CyberSightings

In the Spotlight

For many, 2016 will be remembered as the year of virtual reality (VR), but VR is not the only hot trend in technology right now. Smart home products—from home automation and security devices to networking and Internet services—are receiving significant market attention, thanks to the growing availability of commercial automation systems and accessories. According to a recent report by Juniper Research, home automation will reach $100 billion by 2020, with the number of connected appliances in smart homes rising to more than 20 million by the same year. The concept of the smart home can be considered an evolution of domotic systems, which refers to sytems that use automation technologies to manage and monitor appliances, temperature, lighting, security systems, and several other functions. The smart home extends the capability of domotics by integrating artificial intelligence tools, connectivity, and cloud services, which allow the home (or office) spaces to be augmented by potentially countless services and applications. The concepts of the smart and connected home are strictly linked to the emerging paradigm of the Internet of Things (IoT), which promises to make our home experience even smarter, by allowing devices to be interconnected and to share information with one another.

Tech giants are starting to exploit this market by introducing enabling communication frameworks and protocols. For example, Apple has recently launched HomeKit, a home automation framework designed to get separate smart home devices talking to each other, all controlled centrally by a iPhone or iPad. The framework allows transforming AppleTV in an all-in-one hub that controls smart home devices, which also features voice command control through Siri. Google, too, is trying to get into the smart home game. Google's Smart Home Platform integrates a set of technologies that are designed to simplify the management of the home environment using a mobile device. These include Brillo, an “an operating system” for the IoT, which allows devices to connect using Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi, and Weave, a communications platform that enables device setup, phone-to-device-to-cloud communication, and user interaction from mobile devices and the web. But several other players are taking steps toward realising the vision of the smart home, including Samsung, with SmartThings, and the project OpenHab, an open source automation software for home environments.

However, barriers still exist to the adoption of the smart home among the wider public. These include, but may not be limited to, cyber security fears—that is, how to make home IoT devices resilient against attacks; lack of interoperability—although different platforms and solutions are appearing on the market, these are not interoperable, with the risk of further confusing the end users; and the availability of must-have applications, which should drive the real customers' interest toward this emerging technology.

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