Group promotes wiring standards for 'connected home'
(embargoed for 0900 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999)
By Monica Summers
NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - It might not be the Jetsons,
but building a "wired" home is becoming easier than you think.
A consortium of 15 leading technology, publishing and home
development companies, including International Business
Machines Corp. <IBM.N>, Lucent Technologies Inc. <LU.N> and
Intel Corp. <INTC.O>, said Wednesday they have devised an easy
and affordable standard for wiring homes to efficiently handle
everything from heating to lighting to Internet access.
Since the Internet has become a staple in American lives,
they say, more people are looking for ways to use new
technologies to their greatest capacity, especially within
their own homes.
"Wiring America's Homes," as the group is called, is
conducting a nonprofit campaign designed to educate new home
buyers, and skeptical home builders, and to promote a unified
wiring system that can support basic home amenities for less
than $2,000.
"The reality is that the home that most people live in
today is going to undergo a radical change," said Mark Schmidt,
director of marketing and business development for IBM Home
Networking.
"It started with the impact of the Internet, and that's
really been the driving force behind a lot of the fundamental
changes in the way people live, work and, in this case, build
homes," he said.
Although the group agrees these systems may not immediately
be included in every new house, it does expect that by 2004
more than 45 percent of all single-family homes will want these
whole-house wiring systems installed.
"The numbers today are pretty small, but the reality is
that it ought to be a lot larger just based on the cost levels
to get this kind of work done as well as the impact in not
having it done," Schmidt said.
"The biggest obstacle we face is broad consumer awareness,"
he said.
While certified techno-geeks will most likely be the first
to jump on this bandwagon, market research firm Dataquest Inc.
estimates there are more than 15 million homes in America with
more than one personal computer, indicating a broader market
for updated home wiring standards, networking multiple
computers and printers within the home.
Wiring America's Homes has developed a series of
recommended wiring standards that consumers and developers can
choose from, designed to handle the a variety of
communications, security, entertainment and utility systems
that are used in homes.
The average cost of adding this wiring is estimated between
$750 and $2,000 per home, the group said.
Still, people in the home building industry are not
convinced that these types of standards need to be imposed on
home builders and contractors.
"At the moment it is such a big demand on the builder,"
said Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research at the National
Association of Home Builders.
"The question the builders really have to ask is whether
they want to offer these types of services as a standard offer
included in the price of the home, or do they offer it as an
option?"
Bill Lane, chairman of Wiring America's Homes and chief
operating officer of Smart House Inc., said he expects to see a
turnaround in sentiment from builders and developers once
consumers become more aware of their home wiring options and
once demand increases.
"Most of the builders know what structured wiring is. But
the builders' response is, you know, 'We build houses. When
consumers say that's what they want, we'll put it in'," he
said.
"The consumer has to ask," Lane said. "And the consumer has
started to ask."
859-1671,
monica.summers@reuters.com))
REUTERS
Rtr 10:16 09-22-99 |
