The intelligent home and the computer-based home office go on show at Earls Court
Apparently, King George V once said that the foundations of national glory are set in the houses of the people, and this has been taken as the motto for this year’s Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition, which opens at Earls Court. If this statement has any relevance to the computer industry it must be that no well equipped modern home nowadays can afford to be seen without its in-house office complete with computer or sans its domestic management system. For Stoke-on-Trent-based Creda Ltd, a subsidiary of GEC, has developed and is exhibiting Credanet, an automatic home management control system, using the resources of the Future Systems Group within the Marconi Research Centre. The system operates through existing house wiring by mains-borne communications between the wall-mounted central controller and other Credanet units. The central processor has a large display and built-in transceiver unit and software for basic command and control functions activated by a touch panel. Using this central control the (electric!) heating can be programmed, the security system can be checked, or train timetables, share prices, bank balances and so forth can be accessed. The system can also be operated remotely by hand-held controllers with mini-display using infra-red signals or by phone using the national network. Creda is marketing the system under the catch phrase reassurance and convenience, but one can’t help wondering if, within a normal family, with inquisitive children and stroppy adolescents, a system with the capacity to reset the video, washing machine, heating, and to turn lighting and stereos on and off will add a new and irritating dimension to family life. Anyway, the system will be available in 1990 and a basic package will cost UKP1,000. It is at present on show in the Potton House at the Exhibition, in a home decorated in jade and maroon with Elizabethan-type wall-hangings, which is otherwise remarkable in design for its answer to unwelcome relatives: a hammock in the spare room! Just round the corner in the Ideal Home Village is the Valhalla home which features a Just Desk Ltd and British Olivetti collaboration to provide a home office solution. Here, Olivetti has on show an entry level system comprising the CWP1 word processor, the Prodest PC1 8088 IBM-compatible personal computer, the TLM 720 telefax, the Copia 7005 copier, and the ET Compact 65 portable electronic display typewriter. All of these items, barring the Prodest monitor, fit in desk drawers which can be closed to fit in with the requirements of a general purpose family living room. It is possible to incorporate more powerful systems into a Just Desk desk and to have systems networked, say, to a City office. Indeed, Olivetti and Just Desk are about to sign a marketing agreement whereby the team can customise home offices for the executive. Grudging visitors to the exhibition (ie many Computergram readers accompanying their houseproud/DIY partners) can also win a British Satellite Broadcasting TV system and get a taster of its three channels which come into operation in September; as well as trying out Autoroute, the intelligent map, at the Ordnance Survey stand. The show is at Earls Court and is open daily – including Easter – until April 2 from 10am to 8pm with admission at UKP4 or UKP3.50 after 5pm, concessions UKP2.40 or UKP1.70 after 5pm. – Katy Ring
