Home Networking Emerges As Integral Component Of Consumer Electronics At CES 2000

Home networking technologies and products emerged as a critical component of consumer electronics at 2000 International CES - Your Source for Workstyle and Lifestyle Technology.""Home networks provide the communications link that lets consumers access the wide variety of content and control features that consumer electronics products provide,"" said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), ""This year's International CES was a testament to the importance of networks to our industry.""Networking was a common theme of the show's keynote speakers. For example, Eric Benhamou, Chairman and CEO of 3Com, said current and planned consumer electronics products would enable people to lead ""more connected lives,"" and added that connectivity in the home was the ""next frontier."" Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, and Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems, also explained their visions of a networked future.The Habitech Institute presented 19 professional development sessions on all aspects of networking, while special exhibit areas and pavilions featured a wide range of network products and technologies. Specifically, the 1394 Showcase featured products designed to communicate via the IEEE 1394 protocol, Upside's Digital Living Room offered examples of the intersection of digital technologies, and the Home Security Pavilion included home automation and home security products.""A record amount of exhibit space was devoted to home networking,"" Shapiro noted. ""Exhibitors range from small companies showing networking components to major international corporations demonstrating whole-house network systems.""Microsoft presented a six-room house that featured a wide range of advanced networking applications. The kitchen, for example, included a refrigerator that keeps track of groceries and adds depleted items to a shopping list. The home server allows the homeowner to monitor and control heating, lighting, security, communication, computer and entertainment systems.Panasonic exhibited its ""Next House,"" an integrated and interconnected collection of appliances that range from smart refrigerators to a microwave oven that can receive new recipes and instructions over the Internet. The ""Next House"" network offers control of appliances, distribution of digital entertainment and links to schools, utilities and health care facilities.Home Automated Living, a small Maryland company, demonstrated a comprehensive home networking system. The system, HAL 3000, controls the home and the information coming into it by voice. The voice-controlled digital software, automates Internet access - the consumer, for example, can ask HAL for stock quotes and HAL ""speaks"" the response. HAL controls security, lights, climate, entertainment and telephone systems. The software manages household functions - turning lights off and on, for example, based on users' spoken commands, time of day or an ""event"" such as a sudden rain storm. And since all functions are voice controlled, HAL can be managed by phone from anywhere in the world.2Wire exhibited its digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband residential gateway which was honored by CES' Innovations 2000 awards program as the Best of Show winner within the Integrated Home System product category. The HomePortal combines a home networking hub, a router, a Web servicer and software that distributes and manages a wide range of broadband services.""Response at CES has been huge,"" said Roy Johnson, 2Wire vice president of marketing and business development. ""People were excited about HomePortal on two fronts - because it's their business and also because they think it's a cool thing to have in their homes.""The ""cool thing"" reaction was the common response to the many networking products exhibited at International CES, Shapiro said. ""This year, for the first time, exhibitors presented technologies that offer the full range of home networking capabilities.""A home network,"" Shapiro explained, ""facilitates communication among the appliances, home systems, entertainment products and information devices in a home so they can work cooperatively and share information. This allows users to get information about the home's condition and remotely control home systems and appliances, as well as gain access to information and entertainment resources from inside and outside the home.""Home networking has become a critical component of the consumer electronics industry,"" Shapiro concluded. ""Networking allows the industry's many digital products - HDTV, computers and appliances - to give consumers maximum value, usefulness and enjoyment.""