More Australians than ever before are turning to home automation a recent SmartHouse study has revealed with many consumers now turning to automation to control heating and electricity costs. Another big driver is security and home entertainment. Leading global research Company Park & Associates claim that home networking will grow nearly 50 percent by the end of 2008.

The study says home networking will reach 168 million households worldwide by the end of 2008. Households with networking solutions for broadband and file sharing totaled 114 million in 2006, according to Parks Associates. The study says this growth will lay the foundation for expansion of multimedia services internationally.

 Kurt Scherf, vice president, principal analyst, Parks Associates."With the network in place, providers will tie in high-demand entertainment services. By 2012, over one-third of networked nodes worldwide will have entertainment or multimedia functionality, with particularly strong growth in IPTV services."