Digital Home Showcase in HUll, UK, focuses on social benefits of technology rather than merely presenting a new way of delivering entertainment
Although there have been other demonstrations of the use of digital communications technology in a home environment, KTL - an independent testing laboratory which has partnered with the local council, industry and the media to create the Digital Home Showcase (DHS) at its facilities in Hull, UK - believes that this is the first time an effort has been made to focus on social benefits rather than merely presenting a new way of delivering entertainment.
The DHS is based on ADSL2plus communications systems and has been conceived as a practical means of showing how - in the near future - families will be able to benefit from broadband-based health, education, commerce and security programmes as well as vastly increased entertainment choices.
KTL says it is a natural choice as technology partner for the DHS programme.
The company claims to be a leader in testing interoperability issues surrounding ADSL and ADSL2plus, and is a key member of the DSL Forum, with KTL's Steve Kingdom acting as both president of the DSL Forum and KTL's project lead for the DHS project.
More, the company is based in Hull which has a reputation for pioneering new technology - the city was the first in the UK to enjoy broadband interactive TV, which it has enjoyed for six years - and hosted a digital learning project at Kingswood School.
Also the company has close relationships with many equipment vendors which use KTL's various test services - many of whom are also partners in the DHS project.
DSL is emerging as the communications technology of choice for home, business, government and many other uses.
According to the latest data produced for the DSL Forum by industry analyst Point Topic, over ten million new subscribers chose DSL for broadband services in the first quarter of 2005.
DSL is the world's most popular broadband technology, with an estimated 115 million subscribers worldwide.
The DSL Forum facilitates DSL's global dominance by advancing technical developments, such as its next generation DSL network architecture specifications and new work launched for VDSL2 specification support.
Comments Steve Kingdom: "New ADSL2plus runs at up to 24Mbit/s - three times faster than standard ADSL.
"It guarantees the bandwidth necessary to deliver services such as remote medical monitoring and home learning which have been too demanding to deliver in the past as part of bundled triple play services.
"More, many of the interoperability issues which have dogged previous generation systems have been eliminated, delivering a very robust technology.
"DSL Forum Technical Reports and guidelines for home gateways and equipment interoperability have paved the way for this innovative showcase of the very real benefits of a digital home within a digital community".
Visitors to the state-of-the-art kitchen, lounge, home office, and teenager's bedroom - all contained within the Digital Home Showcase - are able to experience lifestyle benefits including:.
Health - doctors will be able to monitor patients remotely in their own environment.
Education - students will have access to the world's knowledge and expert tuition.
Security - CCTV systems, alarms, sensors and locks can be centrally controlled.
Entertainment - latest films, music, and games can all be shared around the home.
Comfort - temperature, air quality, lights etc can be optimised.
Shopping - day to day household items can be purchased automatically and delivered to the door, and one-off purchases can be made in the relaxed surroundings of the home with no high-pressure salespeople.
The Digital Home Showcase is a joint project between Hull City Council and KTL.
Support and sponsorship is coming from major international companies including Aethra, BBC, Bose, Cisco, Crestron, DSL Forum, Ericsson, Kitchen Aid, LEAX, NetGear, Omega, Thomson, and Whirlpool.
Many companies local to Hull, including ACM, Azzurri, Blacklight, Brighthouse Designs, Bright Ideas, Fine Interiors, Friendly Office Solutions, Kingston Communications and M2 Exhibitions and Interiors, Thistle, are also lending their support.
