by Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls and Energy, Parks Associates
Individual Connected Products
Many countries throughout Europe have exceeded the 50% mark for broadband penetration. In particular, broadband subscriptions in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland exceed 85% of households. In Italy and Portugal, 55-60% of households have broadband subscriptions.
Broadband creates the foundation for the connected home, opening a conduit for many new control and management applications. This high-speed, persistent connectivity enables cloud services like real-time feedback and automated controls, which can send repair notifications and synchronize operations to off-peak hours.
The connection to the Internet also allows devices to offload the computing power from the devices to central servers where extensive analytics can be performed, providing sophisticated solutions at a small cost premium. Both broadband and the cloud allow solutions to use existing displays such as smartphones, connected TVs, or tablets to interface with connected devices in the home. Using existing screens in the home instead of a dedicated display also lowers hardware costs and allows for faster product development cycles.
Today, numerous connected products targeting the residential market are available. Lowe's premiered its Iris line of products in 2012 and will showcase its solutions at the upcoming Smart Energy Summit, February 25-27, in San Antonio, Texas.
In Europe, lighting dimmers from KlikaanKlikuit, smart plugs from Elro, alarm systems from Woonveilig, and IP cameras from Marmitek are widely available in retail outlets such as Saturn, where 3% of floor space is dedicated to home controls.