Connected Home
Q: What is the Connected Home?
A: The Connected Home is an extension of home automation and operates as a subset of the Internet of Things (IoT), where devices inside the home are connected to each other via the internet and/or via a short-range wireless mesh network and are typically operated using remote access device such as smartphone, tablet or any other mobile device.
Q: Is the concept of a Connected Home real?
A: There is significant growth potential in this market as market leaders such as Google, Netflix, and others have laid the foundation for many other ecosystem competitors to expand beyond home entertainment into many other areas such as smart appliances, home heating and lighting, security, and more.
Q: Why would I want a connected home?
A: Imagine a few scenarios and how technology could add value: If you were on vacation, your home could keep lighting and heating to security and safety levels. If you had smart appliances, you could run your washing machine or dishwasher during the most cost efficient energy period. This could help balance the utility's load and generate cost savings for you. If you had to run out suddenly and left your oven on? A device utilizing a temperature sensor and mobile app would allow you to turn your oven off without having to return home or worry. Further, error mode detection in a smart appliance could notify you and/or a service technician of an operational anomaly, allowing the appliance to be serviced before reaching a critical failure point.
Q: What is the business opportunity for the ecosystem beyond appliance and device manufacturers?
A: There is also an emerging significant business opportunity for Cloud Service Providers and Big Data Analytics within the IoT in Connected Home ecosystem. Management of unstructured data (Big Data) and directly attributed to IoT in Connected Home is anticipated to represent a $7 billion market by 2020. This market opportunity will grow with a CAGR of 27.7% through 2020. Mind Commerce sees the fastest growing segments through 2020 as Home Energy Conservation with a CAGR of 49.4% and IoT in Utility Monitoring with a CAGR of 59.8%.
