Future Firewire Applications

This MacCentral article discusses the advantages of the upcoming Firewire 2 (1394b). Beyond speed, it appears distance of networking will provide new areas for Firewire, including home networking:

The distance provided by 'b' is critical. Some people feel the distance is the biggest advantage of the new spec because it opens up a whole new set of applications," said Davies. "Not only will this affect home networking but the vehicle backbone as well. The Trade Association has developed a prototype automobile FireWire backbone, but it's next generation."