Residential Broadband & Home Networking Markets.

One-third of U.S. households currently subscribing to dial-up Internet service are interested in upgrading to broadband service in the next 12 months, according to Parks Associates’ latest consumer study, Bundled Services & Residential Gateways. Additionally, 28% of broadband subscribers intend to purchase home networking solutions in the same period, indicating that subscriber growth for these advanced technologies will be modest but steady in the coming months.

This research supports previous forecasts offered by Parks Associates, which predicted that 10.7 million U.S. households will subscribe to broadband service and 5.7 million households will have some form of home network deployed by year-end 2001.

“The early adopting consumer is ready to purchase networks and adopt broadband but must wait on excellent product with rational pricing,” said Tricia Parks, president of Parks Associates. “It’s more important than ever to have a complete understanding of what consumers want and how much they will pay.”

“Our forecasts have always been grounded in an intimate understanding of the consumer,” says Michael Greeson, senior analyst with Parks Associates. “That is in many ways what separates our research from our competitors.”

Parks Associates’ latest research effort, Bundled Services & Residential Gateways, surveyed 2,500 U.S. households. The soon-to-be-released report contains consumer data as well as interpretation and analysis of the attitudes and trends impacting consumer electronics; Internet service; home networking technology; home security and control services; digital video and audio services; and a number of other legacy and next-generation applications made possible by the delivery of broadband technology to the home.

To complement this consumer data, Bundled Services & Residential Gateways will also survey the companies involved in the design and manufacture of consumer-premise equipment, such as residential gateways (RGs), and the broadband service providers beginning to deploy RGs. These surveys will offer a unique industry perspective on which services and features are most important to consumers, as well as a rare glimpse into what the future market for RGs may look like.

For more information at http://www.parksassociates.com.