Currently, automation of housing is developing in many directions at once. Consumers are incorporating automation to increase security, safety, convenience, access to information, energy management and other functions with great speed.
The development of sophisticated integrated systems however, is not proceeding at the same pace as market penetration of key products like security systems. It is clear that consumers are interested in specific benefits rather than features.
They purchase one or more “gateway” device to achieve those benefits.
The challenge for the industry is to learn how to educate the consumer about system integration and to insure that all the various sub-systems being installed in homes can eventually be tied together into one system and controlled by the consumer simply and easily.
There are many benefits to home automation -
The first is greater comfort and convenience.
A second is improved safety and security.
A third is a high level of control over operating costs (e.g., energy conservation).
