Digital WiFi Home - A Quadruple Play

Both cable and phone companies now offer a 'triple play' -- phone, video and broadband 'Net access -- bundled into a single bill. Add wireless, and you have a quadruple play....In the digital home, consumers will have a rich array of choices. Television lovers will be able to choose among conventional scheduled programs, video on demand, shows recorded on DVRs and material downloaded from the Internet. They will be able to access the music and photos on their PCs via the TV. The television will be able to display e-mail and voice mail, the Web and home security and control systems. And all of this will be accessible from any room in the house -- and, eventually, from any place outside the house with an Internet connection...It's an enormous opportunity. Shane Robison, the chief strategy and technology officer of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), puts the annual revenue from all the affected markets north of $1 trillion. And the roster of combatants eager to snatch a piece of that enormous prize is vast.'"