A workable solution for home monitoring and control requires several components: an easy-to-use in-home network, a broadband Internet connection, intuitive and powerful software and remote-control devices, and standard protocols that manufacturers of lights, thermostats and other devices can follow. The fact that all of these pieces are now falling into place bodes well for the home-control industry; analyst firm Parks Associates forecasts a 10 percent increase in the home-control market this year and a rapid rise over the next five years. No wonder connected-home vendors came out in force to this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Their products are certainly piquing consumer interest. The NextGen home at CES drew crowds willing to wait in long lines. A recent survey by the Z-Wave Alliance, the consortium backing the Z-Wave standard in wireless home control, found that 72 percent of Americans wanted to be able to see who was in the house when they were away, and whether their children had arrived home safely from school.

In addition, two out of five consumers wanted to be able to check whether they'd left an appliance on or a door unlocked. More than half thought they could relax better on vacation if they could control lights, home alarms or appliances from Disney World. And millions thought they could conserve energy better with the help of automated systems.

How many consumers are ready to spend money on these systems today is another question. Parks Associates’ Bill Ablondi says, “The home control market has lacked consumer awareness, not technical capability.” But Ablondi believes the stage is being set for broad-based adoption of connected home systems.

At the High End: ConnectedLife.Home

Exceptional Innovation's Life|ware

The system that made the biggest splash last month was Best Buy’s ConnectedLife.Home, a $15,000 package based on HP’s new z560 Digital Entertainment Center (DEC), a Microsoft Xbox 360 as a media extender and Life|ware software from Exceptional Innovation. Along with some networked appliances (lights, thermostats, cameras) and a TV as the command center, these components provide everything the homeowner needs to run a home – or nearly everything. On top of the $15,000, homeowners must spend an additional $19.95 a month for Internet-based access to the system’s controls.

Parks Associates’ Ablondi says the price of ConnectedLife.Home precludes it from being “an impulse buy at the checkout counter.” Instead, he says, Best Buy is targeting home builders, remodelers and electronic systems installers. Because the package does not require wires to be pulled or walls to be dug out, the company is touting it as an ideal retrofit solution.

But Wait! There's More!

ConnectedLife.Home was by no means the only connected-home solution at the Consumer Electronics Show. Other Internet-enabled offerings included:

• Control4 announced Composer Home Edition, an add-on to its automation software that gives homeowners more flexibility in modifying their home controls. For example, a user could program the system to automatically dim the lights before a movie or create a custom wakeup scenario with lighting, media and temperature control. With an Internet connection, Composer Home Edition lets homeowners customize and automate their homes from anywhere.

• iControl Networks announced version 2.0 of its iControl home monitoring solution. The upgraded iControl is Z-Wave-enabled, letting consumers use a wide variety of off-the-shelf cameras, door and window sensors, light modules, thermostats, smoke detectors, water and freeze sensors and other devices from home improvement stores. (When the devices are triggered, the software proactively delivers real-time information via email or text messages.) iControl says the new product offers a more intuitive Web portal, a Web-based wizard for easier setup, an advanced mobile portal and an improved gateway design. In addition to offering its new solution via its Web site, iControl is conducting trials with utilities, ISPs, telcos, cable companies, MSOs and wireless carriers.
  

• InGrid showed its Home Connect service, a protection network consisting of a portable handset and a broadband-enabled base station that communicates with wireless window and door sensors that report any change in activity that the customer chooses to monitor. Broadband integration keeps the system always on and always connected to its monitoring service, and all components can use telephone jacks for back-up. Consumers can customize the system through a Web portal. An innovative feature allows consumers to link their systems with those of friends and families, so that they can monitor each other’s properties. Like iControl, InGrid hopes to distribute its product through broadband service providers; a venture capitalist investing in the company calls digital home security “the next billion-dollar revenue opportunity for broadband service providers.”

• Lagotek announced the integration of its Home Intelligence Platform, a wireless whole-home automation system, with Intel’s Viiv home entertainment platform and Leviton’s Vizia –RF series of lighting and home control products. Lagotek provides a software-only system that works with OEM hardware to give homeowners control over home electrical systems.