Summary
The Home Network is where computing, networking, broadcasting, and consumer electronics converge (or collide). Because it is situated on the customer's premises, the Home Network has the special challenge of being user-friendly, low-cost, and supportive of entertainment. The key elements of a Home Network are home media and a Residential Gateway. The options for home media are listed here:
Phone wire
Coaxial cable
Home electrical circuits or powerline
Firewire, or IEEE 1394b
Category 5 wiring
Wireless, standardized as IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, HomeRF, and Bluetooth
Connecting the Access Network to the home media and serving multiple protocols requires the services of a new piece of consumer electronics equipment, the Residential Gateway. The key functions of a Residential Gateway are listed here:
Packet forwarding
Media translation
Speed matching
IP address acquisition
MPEG and IP coexistence
Packet filtering
Authentication and encryption
System management
Some potential application functions of the RG are listed here:
MPEG decoder
Personal video recorder
Web browser/e-mail client
Other market, technical, and regulatory challenges and facilitators are summarized in Table 7-4.
The next chapter examines some end-to-end software issues required to combine Access Networks and Home Networks into a coherent economic system.
| Issue | Challenges | Facilitators |
|---|---|---|
| Home Network equipment | Integration of NT, NIU, and RG functions is needed for cost reduction. Modularity is needed to support multiple Access Networks and Home Network topologies and technologies. | Collaboration and competition exists between multiple vendors, including game players, TV decoders, and internetworking vendors. |
| Use of existing home wiring | Impairments might be excessive. Cost of upgrading and repair is high. |
A minimum cost scenario exists.
Wiring is owned by homeowner, who is responsible for maintenance and upgrades. New home construction often includes home media. Wireless is making good progress. |
| Intelligent Residential Gateway | Costs, choice of operating systems, programming complexity, and standardization are troublesome. | RG facilitates connectivity, scaling, a wider variety of services, ease of use, and carrier maintenance. |
| Standards |
A consensus is needed on a multitude of functions.
Coordination is required among numerous standards bodies and geographical areas. New standards and industry consortia are proliferating. | Basic standards are established for Service Consumer System (DAVIC), use of ATM (ATM Forum RBB Working Group), ADSL reference model (ADSL Forum), and Firewire (IEEE). There will likely be networking standardization. |
| Support for video | Support requires high-speed networking, quality of service controls, and signaling. (How does TE inform network of speed requirements?) | Video enables funding via the familiar advertising model. |
| Full-service networking |
This approach makes it difficult to put all services on legacy networks.
The consumer loses all services when the one big network goes down. This option also doesn't exist now; do we need it? Many consumers like a modular approach—witness home stereo systems. |
Full-service networking provides account control for the carrier.
This option makes life simple for the consumer. The lowest-cost option is available to the consumer. |
| Market | How much responsibility will the carrier accept for inside wiring, and what will be the costs to the consumer? | Faster home wiring will improve services, especially for video. This is necessary to support faster Access Networks. |
| Industry structure | Multiple industries are involved, each with differing requirements. | Partnerships and alliances are forming. |
| Business/Financial | Cost of and responsibility for rewiring are troublesome. Cost of new adapters and RG is high. | Maybe rewiring isn't such a problem, given recent trends in new home construction and home remodeling. |