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Highlights
from Parks Associates' Forum98: Hidden Treasures @ Home
November 25, 1998—
Parks Associates hosted its eleventh cross-industry conference on
residential systems and services,
Forum98: Hidden Treasures @ Home, in Bal Harbor,
Florida on November 18-20. The conference attracted over 170 attendees from multiple
industries.
The conference centered on three major themes: in-home networks, the Internet, and
innovations in residential systems, services, and distribution channels. A common thread
linking all three themes is the ultimate treasure for companies marketing residential
products and services: the consumer.
Speakers from multiple industries provided attendees with a variety of
perspectives and a wealth of information on the residential marketplace. Below are some of
the highlights from the conference proceedings.
Clue
to Hidden Treasures @ Home: Know Thy Consumer
It is the consumer who ultimately determines successes or failures of
residential products and services. This industry maxim was a recurring theme throughout Forum98
and was the subject of the opening speech at the conference. Mark Cavender, a partner
of The Chasm Group, delivered the keynote address, where he discussed consumers'
technology adoption life cycle. The life cycle model he illustrated reveals market
acceptance of discontinuous innovations through a bell curve that provides a time-based
projection of how different types of consumers adopt a technology-based product.
Gopal Ahluwalia of the National Association of Home Builders, Susan Robinson of Market
Facts, and Tricia Parks of Parks Associates, also presented their perspectives on
consumers' needs, wants, and purchase behaviors. In reminding her clients to understand
their customers, Tricia Parks, President of Parks Associates, commented, "The depth
of understanding the consumer makes the difference between talk and being serious about
marketing."
In-Home
Networks: No New Wires, More Wires, Better Wires, or All of Them?
Speakers presented multiple in-home networking solutions that can enable new
applications and link isolated devices together: the traditional powerline-based network,
phoneline-based network (HomePNA), wireless network (ShareWave and HomeRF), and structured
wiring solutions (Lucent, IBM, Greyfox, Bell Atlantic, etc.). There were debates on which
solution is best suited for the home, and there were questions on whether existing
poor-quality phoneline wiring in most American homes can handle high-speed data or whether
RF will be robust and secure enough for networking purposes. Of course, no consensus was
reached. "There is no single solution that will meet all types of technical criteria
and all in-home networking needs," said Hongjun Li, Parks Associates' Director of
Research. "Lucent Technologies is not only providing structured wiring products but
also making a bet on HomePNA."
Surfing
a New Wave of Internet Service Platforms
While most consumers are only familiar with dial-up Internet services,
several new access forms are emerging, including digital subscriber line (DSL), cable
modems, and TV-based Internet service. WorldGate's general manager David Wachob presented
the Company's PC-less Internet access technology and its competitive advantages over
set-top appliances such as WebTV. While WorldGate's technology uses cable TV networks in
the same fashion as cable modems, Wachob pointed out that WorldGate is a complement,
rather than a direct competitor, to cable modem service, as the latter uses the PC as an
Internet access device.
Gary Bolton of Nortel networks explained what Nortel's 1-Meg modem can do. The modem,
very similar to a G.lite ADSL modem, has won $1 billion in orders for Nortel, Bolton said.
Willian Bailey of Cisco Systems and Sanjeev Verma of Motorola presented their perspectives
on broadband Internet services to the home via cable modem, DSL, broadband gateways, etc.,
predicting a new paradigm of high-speed Internet services and applications in a networked
home.
Innovations
In Residential Systems, Services, And Distribution Channels
Forum98 provided a great opportunity for a discussion of innovations
in residential systems, services, and distribution channels. Below are some examples:
HDTV ¾ Gary Shapiro, president of CEMA, discussed
high-definition TV in a keynote luncheon speech, proclaiming a slower-than-expected but
inevitable arrival of HDTV and the drop of prices of HDTV sets as market volume builds up.
"One hundred years from now, people won't talk about Monica. They'll focus on the
shift to digital," Shapiro said.
Distributing home control products via the Internet ¾ X-10 has had great success using three Web sites to provide
distribution channels at retail, wholesale, and dealer levels.
Premise wiring from an RBOC ¾ Bell
Atlantic owns the largest premise wiring company in the United States, supporting all Bell
Atlantic lines of business and developing a whole house solution that includes structured
wiring.
Community networking ¾ Goswick
Associates is developing a new model for community networking in Houston, Texas. The
network provides interactive community information, locators for community resources, self
publishing, chat rooms, community bulletin boards, and other community-level services.
IP in the Home ¾ By providing for home
control over the Internet and allowing appliances and consumer electronic equipment to
communicate via IP packets, Cisco Systems is hoping to bring IP applications into
residences. William Bailey of Cisco Systems talked about Cisco's vision of a home network
and multi-service integration with IP as the unifying protocol.
Networked bodies ¾ IBM design engineer Winslow
Burleson unveiled some new computer product concepts that will further change people's
lives. Business card information may be transferred via a handshake. Beds will become
"intelligent" and ensure proper sleep positioning. A talking couch will provide
reminders. These, according to Burleson, are but a few of the technologies that may be
commercially available in the future.
About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is an
internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing
in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks
Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to
small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research,
custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service
subscriptions.
The company's expertise includes new media, digital
entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services,
digital health, mobile applications and services, consumer electronics, and home
control systems and security.
Each year, Parks Associates hosts executive thought
leadership conferences CONNECTIONS™, with support from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®), and CONNECTIONS™ Europe. In addition, Parks
Associates produces the online publication Industry Insights in
conjunction with the CONNECTIONS™ Conference series.
http://www.parksassociates.com |
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