Connected By Design Tour

We're Sandy Teger and Dave Waks, founders of Broadband Home Central, and we've been exploring the potential of broadband for much of our careers. In the Connected by Design Tour, an audio exploration of the broadband technologies in the Home by Design Showhouse, we've matched available and increasingly affordable broadband products and services with Sarah Susanka's design, demonstrating that technologies can enable families to live more enjoyable, convenient and productive lives.

Technology for your lifestyle

Just as Sarah Susanka believes that homes should be designed for the way people really live, Dave and I believe that technology deserves a place in your home only when it helps you live the way you want to. In our view, technology should adapt to you and your lifestyle, not the other way around.Sandy Teger

Visitors were escorted through the Showhouse by means of an Acoustiguide, which described a wide variety of services and the building blocks that make them possible. Dave described the broadband infrastructure, and Sandy demonstrated the connected applications and appliances that broadband makes possible.

Broadband infrastructure

Like any utility, broadband has two elements: a main service that brings the broadband connection to the home, and a distribution network inside the home. The connection to the home provides the foundation for all the other pieces. There are many types of broadband connection — cable, DSL, wireless, satellite and fiber — capable of providing homes with a full range of video, Internet and telephone services. In this Showhouse, the broadband connection is supplied by Cox Communications.

The second essential element is the home network, which distributes the broadband connection throughout the home. While several types are used in this house, structured wiring from Leviton is the backbone. Like the pipes in the walls that bring water to the faucets, wiring in the walls brings the broadband connection to outlets in most rooms, where you can plug in computers, TVs, phones and audio equipment.

In addition to the wired outlets, the house provides wireless connectivity for mobile devices such as laptops, and shows HomePlug powerline networking, which operates over existing electrical wiring. Wi-Fi and HomePlug are a complement to structured wiring in new construction, not a replacement; for existing homes, the mess and cost of adding structured wiring makes these approaches more attractive.

Applications and appliances

Just as the purpose of a television plugged into a cable connection and an electrical outlet is to provide entertainment in your home, so the purpose of the broadband infrastructure and appliances is the applications they enable you to experience. These include:

• broadcast video entertainment, video on demand and digital video recorders, in high-definition television
• music services that allow you to hear and record a wide variety of content, devices that let you take your music with you, and devices that play music on existing speakers anywhere in the home
• media center PCs delivering computing plus integrated digital entertainment: live and recorded television, movies, music, photos and radio
• digital media adapters that show videos and digital photos on a big screen television
• multi-player games for children and adults
• telephone services based on IP telephony

The appliances and applications shown on the tour were available at the time and affordable by most families.