Rod, so what do you think of this Dataquest research. DIMD has the distribution channels,the consumer acceptance,and the alliances with TUTS and NT. DIMD is gonna kick some home networking ass big time. Their HomeFree is decent,but not as good as Proxim's wireless,but its much cheaper,and with broadband access works very well. I personally would love to sit on the veranda and type on my laptop connected to my ISP by the main computer.
news.com
Big names to benefit in home network boom
By Wylie Wong
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 8, 1999, 1:00 p.m. PT
A new study predicts major networking players like 3Com and Intel are in a good position to dominate the hardware sector of home networking as the emerging technology booms over the next few years.
The Dataquest study asserts that 3Com, Diamond Multimedia and Intel are in a stronger marketing position than two other networking heavyweights--Cisco and Nortel Networks. Name recognition will be a large factor in the companies' collective success, the report said. Additionally, most of the companies already sell the hardware needed to network PCs, printers, and other peripherals.
"They're early to market and have high visibility in the consumer marketplace and that's very important," said John Armstrong, vice president of Dataquest's networking worldwide program. "It's harder for competitors to displace them because they have the retail and distribution channels. Those take time to develop."
The report--to be released at the end of this month at the Dataquest Predicts '99 conference in San Diego--says some 19 percent of the estimated 33.3 million homes with multiple PCs will be networked in 2002.
In contrast, in 1998 only 2.4 percent of some 18 million homes with multiple PCs were networked.
The Dataquest study also says phone lines will be the most popular way to network the home, followed by wireless and traditional Ethernet connections. The least popular way will be through electrical outlets, or powerlines.
"The use of existing phone lines, while not a perfect solution, is the easiest to implement since a majority of homes in the country have phone jacks where PCs exist," Armstrong said. "Wireless is much more flexible then phoneline, but it's more complex and more expensive. Powerline doesn't offer the same bandwidth and has limited appeal to consumers."
Hiram |
