IP – two little letters that now are so important in many of the latest home technology products that we install. IP stands for Internet Protocol. It has become the defacto language that newer electronics products use to communicate with one another in the home (like your computers) and to the outside world via a high-speed Internet connection. With IP connectivity you can distribute audio,video, and data all around the house from digital content you have stored or downloaded from the Internet. Without it you have islands of entertainment or data content in your home, accessible only in the part of your home where the content resides - not what 21st century digital living is all about! For example, we don’t have a water heater in every room that needs hot water – we distribute it through an infrastructure of pipes and fixtures that can transport and dispense hot water. Like the water heater service, we now have hard drives that can distribute their audio/video and data content over an infrastructure of CAT5 computer wiring to IP client devices throughout the home.
Just as you need to know a little about a plumbing system (like where to turn the water off when you’re dishwasher starts leaking!), you need to know some facts about the IP system in your client’s home - the lifeblood of a digital home infrastructure.
1. You can’t touch, see, feel or smell IP. But you can tell if it’s working with your computer by running what is called a PING test. On an XP computer you need to open the RUN command (to get to a DOS prompt) and type in the line:
ping www.yahoo.com. If you get a ping reply you know the computer is connected on your home network and to the outside internet (in this case the yahoo portal). No reply and your IP is not flowing – either the problem is inside your home or with your gateway connection to the outside world (in another column we’re review how to best troubleshoot a down internet connection.)
2. IP network connections used to be on only computers and laptops. Now you can find them on printers, storage drives, thermostats, lighting control systems, A/V receivers, speakers and even pianos!
3. IP is the language of the Internet. It is part of the protocol TCP/IP. Just as English is the dominant language in the world for verbal communication; IP has become the dominant form of data communication – primarily because of the Internet’s phenomenal success.
4. IP enabled products can often be controlled and upgraded from computers and/or over the Internet. This makes them potentially easier to use and upgrade. For example, a TiVO with an IP network connection can display photos from your home’s hard drive or allow you to program it remotely from an Internet connected computer. TiVO without an IP network connection is simply a personal video recorder connected to your television.
5. IP should be a feature that you should look for in each of the AV products that you purchase - it should be one of the most important features that will help you decide between two otherwise similar products.
6. IP can travel over wire or wireless connections. Over wire it can travel up to 300 feet in the home before it needs to be repeated or amplified by a hub or switch. Over a wireless connection it can travel 50 to 150 feet inside the home – but you should know that the farther it has to travel, the slower its data speed will become.
7. IP is a data language. You need to have a basic knowledge of IP addressing, static and dynamic IPs, and private and public IPs to navigate and successfully deploy and troubleshoot IP systems in your home. You’ve learned English language to communicate with your fellow human beings – now you need to learn some basic IP language to communicate with your fellow electronic friends. See number 8 to help you build that knowledge.
8. Read Cisco’s Home Networking Simplified book - a good place to learn more about IP and how to “plumb” your home properly to take best advantage of it. Or take some of the home networking courses offered at a local community college or CEDIA’s or ehExpo's national conferences.
(reprinted from Residential Systems Magazine)
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