The Connected Home Page 3

Your New HomeConnectivity allows the awesome efficiency of computers to be linked to the pleasures of entertainment. You use the computer's power to download and store digital movies, music, and photos, then route them to your TV and surround sound speakers - the best of both worlds. In fact, it will probably be the entertainment possibilities that get most people interested in the idea of networking their homes. connected 2 Much of the connected home is already under construction. Leading universities are developing the technology and building demo homes to showcase their work. Likewise, both traditional A/V companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Philips, and Samsung and computer companies like Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Gateway are developing products with connectivity in mind. Finally, industry associations like the Digital Home Working Group are devising standards in the hope that all this gear can speak common languages.

As boomers build their dream homes - the places they might retire in - they should regard connectivity as essential. Smart homes can be healthier homes, and something that's a convenience now might become a necessity in old age. In fact, the ongoing explosion in construction is paving the way for the connected home. Of the houses built in 2002, 42% (670,000) contain structured wiring - that is, they have a network-ready infrastructure. And 30% have broadband access and home offices. Broadband high-speed Internet access via a digital subscriber line (DSL), a cable modem, or a satellite service is becoming as fundamental as plumbing (click to read "Know Your Connections"). connected 3

The beauty of a wired network using the Ethernet protocol developed for computer networks is bandwidth. Ethernet cable can carry as much data as most households will likely ever need. From any wired point in a fully equipped entertainment network, you could watch movies from the server, listen to any of the half-million songs on Rhapsody, download any of the half-million songs on iTunes, and turn on the microwave to pop your popcorn - all at once. So it's not surprising that Ethernet-enabled products are tumbling out of designers' heads. Kenwood, for instance, offers a home theater system with a DVD player, an A/V receiver, speakers, and - you guessed it - an Ethernet port to stream audio and video from your computer.

But existing houses aren't usually wired for Ethernet, and retrofitting is very expensive. The Multimedia Over Coax Alliance is devising standards to move audio/video data over a house's existing coaxial cables. Taking another route, the HomePlug Powerline Alliance has worked out a way to send data over electrical lines, including extension cords. Traditional custom-installed wired systems have long offered tremendous audio/video performance, and newer Internet-based systems are only multiplying that. Whichever way you go, a wired home is a happy home.

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