Providing home automation services over someone else’s broadband pipe is a growing trend according to a recent survey by Infonetics Research.
Infonetics also found that more than 70 percent of the operators in the survey planned on offering home automation services by the end of this year.
“One of the more interesting trends we’re seeing in the home automation market is the concept of a provider offering services to end customers over another operator’s broadband connection,” said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research. “Verizon has been experimenting with trials of over-the-top (OTT) home automation services as a way to secure revenue from out-of-market customers. Our latest home automation study supports this trend: By 2015, the percentage of operators offering OTT home automation services more than doubles.
“With Verizon functioning as the guinea pig for out-of-market and over-the-top home automation services, other operators clearly believe these services can be delivered outside their incumbent markets.”
Cable operators have been active in the home automation and security space, including Cox’s launch earlier this year. Despite competition from entrenched providers, such as ADT, home automation and security services are becoming a big business for cable operators. In addition to Cox, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon and AT&T have all deployed home security, or home automation, services in varying degrees.
Infonetics said that broadband providers were increasingly competing against the established home security companies: The bulk of those surveyed plan to offer home security services by 2015.
On the other hand, consumer education was a deployment challenge for an overwhelming majority of the survey respondents
Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cox and Comcast are all using iControl. According to Infonetics’s survey, respondent operators viewed iControl as the top home automation equipment and software supplier, followed by 4Home, Cisco, Control4 and Huawei.
