Product Category: Connected Home
Price: $995
Release Date: 2008 Q2
Author: Ted Theocheung
Pages: 61

 
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Download the Market dBrief, "Making Sense of the Store-and-Serve Landscape: A Home Server Taxonomy"

Summary

Today's consumer is an active participant in the digital world, both creating and consuming digital content through a variety of devices and rapidly accumulating vast "digital assets" comprised of both personal and commercial content. Concomitantly, new technologies make it possible for the consumer to access this digital content "anytime, anywhere, and on any device." This has resulted in an exponential increase in digital storage and serving requirements far beyond what "side-car" hard disc drives can handle; thus creating the need for a stand-alone, cost-effective solution that can provide secure storage and instant accessibility from a growing variety of devices, both stationary and mobile. Simply stated, the need for an in-home store-and-serve solution or Home Server is now emerging.

There are two primary foundations on which to design a Home Server, one which exploits the Personal Computer, the other, Consumer Electronics. This report discusses in detail the key differences between these two paths with a focus on usability, functionality, architecture expandability, and market positioning. Additionally, the report considers the advantages and disadvantages of each platform from the perspective of the designer/developer, the manufacturer, the distributor, and the consumer.

Covering three major regions (North America, Europe and Asia), this report offers a commonsensical needs-based segmentation by which to understand both existing and emerging Home Server solutions. It also provides a roadmap for the evolution of the Digital Consumer Ecosystem in which the Home Server plays an increasingly prominent role.

Those designing or delivering Home Server components, digital media players, home and remote networking solutions will find great value in this report, as will retailers, digital content companies, and service providers. As well, those with an interest in identifying those digital media features most desired by consumers including and beyond the enthusiast market will find this highly-detailed analysis extremely useful.

Key Findings From the Report:

• That being said, PC-centric solutions will find a home among more tech-savvy consumers capable of and comfortable with managing the complexities of a PC environment. The Service Provider channel will prove an ideal channel for introducing and distributing Home Servers to the mainstream audience. First, provider subsidies will minimize entry costs and consumer risk. Second, providers will see the home server as a managed platform through which to deliver a host of value-added broadband services; thus eliminating the need for consumers to worry about ongoing maintenance or troubleshooting, while providing the operator a platform through which to grow incremental revenue.
  
• A strategy of adopting open standards - plus delivering a "better together" in family (proprietary) offering - is an ideal method to differentiate solutions.

Report Excerpt:

Digital media applications can be separated into Personal DM Applications (think music or personal photos and videos) from the Professional DM Applications (think computer-centric applications such as data backup and remote access). Where these two sets of activities overlap, an emerging sweet spot is identified, one populated by what TDG calls Versatile DM Applications - applications that blend elements of both personal and professional digital activity; activities undertaken by consumers who (1) enjoy creating and consuming a wide variety of digital media and (2) are compelled to ensure their safe storage and even allow for remote access. In some ways, versatile applications can be thought of as the ultimate expression of the digital lifestyle.

Versatile applications represent a combination of professional and personal applications, and are built to meet the needs of more advanced consumers who not only possess a thorough understanding of the technology in use but can envision uses that blend the two domains. For example, though having remote access to important information may be seen as a professional application, it can also be viewed as a personal application. In another example, emerging applications such as place-shifting use the power of remote access solutions to give consumers anywhere/anytime access to their home-stored photos, videos, or music collection from any web-enabled device.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary & Key Findings
1.0    Introduction
        1.1    Preliminary Comments
        1.2    Research Sources and Methodologies
        1.3    General Categories - PC-Centric and CE-Centric Home Servers
2.0    The Rapid Accumulation of In-Home Digital Assets
        2.1    Domains of the Digital Consumer Ecosystem
        2.2    Services in the Cloud
        2.3    Personal Content Creation & Digital Archiving
        2.4    Personal versus Commercial Content Value
        2.5    The Evolution toward a Client/Server Architecture
3.0    Understanding Digital Media Storage and Serving Platforms
        3.1    Digital Media Servers
        3.2    Digital Media Players (Clients)
        3.3    Media Serving Standards - Open versus Proprietary    
                3.3.1    The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)
                3.3.2    Microsoft's Media Center versus Apple's ITunes Server
4.0    Segmenting Key Digital Media Applications
        4.1    Personal Applications
                4.1.1    Digital Photo "Shoeboxes"
                4.1.2    Digital Music Jukeboxes
        4.2    Professional Applications
        4.3    Versatile Applications
        4.4    Creating a Store-and-Serve Consumer Segmentation
5.0    Defining Store-and-Serve Platforms based On Consumer Needs
        5.1    PC- versus CE-Centric Solutions - an Overview
        5.2    PC-Centric Solutions
                5.2.1    Entertainment PCs
                            5.2.1.1    Microsoft's E-PC Offering
                            5.2.1.2    Apple's E-PC Offering
                            5.2.1.3    Limitations of the PC-Centric Model
                5.2.2    Network Attached Storage (NAS)
                5.2.3    Home Server Computers (HSCs)
                            5.2.3.1    Description and Examples
                            5.2.3.2    The Relevance of Microsoft's Windows Home Server
        5.3    CE-Centric Solutions
                5.3.1    Smart Storage Appliances (SSAs)
                5.3.2    Home Entertainment Server Appliances (HESAs)
6.0    Home Server Forecasts thru 2012
        6.1    Forecast Methodology
        6.2    Disclaimers and Assumptions
        6.3    Foundational Assumptions and Forecasts
                6.3.1    Growth in Addressable Households
                6.3.2    Broadband Diffusion
                6.3.3    Home Network Diffusion
                6.3.4    Regional Broadband and Home Network Forecasts
                6.3.5    Home Server Projections
        6.4    Global Home Server Diffusion
        6.5    Product Mix Expectations
        6.6    Regional Home Server Diffusion
                6.6.1    North America
                6.6.2    Europe
                6.6.3    Asia
                6.6.4    Regional Comparisons
7.0    Reflections and Recommendations
        7.1    Where to Begin - Entering the Home Server Market
        7.2    How to Make Money - Designing a Winning Home Server Strategy
                7.2.1    A "Hail Mary" versus "Hinged" Product Strategy
                7.2.2    Case Study: Apple's "Hinged" Product Strategy
        7.3    Leading Applications Target Real Consumer Needs
        7.4    The Emergence of the Digital Hub
        7.5    Home Server Ecosystem Players
        7.6    The Service Provider - A Key Distribution Channel

List of Figures

Figure 1      Cumulative Global Home Server Deployments - 2008 thru 2015
Figure 2      Two Roads to Home Server
Figure 3      The Five Facets of the Digital Consumer Ecosystem
Figure 4      Mobile Devices Pressure In-Home Storage Requirements
Figure 5      Identifying Store-and-Serve Consumer Segments
Figure 6      Defining Consumer Needs by Store-and-Serve Segments
Figure 7      Forecast Methodology
Figure 8      Global Broadband Households - 2005 thru 2030
Figure 9      Home Network Deployments - 2005 thru 2030
Figure 10    Broadband Households per Region - 2005 thru 2030
Figure 11    Home Network Deployments by Region - 2005 thru 2030
Figure 12    The Evolution of Home Servers - The Dawning of a New Era
Figure 13    Global Home Server Deployments - 2008 thru 2015
Figure 14    Home Server Product Mix - 2008 thru 2020
Figure 15    North American Home Server Deployments - 2008 thru 2015
Figure 16    European Home Server Deployments - 2008 thru 2015
Figure 17    Asian Home Server Deployments - 2008 thru 2015
Figure 18    Regional Home Server Deployments
Figure 19    The "Hail Mary" or "Big Bang" Approach
Figure 20    A Hinged Product Strategy - Incrementalizing New Technology Product Wins
Figure 21    Digital Home Server Ecosystem Players

List of Tables
Table 1    Characterizing Digital Consumer Applications
Table 2    Home Store-and-Serve Solutions: CE-Centric vs. PC-Centric