Networks Hit Home

The set-top box that sits on top of many television sets is evolving into the equivalent of a home server. This command center provides connectivity not only for consumer electronic devices but increasingly for wireless hubs that connect multiple PCs in the home to a broadband connection. The challenge for the average homeowner is the complexity of installing and maintaining gaming consoles, TVs and PCs on the home network. Not all homeowners today have a teenager willing or able to serve as the IT manager for the home.

This predicament likely would not be catching the attention of solution providers if it were not for the rise of home offices that need to connect to corporate servers over broadband and dial-up links. In many cases, broadband connections are paid for by the company that employs the homeowner. A growing area of concern is the security of those connections, which means that corporations are beginning to think hard about the firewall, wireless networks and VPN connections provided to their employees. For solution providers, this is a growing opportunity because corporate IT departments do not typically have the personnel or resources to support remote users at home.

Going forward, home networks will only become more complex and vulnerable as homeowners continue to add next-generation 802.11 Wi-Fi network technology and people try to remotely access home systems from handheld devices or even from within systems embedded in next-generation automobiles.

While IT departments tend to think of themselves as masters of everything within the four walls of the enterprise, anything outside those walls tends to scare them to death. And even though some IT people will try to resist the inevitable, the simple truth is that the increasing sophistication of home computing environments will drive them headlong into the arms of solution providers. These VARs can integrate home and corporate computing environments in a way that maximizes employee productivity while safeguarding corporate data assets.

Are you listening? Do you agree? I can be reached at (516) 562-7477 or via e-mail at [email protected].