The home of the future will look like a page from a sci-fi movie or a Popular Mechanics magazine, but is still a few years away from being commonplace. So says a consortium of companies showcasing the so-called "smart home" in Germany this week.
The idea is to be able to use the Internet to lock or unlock doors; operate the security system, thermostats or lights; and use a Web cam to view the home's interior.
Members of the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) alliance, which includes the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Echelon, IBM, Philips, ProSyst, and Telefonica de Espana, are at the e/home show in Berlin showing off how different products work in concert to give consumers a smart kitchen, remote access to systems and appliances and home networked entertainment.
San Ramon, Calif.-based OSGi is a non-profit, cross-industry consortium that offers vendor-neutral, multiply-sourced specifications to deliver and manage services through a network that runs locally on a remote device. Earlier this year, the group unveiled pilot program that puts the popular OnStar automobile service in homes.
The group's Service Platform supports network delivered services for a remote device that can then run locally or in conjunction with other network resources. The specification is explicitly designed to be open and synergistic with a wide range of existing networking and computer technologies and enhances virtually all current networking standards and initiatives.
The OSGi does similar work to Monterey, Calif.-based Internet Home Alliance, a non-profit association of leading high-tech and consumer companies.
But the true networked home of the future is still a ways off, with the slow uptake of Net-connected, non-PC devices in the home.
While in-home technology such as easy-to-install wireless networks and gateways and Net-enabled devices such as stereos already are available, sales have not met the hopes of the industry.
"Ten years ago, cell phones and pagers were uncommon. Today they're pervasive," says Internet Home Alliance chaiman Bill Kenney. "The Alliance is working to anticipate and develop products that will deliver the same 'must have' value that cell phones and pagers provide. Our success depends on our ability to help the customer understand that the solutions we develop in our pilot programs can make life better. Our job is to get these solutions within the reach of the customer sooner rather than later."
The other main factor gumming up the works is a "research initiative designed to identify the unmet needs of the customer." The programs depend on feedback from consumers before making them pilot programs to make sure customers are interested or eager to spend the money on Internet-enhanced homes.
