Smart Home Ecosystem - Smart Home Automation - Smart Home Security - Smart Home Technology
The outer-most level corresponds to the individual devices and sensors that consumers interact with.
Several candidates are vying for the role of a leader introducing smart home services to the mass market. Historically, connected home services were led by home automation system manufacturers and installation companies, but new contenders are emerging among the utilities companies, telcos, home energy management providers and even gaming companies.
Smart meter technology is a strong candidate to initiate the smart home services for the massmarket. This is because regulatory mandates in Europe and North America have given smart metering rollouts significant momentum: A quarter of all homes globally will have smart meters by 2016, according to IDC. A number of electricity providers2 have already heavily invested in the development of demand response and home appliance controls to balance loads3, and many more are planning to launch such services in the future.
However, the deployment of the demand side management services by utilities depends on regulation and consumer buy-in to the deployment of smart meters to their home. In some markets such as Sweden, where smart meters are installed in 100% of all homes, utilities companies are technically ready to offer demand side management services, but are waiting on regulatory clearance. In some countries, there are openings for HEM start-ups, telcos and security companies to introduce competing home control and monitoring services. Home energy management presents an attractive new growth opportunity for the established security products and services sector, which has traditionally grown at 7-9% annually worldwide, according to Berg Insight. Bundles of home energy monitoring and security services are now sold directly to householders, via home automation system installers or new home developers.
At the same time, most home energy management providers offer complete solutions, consisting of connected devices, such as thermostats, smart plugs, in-home displays (IHDs) and energy control hubs, backend systems and end-user portal software. Some of these companies sell directly to consumers, while others sell exclusively to the utilities. No dominant player has emerged in this sector to date. US-based Opower, for example, is currently one of the biggest providers of home energy management tools in terms of reach, working with 53 utilities and providing energy reports to 2 million homes.
The telecommunications sector has also begun to address the smart homes opportunity. Many of the early service launches have been based on fixed-line access, taking advantage of telcos’ existing base of home broadband gateways and IP TV set top boxes to add home control and monitoring tools. Smart home services have been dubbed the “fifth play”, added to telco service portfolios alongside voice, data, TV and mobility. Mobile operators, providing mobile broadband connectivity to complement fixed broadband, will also be able to leverage femtocells to provide a home gateway to control smart home devices.
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