We hear a lot of talk about home automation these days but it’s not easy getting a sense of how much home automation is being used and what overall penetration automation has into the Australian market.
HOME automation is the next big thing. When it comes to domestic and small commercial electronic security solutions, automation comprising management of lighting, air conditioning, the addition of video surveillance and some access control really is the next step. The trouble is, it’s a big step and a layered step and getting the balance of cost and function right is not the easiest thing to do. In fact, observing the market it seems that all the necessary technologies are there but no one has quite combined them in the perfect way to blow the market onto its ear.
The rewards of success are likely to be huge for the company that achieves it – creating an affordable and powerful solution that handles more than security and a few ancillary lights really is the holy grail for home automation people. Of course, saying this misses a point. There are systems and suppliers which have been providing capable security and home automation solutions for ages – I’m thinking about the Ness M1 and Crestron – Risco, too.
But even taking this into account, in the main part of the market, automation has been relatively slow in coming and now it has come there are weaknesses – the main one being that automation without the expense of an electrician is limited to simple devices like wall lamps. Want to address your fridge or washing machine remotely? You can if the unit is IP addressable but that’s not the same as global automation of all devices in the home from a single browser.
Is the infrastructure there to support remote access of video and control? In the metro areas, sure. And outside, there’s usually bandwidth and uptime enough for the task. It’s now possible to handle a system with a minimum of latency, though video upload remains an issue for asynchronous links, even in the city. For handling security and electrical units like air conditioning, intercom and access control, the bandwidth and network reliability is a non-issue. The fluency of addressing such systems comes down to the comms path and network structure, including the reliance on remote servers to manage data storage.
But while the process of getting all the technological ducks into a row is taking time, suppliers in the market report that home automation is building as a trend and installers are now asking for automation-capable security solutions.
“We definitely see the entrance of automation in to the security market in Australia as a process which is currently in the ‘push’ phase with installers using automation to differentiate their product offerings from competitors,” says Bosch’s James Layton. “As end users continue to become better informed, we should see the market move into a ‘pull’ phase where the end user’s expectations will set the basis of the system to be installed, and the features offered by automation will be a big part of this change.”
According to Layton, selling security has traditionally been all about selling peace of mind, but recently, that hasn’t been enough.
“For your system to be successful, we also need to offer comfort of life,” he says. “User experience (UX) is a huge part of product design now and it encompasses all areas of the user’s interaction with the product – UX considers both emotional and physical context of use, as well as looking to create a value not just around the time of use, but the anticipation of use, and the memory of past use. Automation features, user control, and self-verification are all examples of concepts built around the intentions of UX.
Over at Hills, Matt Bailey says installers are showing a growing appetite for automation but that there’s still work to be done at the installer level in terms of packaging automation solutions in a way that best appeals to their customers.
“Installers are certainly asking about automation more often and those we speak with are keen to implement automation in their offerings to customers,” Bailey explains. “However, automation is a relatively new market in Australia, not in terms of being a new concept but in terms of being packaged in a way that makes it available and appealing to your average consumer.
“Because automation is a wider technology-based system, not just a security product, customers are more likely to research all the options available