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 ENERGY/UTILITIES/POWERLINE NETWORKING MANAFACTURERS: The energy industry is particularly suited to exploit the home networking market because, apart from the telecommunication service providers (i.e. the telephone company), they are one of the few industries which have serviced the consumer in the home. One of the primary concerns is who and how will companies best provide customer service to resident consumers, utilities have the experience to do so. In addition, the utilities industry is being deregulated, allowing for greater competition. Just like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 broke up the monopoly hold of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), current legislation is doing the same for the energy industry, so that the traditional monopolists in the field FEAR lagging behind the new upstarts which will offer advanced value-added services integrating power supply with telephony, Internet access, and home control (esp. HVAC, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning, an early form of centralized home networking otherwise known as environmental control, which now can be managed over the Internet away from the home with X-10 and CEBus technologies). Moreover, one of the competing home networking technologies in the race to provide people with the means to hook anything and everything up in the home is "powerline" networking (i.e. the electrical outlet and electricity wiring). Although at this point powerline has a much slower data carrying rate than telephony, the Internet and wireless networking options, it is ubiquitous. In other words, there is an outlet already in practically every room in the house, whereas there is not a telephone outlet everywhere and wireless options are too expensive at this point.
Major Supporting Technology Standard Working Group/Industry Alliance Association:
Based on signaling technology from Intellon, the Consumer Electronics Bus (CEBus) is a home-control technology developed under the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) in the late 1980s and overseen today by the CEBus Industry Council. CEBus Consumer Electronics Bus. A communications standard for in home networks developed by the Electronics Industry Association (EIA) and the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association.
A control technology for home and industrial environments, LonWorks was developed by Echelon Corp., and is now a standard under the EIA.
The Universal Serial Bus is a peripheral-connection specification for the PC, allowing products from different manufacturers to interoperate via a one-size-fits-all plug and port connection. USB Universal Serial Bus. A bidirectional, isochronous, dynamically attachable serial interface for adding peripheral devices such as game controllers, serial and parallel ports, and input devices on a single bus. (This serial protocol runs at 1-12 megabits per second.)
The Companies
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