Networking moves to home automation

摘要

The dream of an intelligent home that automatically controls the living environment and responds to individual preferences has been around since the advent of the microcontroller first suggested the possibility. High cost, reliability issues, limited capability, and a lack of standards have imposed major constraints on the market, however, keeping home automation more in the realm of imagination than practice. The advent of wireless technologies, the emergence of home-networking standards, and pull from both the entertainment and the energy markets are now revitalizing efforts to realize that dream, although industry participants are still hotly contesting the implementation methods.