NEW TECH
Smart Homes are
Getting Smarter
ISE 2020 Trade Show Provides Solutions for Keeping Up with the Pace of the Latest
Residential Tech Developments
By Melanie Breaker
It may well go down in smart homes history as
“The Alexa Effect.” Amazon’s Echo and Dot
unquestionably caught the imagination of
homeowners around the world. Last year, it was
estimated that more than 100 million devices
had been sold. Google hasn’t done too badly
with Home, either.
Echo/Alexa opened homeowners’ eyes to a
previously unknown world of possibilities:
sitting on your couch and turning the lights
52 Residential Tech Today | Jan/Feb 2020
down, the TV on, and the heating up, as well as
countless trivial, but entertaining, other things
that the device was capable of doing. There’s
also been explosive – and, for many, intriguing –
growth in the number of connectable home
devices available, from refrigerators to washing
machines, doorbells to security cameras, and
thermostats to garden sprinklers.
The problem for many users has been,
however, that these devices and features aren’t
always truly connected. Yes, Alexa’s skills bring
together the Kasa app, the Philips Hue app, the
SmartThings app… but wouldn’t it be good if
there were, to coin a phrase, one ring to rule
them all?
“According to the report ‘Race to Control the
Smart Home Ecosystem,’ purchase intentions
for smart home products rose from 35 percent
in 2016 to 43 percent at the end of 2018,” noted
Heinz Lux, CEO of KNX Association