An application that is downloaded from the Web each time it is run. The advantage is that the application can be run from any computer, and the software is routinely upgraded and maintained by the hosting organization rather than each individual user. Now you can lose ugly cables, add mobility. When Tom Roemer brings work home from the office, he takes his notebook computer upstairs. A computer downstairs contains files he needs, though, so he connects the notebook to it.
Radio waves carry data between the computers, wherever in the house they happen to be.
In fact, though he hasn't tried, Mr. Roemer is confident he could take the notebook out on his deck and still communicate with his server. Until recently, home networks were strictly for technophiles, but The Yankee Group, a Boston consulting firm, estimates the number of networked homes in the United States will increase to almost 10 million in three years from about 650,000 today. One reason is obvious. Calif. Yet few homeowners relish stringing cable around the house and through walls. Thus the idea of a home network without new wire is enticing.