Ninety million houses around the world will have some form of home automation system in place by 2017, a study revealed.
According to ABI Research, home automation systems allow users to control aspects of their home, such as lighting or temperature, and monitor elements such as energy usage either remotely or from a central control panel.
This growth will be driven largely by the increasing levels of connectivity in our daily lives and the emergence - and expansion - of smartphone technology which allows users to monitor and control their home systems while on the move.
Market changes are also doing away with expensive, up-front instillation costs, in favor of monthly subscription plans, making home automation systems more affordable for the mainstream consumer.
Some of the biggest home automation companies in North America are ADT, Comcast, Verizon, Lowe's, however the report predicts that demand will outstrip supply and create ‘a raft of new partnerships.'
“The North American market has long been the dominant region for home automation systems and now it is leading the way with managed home automation subscription services,” says Jonathan Collins, principal analyst, wireless healthcare and M2M.
“In the past two years, service providers, including telecoms, cable, security, and energy, have all launched additional home automation services for managing energy use or security monitoring to their suites of monthly billed services.”
