IPTV providers like Verizon, France Telecom, and AT&T also drive the market by utilizing home networks for video distribution, ABI added. Additionally, other service providers see home networks as a way to extend data services without the need for any rewiring.
In terms of unit volumes, ABI expects the total number of network connections shipped into the home market to grow from 247 million in 2005 to over 861 million units by 2011.
ABI Principal Analyst Michael Wolf stated, "This market has reached a major turning point. Home networking has moved beyond a basic broadband sharing model to one of networked entertainment and convergence across the PC, consumer electronics and communications devices. The emergence of enabling technologies such as 802.11n for wireless video distribution, HomePlug AV and MoCA as alternative multimedia network backbones, and DLNA media server and device interoperability software, are all solidifying the foundation for an explosion of new devices and applications based on a fully connected home."
More information on ABI's study, "Home Networking and Connected Home Market Analysis," is available
here.
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