Why Is Ethernet Inventor Bob Metcalfe Excited About Home Automation?

16:00 | Brad Baldwin | Jan 24th, 2007 4:06pm |

For a highly reliable and secure automated home, networking devices and systems is a core requirement. Eric Smith, a co-founder and CTO at Control4, talks with 3Com Founder Bob Metcalfe. Metcalfe has a well-established reputation as a gifted technologist, as “Mr. Ethernet” (here’s why), as a venture capitalist, and as board member at Ember Corporation. These days, he’s placing bets on a new networking technology know as ZigBee, a 2.4GHz wireless standard - IEEE802.15.4 - aimed primarily at monitoring and control, rather than data transfer. In addition to Ethernet, Control4 solutions leverages ZigBee to connect systems where wires just aren’t practical. In addition to making predictions for the future of the Smart Home, Smith and Metcalfe joke about the challenge of changing a thermostat to adjust for daylight savings time, and the reliability of Windows and PCs compared to a stereo receiver.

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Transcript:
Host: Eric Smith - Control4
Guest: Bob Metcalfe - 3Com

Eric Smith - Control4
I’m Eric Smith, CTO and Founder of Control4 and I am here today at the CES show with Bob Metcalfe, doesn’t need that much introduction, ...