The most ambitious storage-related announcement at CES, however, came from Microsoft, which introduced its home storage server software. HP has already implemented that software in its . The goal, according to a Microsoft booth person, is to provide RAID-like storage capabilities without the complexities of RAID. Rather, the interface Microsoft and HP were showing was simple enough for the most nontechnical users, with software that supports not just aggregation of media from a variety of sources, but also network basics such as data backup.

NAS devices for the home have been around for a couple of years, but the clear expectation at CES was that sales will start to climb rapidly as homeowners buy into the vision of the media-centric home.

The server

Perhaps the most important piece of the home network puzzle will be servers that collect media from multiple sources, such as other networked computers, and from online and make that media readily available via a simple on-screen interface.

Need proof that many industry heavyweights expect media servers to take off? Consider that HP built media server capabilities into its new MediaSmart flat-panel TVs. And Cisco Systems, which recently announced it planned to get into the home entertainment business, was showing its media server behind closed doors.