OTHER TECH

The touchscreens receive power from AC adapters that can be wired in one of two ways. Ideally, running an additional two-conductor cable along with the Cat-5 ensures that each panel delivers its full 70-watt output. But if only one Cat-5 is available - say, in a retrofit - Colorado vNet offers the PC1-1 power coupler ($30) to allow both power and control signals to travel over a single Cat-5.

The rear panel of the Vibe Audio Server (available as the 500-GB, three-stream AS1-800/3, $3,150, or the 800-GB, six-stream AS1-1250/6, $4,750) looks like no audio component you've ever seen before, with nary a single RCA jack to be found! Besides power, the only connections are two Ethernet jacks: one for the Colorado vNet network and the other for broadband Internet through your home network. All audio signals - as many as 16 of them - travel over a single Cat-5 wire.

Either server can be outfitted with up to 10 TR1-1B Vibe AM/FM Tuner Blades ($390 each). These cards plug into the chassis in about 10 seconds. (Colorado vNet plans to add Sirius, XM, and HD Radio modules shortly). Vibe also supports the world's favorite portable music player, the iPod, with the ID1-1 Vibe Dock for iPod ($390). Since the dock connects via a single Cat-5, it can be installed anywhere in the home.

Finally, existing audio gear (such as cable boxes or CD players) is supported by the AE1-1 Vibe Audio Encoder ($390). The AE1-1 accepts analog and coaxial or optical digital signals and transforms them into IP for streaming over the network.