The “connected home” is becoming a reality thanks to improved broadband networks and mobile apps. Here’s a rundown of how our homes are getting smarter.
The connected house is no longer a futuristic vision — many of the barriers that blocked the realization of a smart home have eroded. Network bandwidth is widespread, connectivity is becoming more common in many traditional home products, and consumers are craving smart-home experiences.
Technology, which had presented the greatest challenge to creating a connected home, isn’t anyw manageable. The broadband and residential networking connections are available in, mobile devices provide a natural fit because the handheld remote control for the house, and the choices for making local connections are manageable for vendors.
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Some of the pieces to the connected home puzzle:
Broadband networks provide the back-end connection. Without an always-on broadband connection from the house to the net, consumers cannot maintain awareness or exert control over connected devices when they’re away. In most developed economies, broadband households at the moment are within the majority, while high-speed mobile networks reach locales where fixed-line infrastructure is deficient.
Home networks distribute that connection in the course of the digital home. In addition to broadband becoming prevalent in developed countries, routers and gateways also are the default for many broadband homes. These devices bring the net to each room of the home, allowing smart gadgets with communications to switch their dumb predecessors.
Smartphone and tablet apps are the recent remote controls. High-end smart-home systems which includes those built on Crestron Electronics systems for home automation and audio/video control depend upon a central control panel because the command center of the house. But today these control panels are everywhere in the house within the sort of smartphones, tablets, and intelligent applications.
Local communication options have stabilized. The plethora of protocols that devices can use to speak — beyond WiFi — has become manageable for vendors. Proprietary methods like Z-Wave and Insteon — both wireless communications protocols used for automating home electronics devices — have their backers. The Zigbee Alliance standard is becoming more common among low-power devices in the house, while Bluetooth Low Energy has also proliferated in mobile devices and their accessories. Gateway vendors like Revolv build a bridge across incompatible nodes by supporting multiple protocols.
So while the connected home should be would becould very well be in its infancy, there is no shortage of goods supporting it.
Service providers like AT&T and Comcast are expanding availability in their smart-home products. Established consumer product companies like Philips and Schlage now offer connected light bulbs and locks; retailers like Lowe’s provide packaged products for do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers; and upstarts like smart thermostat maker Nest Labs (acquired by Google in January for $3.2 billion) have launched their companies according to connected alternatives to standard household products.
More ways companies are moving the needle on connected home technologies:
Service providers have launched complete products. US cable operator Comcast’s Xfinity Home allows customers to configure services from a menu of options including monitoring, professional security, and managing home energy use. AT&T has launched Digital Life, its home automation and handheld remote control service for security, climate control, lighting, and more in 45 markets, while European operator Deutsche Telekom recently launched an identical connected-home service called QIVICON.
Product specialists have added connectivity and smarts. Companies like Whirlpool and Samsung have added connectivity to their high-end home appliances, hoping that advanced features and user interfaces differentiate their products. Philips is selling its hue lighting system at Apple’s stores, enabling not just handheld remote control but in addition mood settings using a rich range of colours.
New entrants are doping up like mushrooms. Startups are riding the wave of cheap sensors and computing platforms to bring low-cost hardware and clever applications to consumers looking to solve home control problems reminiscent of ensuring plants get watered or that the oven is absolutely not left on. Connected home vendors like Supermechanical are using cloud services akin to IFTTT (“if this, then that”), together with web apps and sensors to send homeowners alerts on everything from furnace malfunctions to frozen pipes to a flooded basement.
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Frank Gillett is a Forrester Research vice chairman and principal analyst and member of Forrester’s Business Technology Futures team, which serves CIOs and their business partners by predicting the long-term business impact of info technology. View Full Bio
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