Home networking: Together we'll be stronger
Market researcher ACNielsen has found that only 6 percent of urban dwellers in Indonesia have a computer at home. However, as the economy recovers, and IT penetration levels increase, the percentage will certainly rise.
Not only that, the number of homes with more than one computer will also rise.
And why not? Each of the children may want their own PC, and so do Mom and Dad. There may be a PC in every bedroom, in the living room and in the study, where Dad runs his SOHO.
But, does each of these PCs have to stand in isolation? Does each of them have to have its own modem, scanner and color printer? That would not be a cost-efficient proposition, would it?
Besides, networked home PCs will enable family members to share files easily and play multiplayer games such as the network version of Life and Monopoly.
And there is also the idea of a "smart home", a house or apartment building that has been built from the ground up with a home-computer network in mind.
Networks
A number of hardware vendors, including 3Com, Intel, Netgear and Diamond Multimedia have recognized the trend that a family may have several PCs that they would like to see connected.
For fast interconnection, nothing beats the industry-standard Ethernet network. It offers up to 100 Mbps connection, which is fast enough for video transfer.
All you need is an Ethernet network interface card (NIC) for every PC, and a hub to connect all of them together. The downside is that you may have to do a lot of hacking and drilling to run the cable from one room to another.
Options
If you cannot stand the ugly sight of cables running along the walls and door frames, there are some other solutions. In March 1998, a number of vendors, including 3Com, Apple, Diamond Multimedia and IBM formed the Home Radio Frequency Working Group. The group has passed a standard called Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP).
Today, products such as AirConnect from 3Com, HomeFree Wireless Network from Diamond Multimedia and Symphony from Proxim, let you connect all the PCs in the home without any cable. All you have to do is install the card, plug in the antennae and run the setup software.
If you have a phone jack in every room, you actually have a home network infrastructure already in place. A Home Phoneline Network Alliance (HomePNA) has been formed to work on a standard for utilizing the existing phone wiring system to connect one PC to another.
The network uses higher frequency ranges than the phone system, so that you can still use the phone for making calls, sending faxes or connecting via a modem.
The speed is still limited, but sufficient for most home applications.
Products in this category include Intel's AnyPoint and Diamond Multimedia's HomeFree PhoneLine.
Even the electrical wiring can be used as infrastructure for your home network. Passport Plug-In Network from Intelogis, for instance, will connect all the PCs in the house through the electrical wires inside the walls.
Home networking is still a fast-growing technology. Speed is constantly improving, and prices are gradually falling, too.
No matter what solution you choose, having all the PCs and notebooks in the house connected to a network will save you a lot of money because you will only need one Internet access, one color printer and, perhaps, one scanner for every member of the family.