It s all about sharing access to the Internet from multiple points in the household at the same time. With the surge of broadband Internet service coming to tens of millions of U.S. households in the next three years, there will be a large number of multi-device homes coming online. Today, more than 25 million U.S. homes already have two or more PCs. That s unlikely. Instead, the vast majority of these Internet-thirsty households will install a home network to share Internet access among the PCs and new Internet appliances.
Internet appliances feed off a home network.
This same wiring everyone uses for simple telephone calls today is actually a high-speed network in disguise. Self-service is essential Retailers and equipment providers alike have an important requirement for both Internet appliances and their home networking counterparts. Both must be consumer-installable, require no new wiring and have enough speed to support any number of household audio, video or even telephone users. Also, home networks will need to offer concurrent support for both wired and wireless application traffic. Fortunately, manufacturers have already spotted the fact that history is repeating itself, as home phoneline networks are poised to offer wireless extensions mirroring today s cordless phone base stations.