Cloud Computing for Home Control

2012 is predicted to be a red hot year for cloud-hosted home control, including security, energy management, telecommunications and whole-house automation.

CEPro foresees an increasing number of custom electronic professionals managing their services in the cloud (also known as SaaS or software as a service). Many already share Google documents or use Salesforce.com or some other cloud-based sales and CRM software.

“We’ve moved from all internal Microsoft products to manage all communications and documents in the cloud,” says Scott Newnam of Raleigh, N.C.-based Audio Advice.
Newnam thinks it may make more sense to manage some home-control functions in the cloud than it does to manage audio/video systems.

He points out that mass-market providers such as ADT,Comcast and Verizon - all of which rolled out cloud-based home-control services in 2011 - focus on security, thermostats and cameras.

“They’re very, very different from music systems and HD switching systems, which have lots of permutations that can change on a regular basis,” Newnam says. “You don’t have to go and change them [home automation devices] every day, and it’s much easier to provide that without a lot of custom logic.”

He foresees hybrid solutions where some of the less complicated subsystems like thermostats - “You might not see a new thermostat for 10 years” - are managed in the cloud, with more dynamic systems like audio and video managed locally.

Clare was launched in 2011, along with several other companies and products with the cloud at their core - and not just security and home automation, either. Several companies including startups Allure Energy , EcoFactor  and Nest, as well as old-timer Honeywell , bowed cloud-enabled (not just IP-enabled) smart thermostats. Newcomer Navvo launched the Voco music management solution with a speech-recognition engine hosted in the cloud. And virtually all of the leading power-management providers now offer cloud-based solutions.

In mid-2011, UK-based research firm ABI estimated that worldwide shipments of home automation systems for 2011 would hit about 1.8 million units. Of that, about 1.3 million, or 72 percent, would be SaaS-based. This has since proved to be a little optimistic but the signs are there that cloud-based computing is a fast growing trend in the home automation industry.

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http://www.cepro.com/article/the_cloud_why_2012_will_be_a_breakout_year/D2/