Home Networking

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by Alan Sheckter
Winter 2001

The Microsoft Home -- At Smart TV & Sound, we track trends in the ever-changing world of home entertainment connectivity and the ways it automates and enhances our lives. Chances are, today's most innovative, state-of-the-art components will be left in the dust by tomorrow's "next big thing."

At Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company's U.S. Prototyping team always has its periscope plotting a course into the future, creating products that it speculates will be of value in two to six years. Deep within the Microsoft Campus, lies the Microsoft Home, a living, breathing conglomeration of the company's latest home-networking gadgets and concepts.

While Microsoft Prototype Group Manager Jonathan Clutz declined to disclose exactly how much money the company sank into the "smart" home project, he did offer that "Microsoft didn't spare any expense."

Welcome Home
The six-room upscale home, as observed on a recent tour, is chock full of smart audio and video devices, all communicating on one local network. Each room had a thermostat-style keypad and LCD display (actually a Pocket PC platform) for monitoring and changing the environmental and home-theater settings in any room. After the front-door kiosk recognized the homeowner (Clutz), via a laser scan of his eye, the door unlocked and the home went into its predefined Welcome Home mode. This set forth raised blinds, switched-on lights, temperature adjustment and pre-chosen music. Pressing an inquiry button revealed that not only was it 72 degrees in the foyer, but we were hearing Mozart's "Symphony No. 40."

Just Plug and Play
We were led to the living room, which was dominated by an impressive, home-media mega-hub. Here, a large, wide-screen TV and a single, ordinary remote combined to display and control the entire network of entertainment devices.

The various electronic devices in the Microsoft home were interconnected by an Internet Protocol network making use of Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play protocol. More than two dozen devices -– PCs, TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Internet set-top box, CD player, FM tuner as well as several typical household appliances — were inter-connected. The home's network is both wired and wireless. The MS Home benefits from the inclusion of computers among the devices networked, but the Universal Plug and Play protocol doesn't rely on a computer server to make it work.

Universal Plug and Play, Clutz said, is "a way for consumer electronics to describe themselves to the network in a general way. A consortium effort of about 300 consumer electronic companies are part of this forum."

A protocol rather than a product, the prototypical network didn't require specially wiring each device or plugging it into a centralized server. The Microsoft Home network brings a universal simplicity to the living room. When adding or swapping out a component, the network instantly recognizes it. No special network wiring or software installation is necessary, not even a driver.

What's On?
When the Microsoft Home's Family Room Media electronic program guide appeared on the living room TV, the system offered a multitude of on-demand viewing and listening options. Integrating all the home's different services and devices, the system listed, in one seamless guide, cable, satellite, network and HDTV programming, and DVD titles that resided in the DVD changer. They all communicated within the same protocol, which they all understood.

A single remote controlled all functions, an important convenience for the consumer.

"Today, you would probably have six remotes to control all of this, and even if you had a fancy universal remote, you would have to be in DVD mode or VCR mode or cable mode," Clutz said.

He waved around a simple WebTV remote that operated the devices. (Any component's "dumb" remote would've worked, Clutz said.) He put a tape in the VCR deck and hit "play." The electronic "play" signal went to the network, which instantly recognized that the VCR was now the active device. A few minutes later he chose to watch something else. Clicking the on-screen TV icon identifying Apollo 13, a DVD, the network signaled for the VCR to stop and power off, then powered up and played the chosen movie on the DVD player.

The universal network also enabled delivery of Internet streaming content on any PC or TV in the home.

Kids' Media
Over in the archetypical teen bedroom, next to a neat set of wooden bunk beds, was a complete, yet compact desktop entertainment system. In addition to a PC, which could play any media on its networked monitor, the teen center sported a tiny Casio still/video camera and a Pocket PC with a small, removable 1GB media card. That single card, Clutz said, which could play in a car or remote player, could hold "all of your favorite music, your entire collection and (the text of) every book you needed for high school."

The Vision
In essence, Microsoft, striving for ways to stay ahead of the competition, as well as benefit consumers, has brought the concepts of audio and video-on-demand closer than ever. The concept of home networking is definitely on the rise. But just how the marketplace will embrace each of the Microsoft Home's features is conjecture.

"Like a concept car," Clutz said, "we built a model of a home that we think is technologically advanced. Products we come out with may be exactly like this, somewhat like this or not at all like this. But through this technology, we think we can spur people's imagination and work toward the things that they want."

Additional Microsoft Home Features and Gadgets
The Microsoft Home dazzled us with more than smart TV and audio devices.

Here are just a few more futuristic features.