ResidentialTechnology.com
Several industries are interested in residential connectivity markets, a highly-simplified breakdown of them includes:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, "Papa" Lorenzo: BIG on samples and happy hour buffets, periodically declares he's giving up on cheese (might as well call him "anti-American" i know), LOVES his wife (remember, "wife" spelled backwards is "efiw"), is certain his son is destined to be known as "Enzo the Great," appreciates his "parents" more each day (in-laws included), still dislikes cats, greatest fear is mediocrity, has resigned himself to blatant self-promotion (hey! i amuse me), defies popularity by defining himself, and wants (would like) you to pay him lots (market-value) of money for his work.
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RESIDENTIAL TECHNOLOGY A Monthly Column with Lorenzo D. Domínguez Residential Connectivity and Convergence: The Office Comes Home or How Home Networking Stocks Will Make You Richer in the Year 2000 ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE, TELEVISION BROADCASTING AND DIGITAL CONTENT PROVIDERS There are two major camps in this area: Hollywood and Silicon Alley. If home networking takes off, the average Joe will be able to receive and distribute content worldwide with the click of a button, which scares Hollywood because they will have lost control of both the means of distribution and subsequent profits. Hence, by getting in on the game early, these industries can forge deals with distributors which make their content exclusive and controlled. For example Mitsubishi Digital Electronics recently brokered a Mitsubishi/CBS/DirecTV HDTV content and distribution deal. As to Silicon Alley, Internet content providers have been the pioneers in this area not only in terms of creating digital content, but also is looking ahead towards building alliances which will encourage consumer demand. What major broadcaster, news agency or any competitive business for that matter does not have a website? And once again, just as we see in the telco industry, there is a major trend towards trying to develop all-in-one gateways for consumerism (AKA web portals). A minor note, but major factor, online multi-player digital gaming has been touted as being one of the major reasons why home networking will take off. There are hundreds of companies vying for this market in competition with SEGA, Nintendo and Sony. And once again there are major alliances forming to facilitate this, such as the recent SEGA, Total Entertainment Network and AT&T WorldNet Services deal. Moreover, although not commonly known, broadband communications are also broadband. And even though telecoms and cable companies are throwing each other punches at the moment, the major networks are gearing up to be a contender in the bandwidth arena as well. With the onslaught of mergers and acquisitions lately, the movement towards PC/TV convergence, and the eventual advent of FCC mandatory high definition digital television (HDTV) broadcasting – companies of or relating to communications systems in which the medium of transmission (such as a wire or fiber-optic cable) carries multiple messages at a time, each message modulated on its own carrier frequency by means of modems, will be interested in home networking.
Major Supporting Technology Standard Working Group/Industry Alliance Association:
The Companies
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