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Valve have decided to jump on the live streaming train with the company putting focus on streaming your games to any device. Steam link promise is to stream your PC games to your TV without any latency or performance hits.
Nvidia has hopped towards this idea with it own platform letting users stream games to any Nvidia support device which happens to be a handheld device. Only problem of course you need Nvidia built hardware which supports it.
With that in mind the fact the Valve is offering a device which can stream to any device with a HDMI input.

Sony has a product bit like steam link called Playstation TV with it own eco system support and playstation network support.
Focus has been on local support for streaming games over internet servicing Onlive suffered from performance hits when trying the internet only service farm effort.

Whole idea of a box which supports various services is something which dozens of companies have entered into. Examples Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV etc.
Here is the key problem with the Steam link does Valve plan to open up the little box and what system is the box running. Closed based eco system may suffer from the niche device problem with other devices offering a range of services. Playstation TV being a obvious example you can use it as a box with netflix and play your video games. Valve should open up the device to various services allowing users to do more with the device.

Questions remain about how open the product is going to be and what the company wants to do with support. Could we see valve supported apps appear on the steam store.

Performance:
Device supports 1080p 60hz streaming so no 2K or 4K support just yet. Unknown if the device would suffers from performance issues so far hands on real world testing has taken place on busy wifi networks.

Device:
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Steam in home streaming is not new the company has spoken about the technology back in January 2014.
Allows you to turn your old laptop which can run steam into a steam box.
Raspberry Pi 2 can be converted to steam games just takes some effort and can only do 720P.



Not sure about you but I love this idea
Given how my network supports N grade wireless thinking this device may make it worth upgrading to ACC.