If things go as planned, the home’s service bundle subscription – which can currently include phone, digital television, Internet, and wireless – may get a little bigger. Home control and home security product manufacturers are in an effort to partner with telecommunication companies and MSOs to include their home automation and remote monitoring products and services into established service providers’ bundles. This so-called “Quintuple Play” will bring easy-to-use home control devices and applications into the home, enabling remote monitoring, simple lighting and HVAC control, and remotely-accessed home security.

The New Kid in the Bundle
The total “smart home” has been somewhat late in arriving. High-end, integrated systems are available to the more affluent among us, but the average homeowner is still reluctant to adopt lighting, HVAC, and security integration solutions into the home, despite the fact that readily available and relatively inexpensive products exist. “When it comes to home control, the consumer needs products that are available, affordable, and easy-to-use,” says Mark Walters, chairperson of the Z-Wave Alliance. The Z-Wave Alliance is a collection of home control, home automation, and home security product manufacturers who have adopted Z-Wave wireless communication technology into their products. Walters insists that the products available through Z-Wave member companies – which include devices for lighting control, HVAC control, security, motorized shades, entertainment, and appliance control, to name a few – meet those three consumer needs. The next step is to “engage the consumer, and communicate the value of these services,” says Walters. 

The Z-Wave Alliance is of the belief that the telecommunication companies, utility companies, and multiple service operators (MSOs) are positioned to do just that. These service providers are trusted household names, believes Walters, so the added service of home control, remote monitoring, and even smart energy metering, would be easier to sell to the consumer if done through these providers. Walters also believes that it is in the service providers’ best interests to explore this promising new service. “They are all looking for new applications and ways to increase their revenue per customer, in order to keep their customers,” he says. 

So what would those new applications be? This might vary from provider to provider. A utility company, for example, might integrate energy monitoring and smart metering to their services provided to the consumer. When a two-way communication system is established between the utility and the home, the company can remotely monitor and read real-time energy consumption, and it can send messages and alerts to the home (and the homeowner) when energy consumption – and thus cost – on the grid is reaching a peak. That alert can come via email or text message, and the homeowner can take appropriate steps by powering down unnecessary appliances or devices, reducing the home’s consumption, thereby saving on bills and decreasing the load on the grid. 

For the service providers whose quadruple plays currently include digital television, internet, phone, and wireless, the fifth service in the Quintuple Play bundle could be home control, remote monitoring, and/or safety and security devices and services (sometimes referred to as SMA, or security, monitoring, and automation). The devices would be available through the service provider in the form of a “starter kit” of some sort, with an up-front cost that may or may not include installation. A monthly fee would cover remote access to the system, and – in the case of the security application – professional monitoring. 

The Home Security In-Road to the Digital Home
The most likely fifth service in the Quintuple Play bundle will be home security. uControl, a manufacturer of home security and control devices, is currently working with no less than 10 service providers across North America (including Tier 1 companies) on the trial phase of integrating their home security and monitoring products (see tabletop touchscreen below) into the service providers’ current offerings. “Home security will be the first wave for this new service,” says Jason Domangue, VP of marketing for uControl. “With home security, there is an existing model out there, and one-quarter of American homes already have some sort of home security system,” Domangue adds. In the trial phases underway with uControl-partnered MSOs, subscribing customers have uControl’s “TouchScreen” gateway integrated into their home. The wireless device acts as gateway between the Internet, a professional monitoring station, and the home’s security and control devices; it also serves as a control device, enabling touch screen activation and monitoring of the system. 

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Ben Hardy - Contributing Writer

Between watching re-runs of the The Jetsons and convincing his Insteon and Z-Wave controls to get along, Ben Hardy is immersed in the world of home automation, home control, and home networking.