Europe homes in on home networking - research

 

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By Matt Whipp

Posted on 8 Dec 2006 at 12:09

According to research, Europe is well on the way to widespread adoption of the networked home, with the PC already having crept into the living rooms of a quarter of homes, and up to half of consumer electronics devices expected to be network-enabled by the end of the decade.

Research group Understanding & Solutions expects more than a third of European homes to have an integrated home network by 2010, linking multiple computers, telephones, televisions, Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), games consoles, home security systems and other digital devices.

It claims the two driving factors are the wide availability of broadband and the increase of digital multi-room TV networking.

Increasingly broadband services and content are finding their way on to a range of consumer electronics devices, such as the online gaming portals of games consoles, and content, such as online photo albums, which people want to access on a TV.

Additionally, WiFi and other existing wired networks, such as powerlines, are expected to find use as a means of allowing consumers to channel broadcast and other material to various screens throughout the home.

And people also want access to content that resides on a PC, such as a music collection, from anywhere in the home, as the PC takes on the role of content server.

'We're all becoming more demanding, craving access to up-to-the-minute entertainment and information - however, wherever and whenever we want it,' said John Bird, Principal Analyst at Understanding & Solutions. 'Home networking is the new gateway that manages, transports and stores our information across multiple devices within the home: it's the great content enabler.'

The group says the networked home phenomenon will not occur overnight, but that the dynamics are quickly falling into place for rapid adoption.