The next generation of Australian homes will create a new market for telecommunication carriers, who will manage a high-speed broadband network linking all sorts of Internet-enabled domestic devices.
Telcos will become known as Home Service Providers, rolling out more than just basic Internet connections to customers.
"We believe the next consumer utility is broadband Internet connection to the home," Cisco Systems Australia and New Zealand MD, Terry Walsh, said at the launch of a prototype Internet home in Sydney.
With broadband eventually becoming just another utility - like electricity and water - "it'll provide a lot of opportunity for [telecommunication] carriers," Walsh said.
It is intended that the new iHome - equipped with permanent broadband Internet access, 42-inch plasma screens, an in-house audio system that plays MP3 songs throughout the entire home and videoconferencing facilities - will showcase the benefits of broadband to the Australian community.
Although broadband is estimated to be about 50 times faster than current Internet connection, "as a country Australia has been a little slow in its uptake of broadband," Walsh said.
It is estimated that broadband households in Australia and New Zealand - currently standing at about 160,000 - will increase to nearer two and a half million by the end of 2005. By which time broadband will be generating revenues of about AU$1.55 billion.
"It's fair to say now that 64kbps is not adequate for the overwhelming majority of people," NSW Minister for Information Technology Kim Yeadon, said.
Seven months since Senator Alston's National Bandwidth Enquiry Report, broadband is not being rolled out as fast as it should, according to Yeardon.
The iHome venture, which involves 17 Australian businesses, is designed to accelerate the supply and demand for broadband, by inspiring the consumer whilst providing ISPs, ASPs, telcos and utilities companies with examples of next-generation, value-added services they could offer customers.
This includes the provision of broadband Internet access, Internet telephony, online education, video-on-demand services, remotely monitored home security systems and watered gardens.
"We're already seeing a market shift in customer demand towards 'smart homes' that feature high quality cabling, extra electrical outlets and other features that make it easy to get Internet access, run home computer networks and install advanced home entertainment systems," Ceinwen Kirk, GM, commercial, Bovis Lend Lease.
Lend Lease said since the completion of the project it is committed to building "smart,'future-proof' homes for next-generation consumers" and is now making the decision about how fast to bring broadband into its development.
Now we've proved we can do it "it's a matter of where the market takes us from here," Kirk said.
