Thu September 25, 2003 04:47 AM ET
By Michael Kramer
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Electronics firms have a new concept to sell: wireless home networks that snatch movies, photos and music files from computers around the house and play them back on the living room TV and hi-fi.
The idea is to use "Wi-Fi" technology, increasingly employed to link computers to the Internet via radio waves, to connect stereos, televisions and PCs into home entertainment networks. "More and more devices will be digitalized, and once they become digitalized, they have to connect to the PC," said Jason Chen, a director of sales and marketing for microprocessor maker Intel Corp. "PC to PC, and PC to digital device, can all be connected through Wi-Fi."
Wi-Fi has existed for years but came firmly into the mainstream in March when Intel launched the Centrino chip incorporating the technology, backed by its largest ever marketing campaign.
Computers incorporating the chip took center stage at the Computex trade show this week in Taiwan, whose PC companies make some 70 percent of the world's laptops.
Intel itself, however, gave prominence to a DVD player from U.S. computer maker Gateway Inc that uses Intel chips to double up as a Wi-Fi "hub."
The Connected DVD Player, which sells in the United States for $250, can stream music, photos and videos from the PC in the home office to the home entertainment system in the living room.
In a similar vein, Sony Corp launched a flat-screen television in June that uses Wi-Fi to beam a satellite or cable feed to other TVs in the house.
VISION "A LITTLE WAY OFF"
"The vision, which is still a little way off, is that ultimately these will be wireless networks around the house which allow multiple devices to be interconnected," said Craig Barratt, chief executive of privately-held Atheros Communications Inc, whose high-end wi-fi chips power the Sony TV.
Indeed, the current crop of products falls somewhat short of that vision: the Gateway DVD player does not let users access PC applications like Web browsers from the TV; the Sony televisions do not network with other Wi-Fi equipped devices.
One of the barriers is that while digital gadgets communicate easily with PCs, there are no industry-wide standards to let the gadgets communicate with each other. So a consortium of microchip, computer and consumer electronic companies have got together to draw some up.
"The rules from the task force will be available this year," said Intel's Chen.
There's a generous financial incentive to push Wi-Fi devices. Revenues from Wi-Fi equipment sales topped $608 million in the second quarter, according to network market research firm Infonetics Research Inc, and annual revenues are expected to double to $3.2 billion between 2002 and 2006.
Intel and top mobile phone chip maker Texas Instruments Inc are even talking about Wi-Fi for cellphones. The idea is that a cellular phone that connects to a regular signal from a telecom company on the road may switch to Wi-Fi in the office, allowing the user to rapidly download company documents and e-mail.
Texas Instruments Chief Executive Tom Engibous said he believed high-powered mobile devices with constant wireless connections may power the biggest boom for the electronics industry since personal computers.
"The level of new functionality that is about to come to the consumer is a level that we haven't seen in two decades," he told reporters at Computex. That promised the electronics industry a prolonged period of growth rates well above historical levels, he said. "I do believe that in the back half of this decade we will begin seeing that."
Wireless Networks Link Computers to Stereos, TVs
Wireless Networks Link Computers to Stereos, TVs
• Heatware
