Wave Issue 9806 4/10/98 Article 5-01

*** Standards

Microsoft Plans to Broker a Standards Effort in the Home
Networking Field, Reports CMP's EE Times
(March 2)

Microsoft Corp. will attempt to place its imprint on yet another
market later this month when it announces plans to broker a
standards effort in the emerging field of in-home networking,
according to an exclusive report in CMP's EE Times. Microsoft has
been testing products from multiple suppliers in an effort to
pick the ones it thinks should be the technology leaders in
wiring the estimated 10 to 12 million homes with more than one
computer. By summer, Microsoft hopes to hammer out standards that
would allow in-home devices to communicate using telephone lines,
power lines, coaxial cables and wireless links.

Microsoft says it will develop versions of its Windows CE and NT
5.0 operating systems that could power gateways linking local,
in-home networks to the Internet. The company is expected to get
backing for its standards efforts from Compaq Computer , Intel
and Tut Systems Inc. (Pleasant Hill, Calif.), among others.

The Microsoft initiative comes as activity in home networking is
heating up, with a number of companies attacking the fledgling
market for products that link multiple PCs, peripherals or
consumer-electronics devices within a home. At least one company
outside the Microsoft clique -- Epigram (Sunnyvale, Calif.) --
told EE
Times that it, too, is interested in interoperability but does
not necessarily share Microsoft's design goals. The complete EE
Times report, which features more details, can be found on EE
Times Online.