As Mentioned last year, TekPlus sees the life cycle for this market developing in three phases;

Phase 1 - On line connection

Phase 2 - Creating Smart areas inside the home (LAN connectivity)

Phase 3 - Creating the 'Intelligent Home'

 

Dr. Mitul Mehta, Managing Director of TekPlus states, 'We are seeing better progress that expected in phase one as more and more homes get connected on-line faster and with greater deployment of broadband. We expect that companies like Linksys from the US will become more dominant in Europe over the next few years and lead rapidly into phase two.' One of the main reason behind this change is the drive from local service providers and teleco for home networking and residential gateway developments in Europe. The platform for ‘Smart Home’ is being created in Europe as well as in rest of the world by ;

 

- White goods manufacturers (e.g. Whirlpool, Toshiba, GE and many more) with Internet-

  embedded intelligent appliances

- Utility companies

- Security companies are incorporating intelligence in security devices

- Builders/constructors are beginning to adopt home networking technology as a way to

  differentiate their homes from competitors

The foremost reason behind the growing ‘Smart Home’ market is increasing broadband penetration at homes and SOHO. Broadband along with the wireless technology makes home networks attainable and acceptable among the common man (though wired Ethernet networks are still considered more reliable and provides better results than any other alternate options). TekPlus believes over the next two years wireless LANS will penetrate more quickly into the home. TekPlus report also states that 'new wiring was the biggest obstacle for many consumers embracing home networks, but WLAN will solve their problem and push the wireless ‘Smart Home’ Market'.

The report by TekPlus illustrates ‘sharing the Internet connection’ as a major driver. The percentage of homes having more than one PC is steadily increasing. In this case sharing the Internet among multiple PCs at home is one of the important reasons why consumers want to network their home. They also want to connect other appliances as they become 'smarter' and already 'entertainment smart areas' are developing. Table 1 shows some of the reasons TekPlus found from consumers as reasons they would want to network their home appliances.