http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=10033
Router functions dropped from PS3 spec
Rob Fahey 12:12 11/07/2005
But Sony many have other plans for its bank of Gigabit Ethernet ports


The PlayStation 3 will no longer act as a home network router, according to 
Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi, who has revealed that the 
functionality has been dropped because it would have been too expensive.
Speaking with Japanese publication Nikkei Electronics, Kutaragi said that 
the original specification for the PS3 would have allowed the system's three 
Gigabit Ethernet ports to be used as a home router.

However, this functionality has now been dropped since it would have made 
the console cost too much to manufacture, he admitted - and Sony now expects 
that users will continue to use their existing router hardware, which is 
becoming more commonplace in households with broadband internet connections.

Whether that means the bank of network ports on the back of the box has 
actually been reduced to a single port is not clear, however, as the company 
has previously hinted that it has other plans in mind for the multiple 
network ports.

The news that the system was intended for use as a router or hub was first 
revealed at E3, when Sony's Phil Harrison told GamesIndustry.biz that "it 
can be a hub, rather than just being a terminal at the end of a network."

"Also, we want to be able to have a Gigabit port for an IP camera," he 
revealed. "So one of the ports is an in, and two of them are through. It can 
be a server as well as a terminal."