WORKSHOP PRESENTS NEW BROADBAND SERVICES FOR THE SMART HOME
13 March 2003 - European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications GmbH (EURESCOM)

Heidelberg. In the home of tomorrow, your washing machine will inform you via SMS that the laundry is ready, and it will communicate with the dishwasher to reduce energy consumption. Prototypes of these and many more networked home appliances already exist. At a workshop in Heidelberg from 20th to 21st March, international researchers and developers will discuss the latest advances under the title 'Broadband and Wireless Services in the Future Home'. Network operators, service providers, and manufacturers will present promising new services and technologies that will make our homes smarter and our lives more comfortable. 'Networked home appliances will allow you to solve your daily home routine remotely and to enjoy more personalised entertainment and more personalised services,' Eurescom programme manager Valérie Blavette explains.

Even today, there are already 20 appliances with a built-in chip in an average European household. In some years it will be several hundred digital appliances, and they will be networked. Together with the rapid development of fixed and mobile broadband networks in Europe this offers tremendous service opportunities. The workshop, organised by the European telecoms research institute Eurescom, will especially explore service concepts and service platforms for the networked home of the future.

Some prototypes of new services will be presented for the first time in public. Eurescom project P1206 and Norwegian start-up spagat will present the first adapter, which allows to send digital images received via Multimedia Messaging Service wirelessly from a mobile phone to an ordinary PAL TV set. The technology is based on Bluetooth. It will soon allow to hear sound clips from the mobile phone while viewing MMS images on the TV.

Entertainment, however, is only one of the many aspects of the smart home, which will be covered at the event. The international experts will also discuss remote management of home appliances, security aspects of home networking, and the continuity of services between home and car.

http://www.eurescom.de

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