By 2011, One-Third of U.S. Households Will Have Digital Home System

As more people embrace networked devices in the home, 2009 will mark the year that the digital home receives widespread consumer adoption. According to a report by Accenture (Socher, Larry: Managing the Digital Home, Accenture, 2008), home networks deployed and managed by service providers are expected to increase by 10 million households by the end of next year. By 2011, it is expected that more than one-third of U.S. households will have digital home systems in place. In anticipation of an upcoming ‘digital home revolution’, Radialpoint, provider of managed Internet security and care services for Internet service providers has released its top predictions for the digital home in 2009.

"Next year promises to be a very exciting time in the digital home revolution. We are already seeing strong growth in the areas of development and consumer demand," said Marty Algire, vice president, Products at Radialpoint. "The next step for mass consumer adoption of digital home technology is for service providers to start offering service and solution packages that are integrated, secure and simple to use. Tailoring service offerings to these themes will be the key for driving the digital home over the coming years."

Radialpoint’s top predictions for the digital home in 2009 are:

1. In 2009, the digital home will step up as one of the main drivers behind the consumer technology industry with integration continuing to be a key theme. Advancements in home networking and wireless technology will bring new and diverse Internet-enabled devices to the digital home which will in turn create a more integrated home technology environment. As a result, there will be increased demand for new integrated services to help manage and secure multiple items simultaneously.
2. Simplicity will be the key to the success of the digital home. The market will start to see service providers offering packages of premium, managed digital home services that include installation, management and support for multiple devices. Service providers and third party vendors will increasingly start to offer onsite support options to customers and will also invest in dedicated virtual support teams that can assist with installations or provide remote assistance via the Internet.
3. With a variety of Internet-enabled devices increasingly being installed throughout the home, service providers will have to be prepared to protect consumers from new Internet-borne threats. Viruses and malware will evolve and adapt in order to target a wider range of technology such as video game consoles and media center PCs. In order to provide security for all of these devices that interact with one another, service providers will start offering simplified all-in-one security suites for the digital home that can be managed from a single access point and extend to a variety of devices with minimal consumer interaction.
4. The digital home will experience an increase in data sharing between computers and Internet-enabled devices, which will create an increased need for data storage. To keep up with the demand, Web-based back-up and storage options will start to become increasingly popular due to ease of use, the ability to store data from multiple and varied sources and locations, and on-demand scalability capabilities which are not available with traditional hardware-based options like hard drives.
5. In 2009, the concept of a home dashboard will start to become a fixture in many digital home environments. As more Internet-enabled devices enter the home environment like smartphones and kitchen appliances, consumers will want a smart home system- a convenient single access point that will allow them to manage all of these household devices simultaneously from one place rather than several points throughout the home.