Home Network Technologies Will Coexist, Not Compete

(Business News & Technology News, 30 Jul 2008)

Consumer electronics products no longer exist in a vacuum: increasingly they are linked to each other via a number of short-range radio technologies. CE vendors, faced with a series of overlapping use-cases, network areas, standards, and technologies, need to understand the applications best suited to each, and how they relate to each other.

Fortunately, short-range networking technologies are settling into more or less clearly defined roles, and will by and large coexist and complement each other rather than competing. "Technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UWB, 60GHz, and ZigBee will not compete within the home," says Douglas McEuen, ABI Research senior analyst. "But will be used in coordination, overlapping and coexisting for full wireless network coverage."

"Each of these technologies has a sweet spot or specialty," he continues. "Bluetooth will be the driving technology in the PAN (personal area network) and may see some success in remote controls, especially for gaming. Wi-Fi will be the key technology for wireless LAN (local area network). UWB and 60 GHz respectively will be specialized for home office peripherals, and for wireless HDMI (uncompressed video sent from a set-top box to a high-definition TV). ZigBee stands apart, as a home automation technology."

There are a few competitive counter-trends worth noting. Recently, Intel and OZMO Devices announced a program that uses standard Wi-Fi protocols to handle PAN tasks such as syncing notebooks with various PC peripherals and wireless consumer electronics. The RF4CE (Radio Frequency for Consumer Electronics) industry consortium has been formed recently to develop a new protocol for radio frequency remote controls that would compete with Bluetooth to replace IR remote controls for audiovisual equipment. However, these are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Click here for more information on the Research Brief "Short-Range Wireless in the Home Networking Environment" from ABI Research