Well, ideally you have a 802.15.4 bridge hooked up to your network so that your laptop can talk to your home automation network from the internet. Both Comcast[1] and Nest[2] seem to be positioning themselves as providing that sort of gateway, if we're talking about normal consumers.

[1]http://www.cepro.com/article/xfinity_reveals_pricing_rollout... [2]http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/nest-arm-zigbee/