frames and could reserve virtual channels for audio and video while also carrying IP packets synchronously. A CES-era interview also described support for ISDN and telephony. Strategic Appliances’ CES 99 interview
The company intended to use existing household wiring rather than require a new category 5 installation. Avio said MediaWire was designed for category 3 telephone wire. Don Burtis, Avio’s vice president of engineering, said at the time: “MediaWire is designed to run on category 3 phone wire, which is found in more homes than category 5 phone wire.” This was the company’s period rationale, not a present-day assessment of home wiring.
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What MediaWire was supposed to carry
Avio pitched the network as a shared transport for entertainment, communications and home control: CD-quality audio, DVD and HDTV video, telephony, computer data and control signals for household devices. The published capacity figures below were company claims reported at the time, not independent measurements.
| Contemporary description | Claimed capabilities |
|---|---|
| EE Times, 1998 | Up to 88 Mbit/s; up to 33 metres between nodes; more than 4,000 metres of total cable length. Avio also claimed support for four MPEG video channels at 6 Mbit/s each, up to sixteen 24-bit audio streams, and up to eight phone or ISDN lines while retaining more than 3 Mbit/s for data. Source |
| Wired, 1999 | First-generation system claims of 100 megabits per second, 100 devices and 2½ miles of wire. These are figures from a different contemporary description, not values to combine with the 1998 EE Times figures. Source |
The different reported figures should be read as claims made in separate period accounts. Neither set establishes independently verified performance in a home.
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Avio’s product and licensing plan
Avio planned to license MediaWire to consumer-electronics makers and chip manufacturers, embed the technology in their products and provide Avio-designed application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). EE Times reported a target of products in the late-1999 to early-2000 period. Forbes reported in 1999 that Scientific-Atlanta had agreed to include the technology in a cable box and invest in Avio. These reports describe a plan and an agreement as reported at the time; they do not by themselves confirm that the products reached retail or that the system became widely used. EE Times; Forbes
Avio’s president and chief executive, Eugene van Bergen, framed the ambition in sweeping terms: “It is revolutionary. It is a platform. What Windows is for the PC, MediaWire will be for the home.” That was a 1999 company statement, not an assessment of MediaWire’s eventual adoption.
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Did MediaWire launch, and what became of Avio?
The contemporary evidence establishes a demonstration, technical claims and a proposed licensing route. It does not establish whether MediaWire achieved broad commercial adoption or exactly when the 1990s San Carlos startup ceased operating. The launch target and reported cable-box agreement are not enough to infer a successful commercial rollout.
There is also a current business using the Avio Digital name in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. It describes itself as a supplier of home and office appliances and security systems; its app listing includes alarms, cables, CCTV, door access, home theatre and intercom products. Its catalogue lists TP-Link networking and security products, including the Deco X50 mesh Wi-Fi 6 3-pack, access points and Tapo cameras. These present-day activities do not establish corporate continuity with the historical San Carlos startup.
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How MediaWire differs from a home network today
MediaWire was a proposal for a wired, synchronous network that reserved capacity for media streams while also carrying data. A current mesh Wi-Fi system is a different product category: it creates a wireless network using contemporary networking equipment and standards. A mesh system can be considered as a modern way to extend home connectivity, but it is not MediaWire or evidence that Avio’s design became its predecessor.
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- Wiring: MediaWire was designed around existing category 3 telephone wiring; mesh Wi-Fi uses wireless links between nodes, though placement and building conditions affect coverage.
- Architecture and media: MediaWire’s frame-based approach reserved virtual channels for audio and video. A modern home network carries ordinary data traffic and depends on the devices and services using it; the evidence here does not establish a direct technical equivalence.
- Availability and interoperability: MediaWire was a historical proposal with no broad commercial availability established by the cited accounts. Modern mesh products are available as current retail networking systems, but compatibility depends on product specifications and the devices being connected.
- Use cases: Today’s mesh Wi-Fi may support streaming, cameras and everyday data when coverage and capacity are adequate. That is a practical comparison, not a claim that it reproduces MediaWire’s reserved-channel design.
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