US surfers plug-in to home networking

Home network vendors are looking for new areas of growth beyond gateways and routers

More than half of US broadband users have some form of home network, according to new research.

Analyst firm ABI Research claimed that the home network is no longer an early adopter technology, as increasing numbers of consumers use laptops, PCs, games consoles and Wi-Fi enabled mobiles in the home.

"Our research shows that more than a quarter of home network owners have a games console on their home network, while another eight per cent have connected their mobile phone," said ABI Research director Mike Wolf.

The analyst added that this growth in core home networking is a sign of a market that is increasingly mature.

This has resulted in home network vendors looking for new areas of growth beyond the gateway and home router product lines.

Results from new areas of focus such as media adapters and network attached storage are mixed thus far, as consumers have yet to adopt these new product categories en masse.

"Fifteen per cent of home network owners today are streaming music over the network and another one in 10 is streaming video," said Wolf.

"These are early indicators that there will be consumer interest in these next-generation applications around the network."

The key over time will be to create easy-to-use products that integrate seamlessly with the living room, which carries different expectations regarding usability and end-user experiences, according to Wolf.

"Ultimately, we expect more integration with existing consumer electronics products as well as a greater role for the service provider in managing networked media applications," he said.