Whoever networks his home today usually decides on one system only. If a specialist is commissioned, a fully networked home based on KNX is obtained from manufacturers such as Gira. In addition, he can control his entire house: regulate the heating, monitor the home or enjoy music in every room – all with a control panel. Disadvantages of these total solutions: They are relatively expensive and the installation is only worthwhile in the new building or in the building renovation.
A platform for all
Therefore, if you have a rented apartment, you are more likely to use retrofitting solutions. In contrast to the KNX solutions, these systems communicate by radio.
Partners are asked
But what happens if you intend to combine elements from manufacturer A and manufacturer B? So, for example, to network its eQ-3 HomeMatic package with the smart Philips Hue lighting solution?
Nothing, because the systems use different radio standards. Deutsche Telekom wants to change this with QIVICON. The idea is that QIVICON acts as an interpreter, so that products that use different languages, ie standards, can communicate.
Holger Knöpke, Head of Connected Home at Deutsche Telekom, is convinced: "The smart home market can only stand out if there is a common platform." This platform is for him a small white box the size of a router to connect the individual components of a Smart Home. The central gateways of eQ-3 HomeMatic and Philips Hue from our example would no longer be necessary. The first QIVICON products are expected to hit the market this year.
To operate these products, QIVICON provides a basic control system that can be accessed via a web browser - locally, but also on the move. For this, the QIVICON Homebase must be connected to a router by LAN cable. For extended functions, apps from partners are necessary. QIVICON is like Android an open platform, for which any software can develop.
EQ-3 could thus program a separate app for QIVICON so that all functions of the system can be used. At the same time, eQ-3 in its app could record the complete control of Philips Hue. Even pure software developers have the possibility to offer paid apps for products.
As beautiful as this idea may seem, it is a long way to go there. For QIVICON stands and falls with the partners who support the platform. So far, 24 of different areas have been announced: lighting, health, safety, household appliances, climate and entertainment electronics. These include such well-known manufacturers as eQ-3, EnBW, Samsung or Miele. But how the collaboration looks exactly is not known in many cases.
The solar company SOLON is working on a solution to increase the consumption of solar power. D-Link plans to cooperate in the area of network cameras. With its next generation of devices, Miele intends to launch QIVICON-compatible washing machines on the market. Concrete announcements sound different.
However, QIVICON can not be marketed badly without partner products. This is why the market launch may have been delayed. The first idea for QIVICON was developed in early 2011. The platform was also shown at the IFA last year.
More specifically, the collaboration with eQ-3. A radio transmitter, which supports the eQ-3 HomeMatic standard, is installed in the QIVICON control center. The development of its own QIVICON app is, however, not planned according to eQ-3 CEO Bernd Grohmann. This would be left to other software programmers.
Further radio standards are to be retrofitted later in the headquarters. For this purpose, the HomeBase has USB interfaces, to which radio transmitters can be docked in the form of sticks. Compatible products are also to be marketed by QIVICON for market launch. According to Holger Knöpke, the price for a starter package with the headquarters and various components is between 600 and 1,000 euros.
How QIVICON worked, we could already experience at the Deutsche Telekom in Darmstadt. Holger Knöpke showed how easy components of different manufacturers can be booked and controlled via the web browser or physical switches. However, the true benefits of QIVICON will only become apparent if the partners presented demonstrate concrete applications and QIVICON supports more radio standards.
What we were able to experience in Darmstadt - the switching on and off of light and a radio via a toggle switch or an app - already enable starter kits like RWE SmartHome - though not over components from different manufacturers.
While QIVICON is partnering with partnerships, small start-ups are also working to revolutionize the Smart Home. With a similar approach.
Such as Flatout Technologies from Vienna. The company wants to bring a universal gateway like QIVICON to the market at the end of this year with the following difference: The apps for web browsers, smartphones and tablets, which control everything, it programs itself and does not rely on partners. At the end of this year, the gateway will be able to communicate with Z-Wave and KNX components.
Homee from Stuttgart, on the other hand, relies on a USB stick that turns the DSL router into a universal smart home gateway. The stick sells home already on its website www.homee.de
These two start-ups are by far not the only ones who want to create a universal solution for the smart home. Many of them use the mini- mum Raspberry Pi, which is ideal for this purpose. Hobby hobbyists also use it to build their own smart home center.
How this works, describes the book Hausautomation with Raspberry Pi by E. F. Engelhardt (published by FRANZIS-Verlag). It explains how the heating or the garage door can be programmed for control by smartphone. The Smart Home Revolution therefore appears to be imminent, but the initial ignition is still missing.
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