This is the first comprehensive, serious guide to understanding, selecting, and deploying a true home network. It goes beyond competitive titles by covering powerful middleware software products such as Sun's Jini, Microsoft's plug-and-play, and the Home Audio-Video interoperability (HAVi) specification -- each of which promise to simplify the high-speed linking of computing, consumer electronics, and the Internet on home networks. Gerald O'Driscoll shows how Sun and other companies are working to establish Jini as the basis of home network where devices of virtually all kinds can automatically connect, instantly, with no driver or operating system hassles. O'Driscoll compares Microsoft's proposals for extending plug-and-play to new home devices; and takes an in-depth look at HAVi, which is expected to use the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface as the basis for high-speed connections amongst devices from Toshiba, Philips, Sharp, Sony, Thomson, Grundig, Hitachi, and other leading electronics companies. Whether you're an investor, manager, marketing or PR professional, software developer, or consumer, you need to know where home networking is headed, and only one book can show you: The Essential Guide to Home Networking Technologies.