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Editor's Perspective
The NEW new networked home
By Dan O'Shea
June 3, 2003
There are as many different visions of the home of the future as there are paint colors, furniture designs and cabinet styles. Every company, from the major telcos and cable TV companies to
Microsoft, has an idea in mind about how that home will be networked. Intelligent appliances, media equipment and burglar alarms could use DSL, cable, wireless, a combination of these technologies or others, like Microsoft's Smart Personal Object Technology that uses FM frequencies.
Now, Wi-Fi is offering its own vision, and though it's a long-term vision, it's still fairly compelling. Wi-Fi's still negotiating the transition from grassroots novelty to popular service, but its presence in consumer homes is growing rapidly. Innovation may take that growth a step further.
For example, PCTEL is set to launch a soft access point product that puts many of the capabilities for an access point and router--now sold and deployed as separate peripherals--into a client card for a PC or laptop. This could change the model for installing Wi-Fi in the home, particularly the amount of work and expense that is required. It also could make it easier for a consumer to set up a home network from a PC without requiring coordination of multiple hardware, drivers and long calls to technical support.
Another step forward in the vision of the new networked home is put forward by
Atheros Communications CEO Craig Barratt. "Video could be an important growth area for Wi-Fi," he said. "There's increasing interest in the idea of moving content around the home between different devices." Consumers could download a movie from the Internet on a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop in one room, transfer it to the big-screen TV in the family room, and then transfer it again to a different TV in the bedroom.
Barratt eventually sees the Wi-Fi chips Atheros makes going into portable TVs, digital cameras, TV set top boxes, camcorders or other devices. "It could be an alternative to the wired broadband home. It could be cheaper and also more easily configured by the user than the broadband operator," he said.
That could be a scary thought for some broadband operators that are adamant about making their visions for the new networked home the ones that pan out. Although Wi-Fi seems to have a way of advancing with or without their approval.
E-mail me at doshea@primediabusiness.com.
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Top News
ADC enters Wi-Fi game
June 2, 2003
ATLANTA--ADC Telecommunications, following recent news and speculation about public network carriers offering Wi-Fi access by leveraging existing infrastructure, unveiled its new LoopStar Span Powered Wi-Fi system Monday at Supercomm.
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Cingular may buy some NextWave licenses
By Dan O'Shea
May 29, 2003
Cingular Wireless has been mentioned as the latest in a long line of companies rumored to be closing in on an acquisition of some of the PCS licenses owned by embattled
NextWave.
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Korean, Irish carriers choose Navini
May 30, 2003
Korean carrier KT Corp. (formerly Korea Telecom) has announced it's testing
Navini Networks' broadband fixed wireless equipment, while Irish Broadband said it's deploying the equipment to provide commercial broadband services in Dublin and other Ireland markets later this year.
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Nortel nabs Cincinnati Bell contract
May 30, 2003
Cincinnati Bell Wireless, a joint venture between
AT&T Wireless and
Cincinnati Bell, has chosen
Nortel Networks to deploy a GSM/GPRS overlay to the company's existing TDMA network.
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ZyXEL boxes hot spots
By Dan O'Shea
June 2, 2003
ATLANTA--ZyXEL Communications announced at Supercomm that it has expanded its ZyAIR wireless LAN product family with the B-4000 Wireless Service Gateway, a product it describes as a public "hot spot in a box."
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www.telephonyonline.com/wireless
In Print
PCTEL on the prowl
By Dan O'Shea
June 2, 2003
PCTEL has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against four other companies, just three months after filing a similar suit against
3Com. The company has been on a tear the last 18 months, with several acquisitions, an asset divestiture and a new product launch planned for next quarter.
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