Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine

Yet Another Home Net Standard Arrives

Appearing soon in a refrigerator near you: Microsoft's Simple Control Protocol software.

Sam Costello, IDG News Service

  • 0 Yes
  • 0 No
You're at work and you realize you left the coffee maker on. You don't have to drive home to turn it off? You can take care of that over the Internet with Microsoft's new, unified home networking standard.

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it has partnered with General Electric and a number of other companies on the new standard, dubbed Simple Control Protocol or SCP.

Unveiled at the Home Automation Show and Conference in Chicago, SCP is meant to increase interoperability with the current crop of home networking technologies through compatibility with Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) architecture, as well as devices based on Internet Protocol (IP), Microsoft says in a written statement. SCP also interacts with non-IP-capable devices such as refrigerators and coffee pots.

Home automation, the linking of all appliances within one household, allows computer users to control networked devices through their PCs, either at home or over the Internet. Such capabilities would allow for the automatic resetting of clocks after power outages and other useful applications, according to Shelley Olhava, an analyst with IDC.

UPnP, Microsoft's previous home networking standard, has been criticized for being too PC-focused. SCP may be a move to address the networking of non-computer devices, Olhava says. She also notes that Sun Microsystems' Jini, one of UPnP's major competitors, already includes these appliances.

UPnP and SCP are not the only standards in this crowded market, however. Home PlugnPlay, backed by such companies as IBM, Panasonic, and Honeywell, as well as Sun's Jini and Sony's Home Audio Video interoperability are also vying for dominance.

However, it is not yet clear which standard is most prevalent, Olhava says. In fact, she adds, more than one of them may prosper, thus forcing the need for compatibility.

Either way, Olhava doesn't expect to see many networked homes in the near future, instead saying that it will most likely be at least five years until a large percentage of homes are equipped.

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

Print 65% more pages than with refilled inks. Trust Original HP Inks. Hit Print Reliably.

Featured APC Accessories For Your System
10% Off Entire Cart at Online Store

  • APC Back-UPS ES Safeguards your equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along your utility & data lines.
  • APC SurgeArrest Performance Highest level of protection for your professional computers, electronics and connected devices, as well as provides surge protection.

People who read this also read:

  • 2007 Microsoft Office Suites Comparison This paper compares and contrasts four suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system: Microsoft Office Standard 2007, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007, Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007. This paper is intended to help organizations understand the applications and capabilities offered, and to identify the suite that best fits their needs.
  • Windows Vista Migration: The Business Proposition It's not so much a matter of "if" but "when" for most organizations regarding migration to Windows Vista. Laying the groundwork now for this migration can yield higher ROI than waiting until later. This Computerworld Technology Briefing explains it all.

PC World's Marketplace