Revolution in the home

Reduced connectivity costs are joining convergence in driving the digital home phenomenon, with more homes being networked in the way that only offices were traditionally. With wireless technology, digital home solutions are now even more easily deployed by home users...

As convergence drives the rapid growth of the digital home market, so the demand for home networking products grows in correlation. Home users are no longer merely creating small local areas networks (LANs) but now also demand network-attached storage solutions, routers and DSL modems scaled to their demands.

These demands are being further aggregated by the range of disparate devices in the home that users want to connect in order to stream, download and share content between them. An increasing number of homes also accommodate more than one personal computer or laptop, furthering the demand for network solutions.

Wireless technology means that home networking devices are becoming even easier to implement and configure with little to no cabling required.

In order to follow the path of content into the home and address the needs of each particular area, lets examine the way in which Internet content enters the home and trace the equipment required along the way.

With fewer home users making use of dial-up Internet connections and rather opting for always-on-Internet connections, especially from DSL providers, the first port of call for Internet traffic entering many homes these days is via the ADSL modem.

Originally rather expensive, DSL modems have decreased rapidly in price as a reaction to market demand and are now being integrated into routing devices, such as Netgear`s ADSL routers, thus further decreasing the amount and price of equipment required for home networks.

Another device, which is found increasingly in the home, which traditionally would only be found in places of business, is the router - our next port of call for Internet traffic entering the home.

With the number of devices in the home on the increase and a higher necessary consideration for security, routers have come down in price and manufacturers like Netgear have produced routing devices specifically aimed at home users, such as those that incorporate ADSL modems, saving costs and making connections more easily configurable.

Most users now opt for wireless routers, making home network implementation even easier than before and allowing computers and other devices in the home to easily connect to each other and the Internet with the presence of a wireless router. Netgear has patented a technology that increases the range of their wireless routers, meaning that a larger area of the home and garden will be covered wirelessly and reducing the need for additional access points or routers.

Once our Internet traffic has been analysed, filtered and sent in the right direction by a router, it passes down to a destination device.

With more and more devices in the home becoming Internet-enabled, it is no longer just computers requiring connectivity anymore. An increasing amount of people carry laptops, requiring wireless PCMCIA network cards, and devices such as gaming consoles and even fridges are now requiring access to the home network and even the Internet.

Netgear has developed specialised gaming routers and other devices here that better accommodate the special needs of modern home networks, and also supply a range of PCI and PCMCIA wireless network cards for personal computers and laptops.

With the presence of a wireless router, ADSL modem and network cards in all computing devices, the home allows for the wireless flow of data between devices - sharing pictures, videos, music and multiplayer gaming. Access to the Internet means that media content can be acquired online and distributed to devices in the home network, but with easy and high-speed access to online content, hard drives soon fill up.

Network attached storage (NAS) is perhaps last of the networking technologies to start targeting home users as the demands for storage increase in the home.

NAS devices simply connect to the home network and allow all devices on the network to access their storage capacities.

One such device from Netgear allows for up to two hard drives to be seamlessly connected via Ethernet cable to the wireless router, or any computer on the network and be shared with other devices throughout the home.

With a decrease in the prices of the technology required and convergence leading to centralised media enjoyment, the era of the digital home is upon us, with companies like Netgear providing holistic solutions for home network users.