Technologies and Standards Ushering in the Digital Home (pt1)
There are new technologies being develop every day; some make it to market and some don’t. The digital home market is one area that has seen some of these technologies. Since the arrival of electricity in our homes or before we have been pushing the boundary of what we can do within our homes less mundane, more convenient and save us time and money. I have highlighted some these technologies and technology standards that have taken us to where we are today. This is part one of a series of articles that looks at the technologies and standards that are ushering in the digital home or digital lifestyle that we are trying to achieve.
The Internet: Today the internet lies at the core of most of our communication. Without it a lot of what we do today in terms of communication, goods and services would not have been possible without the internet. For example the downloading of music and movies, sending and receiving emails is down to the technology within the internet. Many of us go into the office less than five days working days of the week and work from home the other days, while some don’t. This is all because of the convenience of the internet.
Wireless: Wireless technology for home comes in many forms there is Femtocell, 3G, 4G, infrared, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi which is now up to standard 802.11n and it is the most popular wireless technology within the home today. The use of wireless technology within the home as helped us to avoid the clutter caused by wire and save us money by not having to install them. It offers us the convenience of having different members of the family having simultaneous access to the web and not having to wait in a queue for the computer. With devices such as Archos and digital photo frames using wireless to access our home network has become an integral part of connectivity within our homes and our digital lifestyle.
Powerline Communication: with the growth in HD (high definition) entertainment powerline Ethernet or Homplug (which is another standard) has taken intra-home networking to a different level. Powerline Ethernet technology works by transporting your data through your home plug socket, over the powerline within the walls and out through your broadband router. Powerline communication took where wireless stopped. Homeplug av devices can offer data transfer rate of up to 500Mbps within the home, with it you can watch HD on-demand content, play internet game, browse the web and make VOIP call with room to spare.