A new study from the Cahners In-Stat Group reveals that demand for home networking gear is on the rise and will push the market for RF (radio frequency or wireless) integrated circuits from $116 million this year to $669 million in 2004. You can get the entire study from Cahners for about $3,500 (a bit beyond our price range) or read a summary at ZDNet here. 10/25/00

The Federal Communications Commission has ruled in favor of the Home Radio Frequency Group, and thus reinvigorated the battle of standards for wireless networking. On Thursday, the FCC on Thursday issued a ruling to allow the Group's SWAP (shared wireless access protocol) standard to quadruple the speed of wireless access. The ruling revives the battle between supporters of SWAP and 802.11B, another standard that previously was allowed to operate at four times that of SWAP. 

Before the FCC's decision, companies building networking products on the SWAP standard -- including Intel, Motorola and Proxim -- were restricted from increasing bandwidth beyond 2Mb per second. On the other hand, companies building off the 802.11B standard -- including 3Com, Apple and Lucent -- were able to run at 11 megabits per second. Click here for the full story. 9/4/00

According to Microsoft, the soon-to-be-released version of Windows, called Windows Millennium Edition -- or Me for short -- will have updated features for home networking. According to a Microsoft announcement, Windows Me was developed around four themes: the online experience, PC health, digital media and home networking. "Windows Me was built to be the optimal platform for users who want access to a full range of computing activities at home," Microsoft says. Check out the full release here. 8/29/00.

Market research firm Cahners In-Stat Group reports that the market for home networking gear grew to $58 million in the first quarter of this year, with most of the increase due to the continued momentum of wireless shipments. In-Stat expects the market to continue to rapidly evolve, with the addition of powerline equipment creating further competition. 7/26/00

The announcement by Microsoft, GE and other companies to jointly develop technology aimed at bridging the jumble of standards for automating and controlling home systems looks like it'll result in a significant milestone: products using different control protocols will finally be able to communicate. So says Mike Wolf, Senior Analyst, with Cahners In-Stat Group. According to Wolf, "the potential significance of this announcement is huge. One of the reasons that home automation has never gone beyond the realm of hobbyist is the lack of interoperability between standards. The existence of competing technologies has created an environment where developers of  products such as residential gateways have had to bet on which technology they believe will ultimately become the de facto standard. This announcement will, if all goes according to Microsoft's plan, render such decisions moot." The new initiative, called Simple Control Protocol or SCP, is complementary to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology. SCP devices will use standard UPnP device models, making it easy to build simple, high-fidelity bridges between UPnP and SCP devices and services on networks of virtually any media type. Read more from Microsoft here. 7/7/00

According to a note we just received from CablesToGo, they have dropped prices on a number of items including USB, keyboard cables and modem cables. Check it out at www.cablestogo.com. You might also want to check out CablesToGo parent company's web site at www.lastar.com and enter the competition for some killer network equipment. 6/30/00

Linksys today began offering its Instant Broadband EtherFast 1-Port Cable/DSL Router, targeted to SOHO users with high-speed Internet access. It includes a built-in hardware firewall and Network Address Translation to keep network data safe from hackers, and 24 x 7 tech support for many of its advanced features. The 1 port supports 10Mbps or 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) network speeds. Estimated street price is $120, although PC Connection listed it today for $109.95. Get more info here.  6/5/00

Over at ZDNet's eWeek, check out a good writeup on Netswitcher, an application we've noted before that helps use laptops in multiple network configurations. While you're over at ZDNet, check out the plug ZDTV gives to homePCnetwork.com for our "how-to" on Direct Cable Connection. Check it out here. 6/1/00

It appears that LanMarket.com has dropped the price on the ALFA 10/100 Switch that we rated a "Best Buy." The price for the 5-port switch is now $40+ shipping. We don't know if this is a permanent price drop or a special so you may want to move fast if you're interested. Check it out here. 5/11/00

A group of telecommunications and Internet companies have taken another small step towards the delivery of high-speed, high-quality multimedia content to PCs. Led by Nortel Networks, more than 30 companies have combined to establish standards for sending video, phone calls and other data-intensive traffic over emerging broadband networks. According to today's announcement, the Broadband Content Delivery Forum, or BCDF, "will focus on recommending open architectures to deliver rich, multimedia content over the emerging broadband networks and improve end user experience through improved performance and personalization." The companies hope to hasten development of Internet applications and help provide high-quality video and other high-bandwidth applications to desktop computers. Get the story from Nortel here. 04/04/00

3Com Corp. said today it will sell its modem business and stop making networking gear for large businesses, which combined account for about 45% of revenue. CEO Eric Benhamou said the company will count on faster growth from consumer products for high-speed and wireless Internet access, as well as home networking equipment. These are areas, explained President Bruce Claflin, in which focus group participants have emphasized the value of simple equipment that users could connect themselves. Get the rest of the story here. 3/21/00

Red Herring reports this week that Nortel Networks is following the lead of some competitors and spinning off one of its slower growth businesses -- in this case, its Netgear subsidiary that makes networking equipment for homes and small offices. Red Herring estimates that Netgear annually sells about $132 million worth of hubs, switches, adapters, and ISDN routers and modems through stores such as Best Buy and CompUSA. But some analysts predict Netgear will have a tough time going it alone against other networking equipment manufacturers, as well as residential gateway products in the pipeline from companies like Sony and Panasonic. Get the rest of the story here. 03/16/00

Intel's AnyPoint ™ home network product garnered a 2000 Mark of Excellence Award from the Home Automation Association during the Electronic House Expo earlier this month. Co-sponsored by CEPro, Electronic House, and Home Systems magazines, the awards recognize products and companies in the forefront of innovation in the home automation industry. Get more info on other winners here.  And check out our review of the Intel AnyPoint here. 3/16/00

Internet Week reports that MCI WorldCom has begun testing high-speed wireless service in three markets that are not a hotbed of competition for broadband cable or DSL. The company will use multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS) technology to deliver broadband services to Jackson, Miss., Baton Rouge, La., and Memphis, Tenn. Participants in the trial can log on to the Net at rates of up to 310 Kbps. Learn more about it here. 3/7/00

Intel said today it will provide home PC packages and Net access to all 70,000 of its employees at no charge. The announcement comes on the heels of news last month that Ford and Delta are starting similar programs. After hearing the news, we at homePCnetwork have a couple of thoughts. First, we should fill out an employment application for one of these companies. Second, since hundreds of thousands of these workers will now have more than one PC at home, they're going to want to network those machines...and we're here to help them. Read Intel's announcement here. 3/7/00

ZD Net reports today that research by Cahners In-Stat Group has identified the top drivers for installing a home network, and it's no surprise that sharing Internet access takes the top spot. Sharing printers and files, and connecting the office laptop round out the next three spots. In-Stat also predicts the emergence of the market for Residential Gateway (RG) products, which allow consumers to connect their home network to the Internet (the external network) without relying on a PC. (In fact, D-Link just released its own RG product -- see news item below.) Read more about the In-Stat report. 2/23/00

Yesterday's nandotimes.com reports from Germany that Veba will introduce by the end of the year a way for consumers to reach the Internet through plugs installed for electrical appliances. Customers in Germany will be able to conduct telephone calls and dial into the Internet directly via household plugs rather than through telephone connections. Field tests by Veba's telecommunications and power utility units successfully demonstrated that telephony and Internet access could be successfully carried out via power lines. How? A small box next to the electricity counter enables a home's power lines to be used for voice data transmission with the same quality as traditional phone lines. Click here to learn more. 2/23/00

CMP's TechWeb reports this week that Intellon revealed at the Demo 2000 conference working silicon of its PowerPacket home networking technology, claiming it allows a home network through ordinary power lines as fast as 11 megabits per second. Intellon claims that everything from PCs to televisions ro security systems can be networked through existing power connections. Get the whole story here.  2/16/00

Farallon Communications, Inc., has added two products to its HomeLINE family. The HomeLINE Ethernet Adapter is designed to connect either a single Ethernet-equipped device, such as an iMac or cable modem, or a small group of computers connected by an Ethernet hub to the phone line network. The HomeLINE USB Adapter connects Macs and PCs with USB to the HomeLINE network. These external HomeLINE adapters join the Farallon HomeLINE PCI Card solution that works in Macs or PCs with an available PCI slot. Get more info here.  2/16/00

Farallon's family of dual speed hubs just got bigger with the birth of the 5-Port 10/100 Dual Speed Hub. The product is targeted at small offices or homes where existing 10Mb devices, such as cable/DSL modems, printers or older workstations need to be connected with 10/100 Fast Ethernet devices. Estimate street price is $99. See more details at http://www.farallon.com/bulletin/hubs/940dualspeed.html 2/16/00

The good folks over at Sysopt.com have published a three-part series on Internet security for cable and ADSL modems. Check it out here. 2/11/00

In this week's issue of The Industry Standard, IDC senior analyst Frank Gens predicts that the number of home networks in the U.S. will double this year, from 10 percent of multiple PC households to 20 percent. Gens also predicts that by the end of the year nearly 40 percent of online households will have more than one computer, and that one in 10 online households will have broadband Internet access. See all of Gens' predictions at http://www.thestandard.com 2/11/00

D-Link has announced the DI-701 Residential Gateway ($139 suggested price) as the first in a series of Broadband Internet sharing and security products for Home Users. The DI-701 Residential Gateway will act as a firewall for PC to protect your computer from unwanted intruders.The DI-701 functions as an Ethernet-based Residential Gateway. It provides one 10/100 Dual Speed Ethernet port for connection to a home or small office network and one 10Mb Ethernet port for a DSL Modem, Cable Modem, or other Broadband access device. For more information, check out the D-Link site. 2/9/00

The editors of Macworld recently named Miramar Systems' PC MACLAN for Windows 95/98 v7.2 as the "best cross-platform utility software," giving it an Eddy Award (the magazine's Editor's Choice prize). Of course, we liked MACLAN as well. Check it out in our "how to" on PC/Mac networking. 1/05/00

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