New architecture for an Ultra Broadband Home Area Network with spread connectivity and autonomic functions

Operating Local Area Networks, in the home of their customers, has recently become a new business for Network Operators. On the other hand, Gigabit optical technologies are introduced in the operators' access network and new digital terminals appear in the customer premises, such as HDTV videos, PCs and home servers, requiring more and more a high speed data transfer inside the apartment. These evolutions will appeal for the emergence of an Ultra Broadband Home Area Network (UBB-HAN) with advanced connectivity capabilities that will combine many technologies. We introduce a new architecture for this future UBB-HAN which includes some foreseeable autonomic functions to cope with the management and the increased complexity of such a heterogeneous HAN.