Coactive Networks on Wednesday unveiled a new home-networking box that transforms every electrical outlet and phone jack in the house into a networking port.
Coactive's Connector 3000 Series residential gateway, unveiled at this week's Connections 2000 home networking show in San Diego, aims to make it easy to retrofit unwired homes -- in anticipation of the imminent "smart home" future when everything in the house is connected to and controlled over the Internet.
Coactive claims the Connector 3000 is the first "full-service" residential gateway because it can be used to connect multiple devices like PCs, games boxes, and entertainment systems to a broadband modem, as well as appropriately equipped home appliances. Additionally, the box has jacks to Net-connect home infrastructure systems like smoke detectors, burglar alarms, and thermostats.
"It will prepare the home for the next generation of smart devices," said Adam Marsh, Coactive's director of marketing. "It will allow (service providers) to deliver multiple services without ever having to show up at your home again. That is the idea."
The Connector 3000 won't be available until the end of the year. It will likely be installed for free or at low cost by broadband Internet service providers. A Swedish ISP is planning to install Connector boxes in more than 400,000 homes over the next two years.
Home networking is poised to become big business, growing to $8.8 billion in the next three years from $48 million, according to Cahners In-Stat Group.
As a result, everyone and their mother is getting in the game, from networking giants like Cisco and Lucent to hardware companies like Intel and IBM. Add to that the scores of startups, ISPs, utility, telecom, and cable companies, and you've got a crowded field.
On top of this, everyone has a competing technology, from Bluetooth, Home RF, and phone line networking, to Sun's Jini, Universal Plug and Play, and Apple's FireWire (which is also called IEEE 1394 or iLink).
Whatever the technology, a lot of players have adopted the mantra of "no new wires." Companies like Coactive are re-purposing electrical outlets, Intel is using its AnyPoint to network phone jacks and Apple is going wireless with the Airport networking hub.
The driver behind home networking is the "always on" Internet. Access via DSL or cable make possible not just home automation but a new range of "e-services."
"People aren't buying wire, they're buying lifestyle services," said Bill Lane, chairman of Wiring America's Homes.
For example, utility companies could offer discounts to customers who allow their air conditioning systems to be controlled remotely over the Net. When temperatures soar and air conditioners push the power grid to full capacity, the utility could save the expense of buying extra juice from another company by simply raising customers' temperature settings a notch or two.
Another potential application are low-cost home security systems.
Marsh said only 15 percent of homes have security alarms because of high setup fees and monthly monitoring charges.
But a home gateway system easily replaces the most expensive component of a security system –- the security panel. Home owners simply plug in inexpensive security sensors to the home network and a remote server monitors the system over the Internet.
The system has an added advantage in that it can alert the home owner to problems via any browser or email, or with a Net-enabled cell phone that can also be used to turn the alarm on and off, or to adjust the system's status.
"Wherever you are, you can get access to these systems and be sure things at home aren't beyond your control," said Marsh.
Homes will become smart in two stages, Marsh said. Once a network is in place, home owners can install special Web-enabled boxes between their appliances and the network, not unlike X10 boxes, that allow the appliances to be turned on and off, or monitored, over the Web.
Then as appliance makers roll out washing machines and microwaves with built-in Net connections, they can be plugged directly into the home network.
With this new generation of devices, home owners will have a much wider variety of services, Marsh said.
Many of today's appliances have sophisticated logic built into the hardware. Clothes dryers, for example, can tell when the washing is dry. Toasters know when the toast is about to burn. But if you want new features, you have to buy a whole new device.
Instead, appliance makers in the near future hope to deliver new capabilities via software and the Internet. So, as your collection of fine china grows, you could download a special wash cycle for your dishwasher tuned specially for porcelain.
The range of services would become pretty specialized. Oven manufacturers will beam the perfect temperature settings for baked Alaska straight to the range, and makers of washing machines could download complex pre-rinse and wash cycles for removing tough stains from delicate fabrics. For a fee, of course.
"More and more manufacturers are creating products that have to have the right infrastructure to work," said Charles McGrath, executive director of the Home Automation Association. "There are lots and lots of benefits. The question is the market."
