Beyond Basic Networks Foley AL

It's a time of year when graduation rites take center stage. In keeping with this theme, we'll assume that as a custom electronics installer you've completed you've graduated from the basic training and installation of home networks and are ready to master the brave new world of distributed audio/video and home control systems connected to the home network IP backbone.

One of the great advantages of designing an IP-based digital home is that it can be installed to match the way the customer lives today and seamlessly upgraded in the future to accommodate new manufacturers products, technologies, and lifestyles. Designing a digital home almost always starts with a home-networking infrastructure connected to an always-on high-speed Internet connection.

Typically this means a cable or DSL modem is installed in a wiring closet in the house where all the data lines from each room in the house meet. The concept is similar to electrical service coming into a circuit breaker panel which serves current to all the electrical loads and outlets in the home. In a digital home the broadband Internet service enters the home's low-voltage distribution panel and emerges to provide bi-directional flow of high-speed data over Cat5e/6 lines terminated in data outlets throughout the home.

Your Bachelors Degree in Home Computer Networking. By now someone in your company should be very knowledgeable about the installation and configuration of PCs, Macs, printers, routers, switches, and wireless access points that connect to the Cat5e/6 data ports installed throughout the home. These products usually serve as productivity tools for the home, allowing your client's family to work from home, do school homework, email and a great variety of other computer-related tasks.

The Masters Program for Installing Networked Distributed Entertainment Systems. The next evolution of today's home network is the addition of IP enabled distributed entertainment solutions. As more and more of our clients' audio and video content becomes digitized and stored on hard drives, the opportunity to transport this content to all of the home's televisions and sound systems becomes increasingly attractive. Adding a digital audio/video server or player to a television or sound system are sensible solutions because they help leverage and distribute the digital content in the home to more areas of the house where it can be enjoyed.

One of the unique characteristics of digital-based solutions is that one audio/video server can simultaneously serve content to many zones in the home; the traditional analog limitation of one source to one zone at a time is eliminated. Another invaluable enhancement provided by digital A/V solutions is the ability to broadcast information about the content being viewed or heard in the form of album cover art, titles, and artist information to a control pad or television where the content is enjoyed. Products like the Microsoft Media Center Computer and t...

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