(Logo: http://www.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040820/RESEARCH )
This report covers the Internet enabled smart home with regard to smart
home networks and products. In addition,
the number of US households online, US and worldwide broadband and home
network penetration, and master planned communities will be forecasted and
analyzed. But
the shape of the STB's next generation replacement or evolution is
already discernable, and it's called the Home (or Broadband) Media
Center.com

consumer home

newscom.
Technologies, market drivers, and trends for products in the smart home
will be discussed in the second half of the report.

Business Editors/Consumer Products Writers/Technology Editors

OYSTER BAY, N.

poppers home

While home networking and automation can be done
without accessing the Internet, this report will only focus on those solutions
and products that can be plugged into the Internet enabled home network.
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The idea, according to ABI Research principal analyst Michael
Arden , is to combine a number of electronic devices in one package."
That is why ABI Research is skeptical about some vendors' plans to
incorporate CD/DVD players in their home media centers.
The evolution of the STB and many other topics are dealt with in
the latest edition of ABI Research's regular step -top box studies,
"Set-Top Box Market Development for CATV, DBS, DTT and IP.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research
maintains global operations supporting annual research programs ,
intelligence services and market reports in automotive, wireless,
semiconductors, broadband, and energy.

popcorn top

DUBLIN, Ireland, Research and Markets
(http://www.Y.----The market for
set-top boxes -- the consumer's main point of connection to
cable-based services -- is huge, and will remain so for some time.
Motorola has media-center devices on the market and, says Arden,
several other vendors are testing the water. For information visit
www.abiresearch.

poppers appliances

Research and Markets: Internet Enabled Smart Homes on the Increase?

Drivers such as consumer education, the state of household infrastructure and
the type of community in which consumers live that affect the enabled smart
home market will be discussed in the first section of the report. Networked or IP enabled Consumer
Electronics (CE) are expanding to include most consumer electronics products.researchandmarkets.

ABI Research Considers New Generation Set-Top Boxes: Is the Home Media Center Nearly Upon Us?

" They're also more expensive than today's "simple"
STBs; there's a question mark over the level of interactivity they
will offer; and there is an inherent risk in building a device which
"does everything, but nothing very well. Arden believes that home media centers
may start to replace STBs in the United States around 2008, but that
the process will start later in other parts of the world.

appliances popcorn

researchandmarkets.com/reports /c17140 ) has announced the addition
of Internet Based Home Control and Enabled Products: Today's Smart Home to
their offering. The product segments for
the smart home are divided into two categories: home control and monitoring
and networked consumer electronics. The home control and monitoring category
is further divided into three segments, devices used for control of the home
such as lighting and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning), home
security products like network cameras , and home appliances, such as those
found in the kitchen or laundry room.
STBs, cable modems, personal video recorders, computer interface, and
telephone connection boxes are all likely candidates , and plans even
include interfaces for controlling household heating and appliances.
"However ," he cautions, "products like these are not going to be
snapped up in large numbers immediately because consumers are largely
unaware of them." It
forecasts the progress of early attempts to create standards for STB
design, allowing universal plug-and-play.

home popcorn

com/reports/c17140

Laura Wood
Senior Manager
Research and Markets
press@researchandmarkets. They won't
offer the same functionality or quality as stand-alone units, they
won't generate easy profits, and they will be unpopular with
entertainment content owners. It also considers digital
cable-ready TVs and dual tuners, and contains SWOT analyses for the
cable and IP markets.