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The Digital Millennium
and 20 Million Networked Households
Forum'99 Covers Residential Gateways, Content, Networks, and Control
Home networks, following on the
heels of broadband Internet access deployment, will revolutionize the way in which
consumers live and work in the home, said
Tricia Parks, president of Parks Associates. In
her opening address at the Dallas-based market research and consulting company's
Forum'99:
Defining the Digital Millennium conference (October 25-27), Parks predicted that
in the first 10 years of the 21st century, as many as 20 million households will adopt
home networks, running concurrently to the penetration of high-speed Internet access
platforms in as many households.
"The home network will ride piggyback on emerging residential gateway
technologies," said Parks. "Although this will mean opportunity for many
players, we believe that the residential gateway (RG) will also serve as the battleground
for the 'no-new-wires' technologies. Developers will be forced to choose."
Forum'99 conference keynote addresses included CNN reporter Bob
Franken; University of San Francisco professor and author Dr. Oren Harari (Leapfrogging
the Competition: Five Giant Steps to Market Leadership); associate director of consumer
research for Yankelovich Partners Inc. Laura Hankin; and William "Luke" Stewart,
vice president of technology and chief scientist for Media Fusion Corp. The latter, a
Dallas-based firm, has developed a WAN/LAN powerline networking technology with
"light speed" throughput, according to Stewart. He expects to demonstrate the
technology in the first half of 2000.
Other residential technologies are taking off, as evidenced by a number of Forum'99
presentations. Structured wiring, what Parks Associates' in-home networks analyst Kurt
Scherf referred to as "the hidden revolution," has developed a strong backing in
the past 12 months. Bell Atlantic Communication and Construction Services Inc., for
example, reported that it will complete between 10 and 15,000 installations in 1999 alone.
The burgeoning Internet appliance market, evidenced by such players as Qubit Technology,
is also making a strong bid to usurp the PC in the home, according to president and CEO
David Armitage. Finally, innovative home management systems from such companies as
Honeywell Inc. and research institutions such as the Georgia and Massachusetts Institutes
of Technology are promising to revolutionize the way in which consumers (particularly the
disabled and aged) better manage their home systems.
Forum'99 Platinum Sponsors included the CIC (Home Plug &
Play™, PlugLab), Media Fusion Inc., and Microsoft Corp. Gold Sponsors were Bell
Atlantic Communication and Construction Services Inc. (BACCSI) and IBM Corp. Silver
Sponsors included Ambient Technologies Inc., CommScope®, the Consumer Electronics
Manufacturers Association (CEMA), the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA),
Domosys Corp., EH Publishing, Emerald Gateway International (EGI), EPRI/CSG, Ericsson
Inc., FutureSmart™ Networks Inc., Greyfox Systems Inc., HomeRF, Home Toys, Honeywell
Inc., Intel, Intelogis Inc., Liberate, Panja, Peracom Networks Inc., Residential Control
Systems (RCS), Smart Corp., Superior Essex, Wiring Americas' Homes, EH Publishing, Wiring
Americas' Homes, and X10 (USA).
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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