Home automation systems

United States – Home networking penetration worldwide is predicted to increase nearly 50 percent from 2006 to 2008, reaching to almost 170 million units by the end of 2008 from 114 million in 2006.

According to Parks Associates' white paper "Europe: Home Network Update", service provider-led deployments of residential gateway solutions, particularly in Europe drive the growth of households with data networking solutions for broadband and file sharing. Amid aggressive competition, European broadband providers will have deployed residential gateways to more than 16 million households by the end of 2008, up from 11 million at year-end 2007.

According to Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst, Parks Associates, attracting new customers through differentiation of services and retaining their existing customers pose a dual challenge and opportunity for European broadband and bundled service providers. Home networking solutions, including residential gateways, allow service providers to more easily provide triple-play and value-added services and manage customer support costs.

European broadband and triple-play providers top the home networking solutions deployment segment. They provide basic broadband-sharing features and offer enhancements such as fixed-line-to-mobile-phone telephone service convergence, multimedia streaming, and cost savings during telco/IPTV services installation.