Though this fanciful scenario may seem far-fetched, much of the technology to perform these tasks is already in use in business settings. For example, interactivity and live video broadcasting are staples for national networks and local cable television stations, and closed-circuit TV has been around for years. Information by Internet is ubiquitous. Time-of-day rates are a recognized method for leveling utilities' peak loads by discounting off-peak hours. Bar code scanners track almost every consumer products purchase in the nation.

Why, then, don't we have these time- and labor-saving conveniences in our homes?

Simply put, equipping a profitable margin of consumers' homes with to-the- home broadband systems connected to appropriate hardware, middleware and software — not to mention an attractive array of services — is an expensive gamble that few in the industry can afford to take. Fundamental issues of technology and applications are yet to be resolved.

"Both technically and in a business sense, creating a system that will provide universal broadband access for consumers is very complex," Limb says. "Right now, the cable industry is focusing on cable modems, and the telecommunications companies offer asymmetric digital subscriber lines, commonly called ASDL.

In the long term, the dominant method of providing broadband access will probably be fiber, which is not yet economically justifiable."

In the meantime, highly competitive companies driven by shareholder pressures and volatile conditions within the industry turn to outside research and development facilities such as the BTC. Here — positioned strategically within a respected academic institution and backed by the Georgia Research Alliance, a state-funded technology powerhouse — Limb and his research team aim to guide the future of the industry in realistic ways.

With an eye on the short-, mid- and long-term future, BTC researchers work closely with industry representatives. They partner on a myriad of technology and applications needed to carry broadband telecommunications "the last mile" from the street into the home and finally, to functional applications for consumers.

The BTC's supporters and advisors in these endeavors include 17 member companies. Among them are some of the nation's information services leaders: BellSouth, Cox Communications, General Instrument, Hitachi, Intel Corporation, Kodak, Sprint and others, as well as smaller niche companies such as Convergent Systems and Broadcom. The corporate sponsors' membership fees and grants help fund core research, as well as specific proprietary projects, in five broad categories:

(1) Researchers concentrating on the physical aspects of the industry work with technologies for introducing broadband transmissions to and within the home, including twisted pair, coaxial cable, wireless, satellite and optical fiber.

(2) Networking researchers focus on network management, scalability of network resources, new protocols for shared media, and such thorny issues as network security and access control for the home environment.

(3) Researchers concentrating on systems and software are concerned, at this stage, with storage support for scalable systems and new multimedia platforms.

(4) BTC applications research includes a growing list of specific experiments using broadband technology to forge links between home, office, school and community.

(5) Through business impact modeling, BTC researchers assess the economic feasibility and impact of broadband telecommunications in consumer/residential settings. Tools include demographic surveys, cost-benefit analyses, and evaluation of potential demand for new services and applications.

In all these areas, researchers try to find direct-to-the-home solutions that are low-cost and accessible across an entire community, says BTC associate director Daniel Howard, a senior research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute's Information Technology and Telecommunications Laboratory. Among other projects, Howard has recently proposed an experimental community information system using donated "legacy" — used — telecommunications equipment for a mixed-use housing development adjacent to BTC headquarters in downtown Atlanta. As he envisions it, the system could provide e-mail and local area network service, as well as interactive television access, between public school classrooms, homes and community centers — all at minimal cost.

On another front, Dr. Ken Calvert, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech College of Computing, is tackling a major concern of many prospective broadband enthusiasts: access control. Using the home information infrastructure facility at BTC, he has developed a prototype network component that effectively creates a "firewall" to protect residential broadband gateways from unauthorized intrusion.

While businesses have developed such protocols, he points out, "Business systems are not simple enough to be used in the home environment; they work, but they need a full-time systems manager to maintain them. Home systems must be scalable to millions of homes, and they need to be redesigned so that they're more 'plug and play.'" As broadband access penetrates more residential markets, Calvert anticipates the development of national standards and security codes.

Inside the home, Dr. Gregory Abowd, also an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech College of Computing, envisions the "kitchen of tomorrow." There, consumers maintain an on-line inventory of their groceries, and appliances are controlled via Web interface while homeowners are at work. Called Domisilica, this BTC-based project includes a complete virtual environment that replicates a real "home automation house" occupied by one of Abowd's students in suburban Atlanta.

Founded less than three years ago, the Broadband Telecommunications Center is still evolving with its industry. A major proposal now in the works may yield additional funds for more non-commercial, community- and education-oriented applications for broadband technology, researchers say. At the same time, new private-sector projects and liaisons are constantly under consideration. In a fragmented, constantly changing field, the BTC has gained a reputation as a solid player capable of doing work for industry stalwarts such as Cisco, for whom it is testing modem standards, as well as taking on more visionary, long-range tasks.

"I believe very strongly that we can affect our futures, that what we do in our research today can have a major influence on technology in society in the future," Limb says. "But the big challenge within a residential setting is to make the technology disappear. We don't think about the electric motors in our kitchens — they're there in almost every appliance, but they've 'disappeared.' They've become transparent to the user. The information industry is going to have to make the technology much more transparent than it is today."

Looking out over Atlanta's busy downtown streets, he adds: "If we could reach a point where each worker, on average, telecommuted just one day a week, we would see 20 percent fewer cars on the highway. We'd have less congestion and less pollution. This kind of change has the potential to make a lot of difference in people's lives."