Microsoft aims to network entire home
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft is nearing its goal to have all manner of home equipment join a network, with a hardware and software developer kit due by the end of the year to let companies link everything from light switches to refrigerators to computers. To accomplish this task, Microsoft advocates use of a standard called Simple Control Protocol (SCP), a communication method that lets different devices find each other and control each other. In combination with Israel-based Itran Communications, Microsoft will release an SCP developer kit by the end of the year, said Larry Buerk, a lead program manager of Microsoft's eHome division.
The developer kit will be a key milestone in Microsoft's plan to extend its domain from controlling not PC-oriented devices such as printers and digital cameras but also home security systems, garage doors and thermostats. Such a move could help make PCs as mandatory as telephones while amplifying Microsoft's influence with a new collection of companies.