Living in Your Smart Home
If you stop the average person on the street and start talking about home networks, he or she would probably make references to ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, or mention the Home Shopping Network or some other cable network show. Network, until recently, has meant little else to most people.
But times, they are a changin’. The invasion of telecommunications into all aspects of life is creating a different meaning of the word network. Most people have had some contact with a network through their work environment — computer local area networks (LANs) in the office, control networks in factories, telephone networks in many mid-sized or larger businesses . . .heck, the Internet is a huge network.
The network concept has begun to move from the workplace to the home, and smart home builders and remodelers (and forward-looking owners of otherwise perfect existing homes) are starting to think in terms of wiring (or wirelessing) their homes both to make use of a network today and to future-proof against upcoming requirements.
Before you go any further, do this little exercise (don’t worry, we won’t grade you): Write down all the things in your house that you think you may want to network. Be as creative as you can. Think about your lifestyle and the way your house is set up. When you finish, put the list aside and continue to read this category. Toward the end, we’ll share our list with you.
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