In the 12 years since I founded NETGEAR, we have seen a tremendous transformation of the home network. Once primarily used to share a broadband Internet connection, the home network has grown to bring greater convenience and utility to the way people stay informed and connect with friends, family, and their home entertainment. We are quickly moving to a day when the use of home network will be as ubiquitous as electricity.
At the beginning, home connectivity needs were fairly basic. Consumers wanted freedom from being tethered to their broadband Internet connection. They also wanted a way to share the Internet with others in the home. The convenience of wireless quickly drove the installation of wireless networks worldwide, wherever a home had a broadband Internet connection.
Shortly after wireless networks were introduced into homes, however, the limitations of the available technology became apparent. Initial standard-based (802.11) wireless networking did not have enough performance to satisfy demand for faster speeds and consistent wireless connections. Performance would vary based on the home’s construction or environment. Large homes might have dead spots where reliable wireless connection could not be made. Brick or thick concrete interior walls limited a network’s range. It quickly became clear that cost-effective innovations were needed to satisfy these wireless network challenges.
So, the wireless home network evolved. Wireless standards and technologies advanced to yield better wireless range, performance and security. NETGEAR pioneered innovative technologies, such as multiple smart internal antennas, to layer on top of standard methods to maximize wireless range.
All the while, Internet usage and broadband services continued to evolve. Applications such as voice over Internet, video and online gaming became popular, making the Internet an increasingly important source of communication and entertainment. As a result, multiple individuals in the household were simultaneously accessing the network and spending more time on the Internet.
To ensure an optimum user experience, these demanding applications required even more bandwidth, greater stability and a method for prioritizing traffic. Quality of Service (QoS) routines quickly became a top priority to ensure user experiences would not degrade as multiple applications ran over the home network. Greater wireless bandwidth was also needed to support simultaneous application use.
With increasingly versatile home networks in place, early adopters recognized that networks represented an opportunity to share more than the Internet. Users began to network printers and add network attached storage devices (NAS) for additional storage, backup and sharing of data files. As the potential of digital media blossomed, MP3s, digital photography and video placed even greater demand on home networks. Once a solitary experience on a single computer, digital media could now be stored, networked and served to devices throughout the house.
Today, powerful and efficient home networks stream media to personal computers and end-players such as game consoles, digital music systems, IP set-top boxes and digital media receivers like the NETGEAR Digital Entertainer HD. Movies stored on a personal computer in a bedroom, for example, can be played on an HDTV in the living room. This streaming capability places demands on the network for higher bandwidth, greater range and stability, and improved QoS. The introduction of HDTV and HD content also necessitates higher bit rates and lag-free streaming to provide high quality video.
Internet Servicer Providers (ISPs) have required more from home networks, too, as they attract consumers with more voice and video services and Internet bandwidth.
To support the increased reliance on the home network and need for convenient in-home Internet distribution, new powerline Ethernet adapters were introduced.
By using a home’s existing electrical wiring, powerline products offered seamless, convenient wired connections without new cabling. The plug-and-play simplicity of powerline adapters encouraged adoption and today’s 200Mbps speeds enable streaming HD video. Hybrid home networks are a growing trend. They combine the advantages of wireless and powerline to meet home networking needs.
As wireless technology becomes mainstream, users are increasingly competing with neighbours for the same wireless space. By employing new Wireless-N dual-band technologies with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, home networks not only support older wireless devices and offer greater performance to new wireless products and applications, they also reduce interference with neighbouring wireless home networks by relegating the higher bandwidth applications to the lesser-used 5GHz band.
The increases in wireless and powerline network performance benchmarks and new home network applications have required wired connections to evolve as well. So, now we have wireless routers with gigabit Ethernet ports, ensuring the highest wired performance.
Over the past decade, the home network has grown far beyond a convenient way to share the Internet, continuing to evolve to meet demands for greater bandwidth, wireless performance and convenience. As we tackle the challenges of faster Internet connections and new in-home applications, such as networked storage, IPTV and media serving and streaming, we can count on this exciting trend to continue.
