Abstract
Home networks are moving slowly from only broadband sharing to other
activities. The next phase moves the home network to a multimedia network that
blends in consumer electronics devices. Networked media devices are still far
away from the average mainstream digital home. In fact, most home networks are
still only used to share Internet access. Microsoft, Intel, and AMD have taken
the next steps toward enabling this next phase by creating platforms and
ecosystems that are designed to offer greater ease of consumer digital media
consumption for all the digital video, photos, and music that consumers are
amassing by sharing this content with devices they are familiar with, like the
TV and stereo, in addition to creating content partnerships that make
accessing Internet content on these devices easy.
Worldwide forecasts through 2010 for each market segment are provided, from
Consumer PCs to non-PC network-enabled stationary media devices. Each device
type forecast provides network-enabled units and segmentations for wired only
and wireless. Included is the worldwide installed base of home networks and
those networks with PC and CE devices. Details are provided for PCs with a
Media Center-enabled OS, Basic Media Servers, Media Center PCs with a Media
Center-enabled OS and TV Tuner, Non-PC Devices w/Embedded Media Servers, and
Total Media Server-Capable Devices. Consumer survey results related to digital
home multimedia networking are also included.
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