LaCie: A Step Ahead in Implementation

No one likes having to remember acronyms, but here are two to keep in mind if you enjoy digital content in your home: DLNA and UPnP. The differences between these standards aren’t nearly as interesting as what they have in common: they blast open new possibilities in the digital home by allowing all sorts of consumer devices to communicate effectively and seamlessly with one another.

(In case you’re wondering, DLNA is a certification bestowed by an industry group, and it’s based on the Universal Plug n Play network protocol [UPnP]).

You’ll be hearing more and more about them, because manufacturers are racing to make their products - whether they be game consoles, cell phones, televisions or other devices - DLNA and UPnP compliant.  The idea behind this push is that if you own multiple devices from different manufacturers, they should be able to talk to each other; and if they speak the same language, you don’t have to worry about configuration or incompatibility.

LaCie is a step ahead in this race, already bringing to market consumer multimedia hard drives that play nicely with DLNA- and UPnP-compatible devices. Since 2007, LaCie has been shipping products with embedded, DLNA-certified software that facilitates out-of-the-box compatibility with your household’s digital media hardware. Since these devices connect to your TV and ship with a remote control, you can browse and play back files on your TV regardless of where (on which DLNA-compatible device) they are located.

What this translates to for consumers is no less than the total integration of multimedia libraries that have previously been spread out through the house. What if you just downloaded the new Rolling Stones in Concert box set on your DLNA-compatible cellphone, and wanted to enjoy it in all its eardrum-rupturing glory through your home theater system? Try the newly minted LaCinema Classic HD: plug it into your TV, stereo and network, navigate to the cellphone’s storage, and press play on the included remote control. Who says you can’t get no satisfaction?

Want to access your voluminous HD movie collection, stored on your PC, on your flat-screen TV? Same process as above. Share an iTunes music collection with your five roommates? Ditto. Back up each member of the family’s laptops onto a central location...?  You get the idea.

Given the elegance and capability that DLNA/UPnP promises, it follows that embedding it into network-attached and multimedia hard drives will allow consumers to integrate their media libraries and simplify how they enjoy content. LaCie’s early championing of this marriage between interopability and full feature sets means that they are at the head of the pack for delivering products that enrich people’s digital lives.