In an increasing number of today's homes advanced technology is being used to make living and working easier: all kinds of services can be ordered at the click of a remote control unit, networked systems provide round-the-clock security, domestic appliances can be remotely programmed to operate as part of a data communications network, and entertainment programs can be accessed wherever a screen and loudspeaker are available.

With its slogan "Solutions for the home" e/home 2004 - international trade fair and congress - from 1 to 3 September on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds, presents a wide range of commercially viable developments that are already available for the networked home. And this year, for the third time, it will again be the only event of its kind to bring together everyone involved in the development of the intelligent home: manufacturers and systems providers from the electrical and electronics industries, service providers, network integrators, building owners and developers, architects, the skilled trades and specialist dealers. For all of them e/home offers the ideal platform for discussions and for sharing in the continued development of this young and expanding market.

This year trade visitors can inspect the latest developments in automation for the home as well as some exciting trends and solutions from the field of consumer electronics. The consumer electronics organisation Gesellschaft für Unterhaltungs- und Kommunikationselektronik mbH (gfu) will be working in association with the Consumer Electronics Trade Association, part of the electro-industry association ZVEI, to present their own event, which will be taking place parallel with e/home. This will include the "Forum Innovative Consumer Electronics" with papers dealing with every aspect of the electronic media. The topics under discussion will include the digital television of the future HDTV, new standards for television reception using mobile terminals, and the storage of media content in home servers, enabling sound and images to be accessed from every part of the home.

An accompanying presentation entitled "Innovative Consumer Electronics" will acquaint visitors in more detail with these new systems and the equipment involved, which includes media servers for the wire-less transmission of digital entertainment programs of all kinds to any television in the home, as well as home cinema installations that can also download videos from the internet. These devices were among the most spectacular trends in this sector at the recent consumer electronics fair IFA 2003. Popular products of this kind are expected to give a substantial boost to the development of the fully networked home over the coming years.

The congress accompanying e/home will feature a number of leading international experts and will also reflect the interdisciplinary concept of the event as a whole. The topics have been chosen for their wide-ranging appeal to various different industries, trades and technical platforms, as well as to marketing experts, engineers, suppliers and potential customers.

The panels of experts will address specific user areas, customer target groups and brand environments and will concentrate on the following:

• Entertainment
• Health and Comfort
• Operating Concepts
• Home Automation
• Security
• Building and Planning
• Industry Joint Ventures
• Trends & Developments

The speakers will examine all the various facets of each of these topics -

• In terms of their technical aspects: how can the various technical standards be ideally integrated into the application scenarios?
• In terms of the various commercial aspects: what business models and what marketing strategies can be used to ensure that proposed applications can be turned into economically attractive concepts?
• and in terms of the experience already gained in these areas: what model projects suggest examples of the most interesting development directions?

Messe Berlin is the main organiser of e/home 2004, assisted by Gesellschaft für Unterhaltungs- und Kommunikationselektronik mbH (gfu), which also organises the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA), and which will be acting partnership with the retail association Bundesverband Technik des Einzelhandels (BVT) and the industry association Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie (ZVEI).