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Key Growth Statistics on the Connected Home

In preparation for next week's 2007 International CES show in Las Vegas, Ovum has prepared some key statistics on the 'Connected Home', a market Ovum tracks closely.

Based in the UK, Ovum is one of the leading European technology market research companies, and this is one of the few times that they've shared their forecast insights with me. The following is their assessment of the home networking consumer electronics market.

The uptake of home networks enable new ways of reaching consumers with content and services, which has lead to a convergence between the IT, consumer electronics, entertainment and service provision industries, due to the common underlying platform; the IP network.

These industries carry different business models, which in the converging landscape all have various strengths and weaknesses. When devices share the same networking stacks, and thus are built on common platforms, it raises questions about which companies and industries are better suited to deliver premium networked products to the home.

2006 was a year where home networks became more popular with service providers. Consumer demand for internet access from multiple devices, along with the possibility of selling additional services, and the desire to retain control of the customer premises device, drove advancements in home networking from ISPs.

However, the retail channel remains popular among the corporate home broadband deals, and also for what Ovum calls the more 'technology tolerant' consumers with home networking requirements.

Global market forecasts

- The amount of consumer networked products will increase dramatically in 2010 to 2.8 billion products, up from 492 million units in 2006.

- Growth in global consumer router market will triple by 2010 to 230 million households, up from 78 million in 2006.

- Global wireless household router shipments are expected to reach 40 million units in 2010, up from 15.3 million in 2006.

- Powerline communications and emerging home networking technologies are expected to grow to 3.2 million shipments in 2010.

Regional market forecasts

- North American consumer router market is estimated to grow from 36 million households in 2006, to 73 million in 2010.

- Western Europe consumer router shipments will increase from 6.6 million units in 2006, to an estimated 12 million in 2010.

- Eastern Europe consumer router shipments will increase from 472,000 in 2006, to 2.4 million in 2010.

- Asia-Pacific (excluding China and India) consumer router market will increase from 16 million households in 2006, to 39 million in 2010.

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