Australians embracing home networks

One out of five Australian households will have a home network by 2009, analyst IDC has predicted.

Sophie Lo, IDC research analyst for consumer digital markets, said that PC-based data networks would account for more than 70 percent of all home networks over the next five years.

"By 2009, 70.8 percent of households owning a PC will own at least two or more PCs while broadband will penetrate into 50.1 percent of all households," she said in a statement.

IDC defined three different types of home network: PC (or data) networks, multimedia networks and entertainment networks.

PC networks involved the connection of two or more PCs; multimedia networks required at least one PC and one consumer electronics (CE) device; entertainment networks did not require a PC.

"Proliferation of digital media will create a need for consumers to consume their digital content on Consumer Electronic (CE) devices. In addition, CE manufacturers will continue to integrate home networking capabilities into CE devices," Lo said.

According to an IDC study, home networking has been limited to basic data transmission tasks and has only been adopted by tech-savy households.

The analyst said that in order for home networking to enter the mainstream, products would need to become easier to install, operate and maintain.