Residential customer premises equipment in a telecommuting application

Telecommuting is likely to be an early application involving multimedia in the home. A number of companies are actively exploring this application as a means of answering employee needs as well as obtaining better use of the employer's facilities and reducing commuting waste. In this application a worker at home is connected with his office by video, audio, and computer network. Telephone and fax communication is usually included in the requirements. Other multimedia applications are some subset of the telecommuting application. The author examines some of the elements required for telecommuting, from the perspective of equipment requirements in the home, with an orientation to communications via a cable television system. Cable television systems offer the bandwidth to permit high speed data communications, required for certain file transfer requirements, as well as video conferencing. The requirements extend to equipment installed in the home, to the method with which the cable interfaces with the home, and to the requirements of a consolidated modem which handles all services.