"Roles for the wireless networking technologies are still evolving along with the guidelines around interoperability," said Michael Inouye, ABI senior analyst. "Looking further into the future, the next evolutionary stage will come from the integration of services, applications, and technologies - this includes virtual assistants, indoor positioning, and connected CE. The market still has a Wild West feel, but it's moving quickly, and companies need to work together to ensure the market lives up to its potential."
The report said market-wide interoperability will come from open software frameworks and protocols, but gave a nod to iControl's OpenHome Partner Program, which encourages third-party device manufacturers to become certified on the iControl platform. The company then offers this platform to cable operators and home security companies.
"The OEMs can offer solutions to all of our service provider customers who are the ones driving mass market adoption of connected home solutions today," said Greg Roberts, VP of marketing for iControl Networks. "It is a distribution opportunity that they otherwise wouldn't have. It very much helps build the ecosystem and helps from a pricing perspective."
Roberts also said, however, that one effect of standardization would be to bring device pricing down substantially. "What has unfortunately happened is that even though a number of us use open standards, there still are a number of different platform type solutions out there," he said. "Because of that ... we have really standardized (our platform) on open protocols - Zigbee, Z-Wave, WiFi. If others become more predominant in the marketplace, we will adopt that technology. It is a tough call to drive an industry in a direction when major players want to go their own way."
In the meantime, the platform that iControl offers the home security industry utilizes WiFi and Z-Wave, while the cable operator version is Zigbee and WiFi-based. Each market demanded these different technologies. "We would love for there to be one technology," Roberts said. "Until that happens, we will continue to embrace what the market demands."
On the other hand, competing technology and standards sometimes drive innovation, Roberts said. "If you have a winner, many times that will hinder differentiation .... There are good things about competition from a standards perspective."
Yet from a realistic perspective, price is extremely important to mass market adoption, and one set of standards would be more effective in driving down costs, Roberts said. Other market drivers include taking the friction point away from consumers so the solution is as easy to adopt as possible, and understanding the trigger points for specific geographies.
"(It's about) accommodating a solution to meet the needs of a geography rather than building a solution you think will work for all geographies and (about) target marketing. You need to target the right product to the right consumer," Roberts said.