Home Geek Home

Brandweek, Oct 2, 2000 by Stephen A. Booth

The home of the not too distant future will include uber-entertainment systems and a refrigerator that tells you when you're out of milk. Think of the marketing possibilities.

In a few years, people won't think twice about clicking the remote control of a bedroom TV to view shows from the satellite receiver or DVD player located in the living room. The PC in a child's room will be able to access a program from the larger hard drive in the home office PC, connect to the Internet through the home office broadband modem, or send a report for output on the remote color laser printer. Meanwhile, the TV in the family room will bring big-screen excitement to videogaming by displaying a game disc running on a computer elsewhere in the home--even as the person using that PC toils away at a spreadsheet. And before too long, the mobile phone will cease to be a device that communicates exclusively over cellular channels, but in the home will double as a cordless extension for the residential line.

The idea of a networked home has been slowly advancing from concept to reality. Some of these systems are already available in rudimentary form--the networks are dedicated and segmented, not multipurpose and ubiquitous--but they point to the full potential likely to be realized in the next year or two. Looking five years out, the home with audio, video, PC and telecom products that communicate among themselves by radio waves or some form of "smart" wire will no longer be at the bleeding edge of the frontier, but well within the mainstream.

As with so many new products and services, home networking's day has come with the advent of digital technology and methods for compressing the digital data. The signal is robust, compression can fit more of it into smaller pipes and discrete coding can enable multiple signals to travel simultaneously without causing mutual interference.

In coming years, home networking will follow two paths. Neither is mutually exclusive and each can coexist, even within the same residence. One route comprises long- and short-range wireless technologies that use radio frequencies to send broad- and narrowband signals. Bluetooth, which consumers will be hearing a lot about in the coming year, transfers data in distances measured in footsteps--up to 83 feet. The short-range communications standard is expected to make its debut soon, following more than two years of development by a global consortium of high-tech companies (www.bluetooth.com).

Hard-wired systems will also emerge, using efficient fiber-optic cable and telephone wiring to supplant coaxial and AC powerline links. Depending on the application, combinations of the two are likely-with wireless systems linking devices in small local hubs that network with other devices over greater distances through a wired grid.

Business plans are vague, at best, on how to take advantage of the marketing opportunities. But as the outlets for content and data proliferate through the home, the marketing opportunities will become more apparent.

A big boost came to wireless home networking last month when the Federal Communications Commission approved the standard which will allow wireless devices to send data-hungry signals such as video throughout the home. These long-range systems broadcast up to 150 feet, good enough to wirelessly send audio and video from, say, the satellite receiver in the living room to the TV in the bedroom. The transceivers are expected next year at a cost below $100 for each networked product.

The developers of Bluetooth want to eliminate the cumbersome wired links between PC and telecom products. One function developers are working on is to automatically synchronize among desktop and portable PCs, PDAs and mobile phones. For example, the devices will be able to update one anothers' files (even if one of them is concealed in a briefcase). Bluetooth is also working on a "three-in-one" concept for cellular phones. In mobile operation, the cell phone performs as usual. If there's a hands-free cell phone installed in a car, a handheld will switch over automatically to the automotive system, even in mid-conversation. It will also act as a cordless extension inside the home.

Products already exist for short-range connectivity, including devices that send music from a stereo system to wireless headphones or loudspeakers, or to exchange files between portable and desktop PCs. For example, Acer NeWeb's WDC-900 essentially operates as a serial cable, enabling PCs to swap data at about the same data transfer rate as a 56kbps modem but wirelessly, over a range up to 450 feet. A laptop equipped with the WDC-900 also could send files to a remote printer.

New York-based Terk Technologies (www.terk.com) markets the Leapfrog HomeNetwork for $179. It plugs into any phone jack, and its effective range is 500 linear feet of wire. Up to four TVs or other receivers in different rooms can be linked to a single, central A/V source such as a DVD/CD player, satellite/cable set top or VCR (additional receiver modules for extra rooms go for $99).