The concept of the digital home has been around for decades, but only in the last few years has it become something within reach for mainstream consumers. Similar to the way the computer industry has evolved, the home automation industry has recently undergone a dramatic shift toward open-platform, lower-cost systems that are more flexible and modular than previous designs.

While heavyweights AMX and Crestron have dominated the home automation market since the early ’80s, newcomers such as Control4, Exceptional Innovation, and Lagotek are trying to build a wider customer base, where whole-house automation systems can be designed and installed for as little as $10,000.

Some of the factors that have primed the market for low-cost home automation include more affordable A/V components, improved wireless/networking technologies, the emergence of Windows Media Center, and modular home-automation devices such as light dimmers and security cameras and monitors, not to mention the need for energy management.

Already, retail chains such as Best Buy, Home Depot, and Tweeter are jumping on the bandwagon, offering Control4 and Exceptional Innovation products on their shelves, with a list of installers ready to integrate them in new or existing homes. If these newcomers have their way, a whole generation of kids will grow up with no clue of how to load a CD or flip a light switch.

A Simpler Approach?

Just as a Macintosh looks and feels different than a Windows PC, every home automation system has a different way of giving people control over the various sensors and hardware components that make up its network. All of the systems use some form of touchpads, whether in-wall or portable, to let people view and manage their audio/video, lighting, security, and heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC). Whereas AMX and Crestron installations involve several weeks of detailed programming to create highly customized interfaces and automation sequences—a factor that has limited their market acceptance—Control4 and others have taken a decidedly different tack by creating more simplified, standards-based systems that can be ready to go in a matter of days.

Using CAT5 and Ethernet, along with wireless technologies—Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and ZigBee—the various components are linked together in two-way communication systems, which can also be accessed over the Internet using a Web browser. A key attribute of these systems is their open platform and flexibility, allowing buyers to choose from a wider variety of light switches, security systems, audio/video servers, and the like, and add them into the mix one piece at a time. Unlike complex and proprietary systems such as AMX and Crestron, new-generation home integration products can be configured by any competent custom installer, and sometimes by tech-savvy consumers themselves.

“We make lots of different products, but you can build a digital home in whatever way is right for you,” explains Will West, the CEO and founder of Control4, based in Salt Lake City, UT. “You can start with a basic home theater control for a few hundred dollars, and later on add a light switch, audio zones, or whatever else you need,” he says.

Accessing the Controls

In a typical Control4 installation, a media controller with a large hard drive stores digital MP3 versions of a CD collection, so people can see all of their music with album art, create playlists, and designate music zones throughout the house. The media controller is also integrated with the home theater system, where movies stored on a large-capacity DVD changer show up alongside TV and music on the entertainment menu. The remote control for the system can be an in-wall screen, a portable touch screen tablet, or even a Web browser on a PC. All of the other hardware hooked into the system, from lighting to thermostats to the garage door, can be controlled using the same remote.

“People like to use these (Control4) systems for lighting, music, TV, and garage doors they want to know the doors are closed and love to shut them from inside the house,” says John Dorsey, president of Diem Digital Interiors in Dallas, a company that has specialized in Control4 installations for the last two years. “They also love to see their music collections on a TV. It’s like they bought everything over again, and they now have easy access to it all.”

The Control4 system can employ both wired (CAT5) and wireless (ZigBee) networking, and sometimes a mix of both. In new homes, where the whole-house CAT5 network is increasingly a standard feature, it’s more practical to use CAT5 wiring throughout, because it’s more reliable than wireless and has plenty of bandwidth for streaming audio and video.

Enlisting Windows

Exceptional Innovation, the company that built the home of the future for the CEDIA trade show in Denver, was launched by CEO Seale Moorer, whose own experience with a startup custom installation service and study of marketing data from companies such as Forrester Research convinced him that the time was right for mainstream system integration. EI’s Lifeware combines control of everything from home entertainment systems to kitchen functions to heating/cooling, lighting, and security.

Lifeware has a simple user interface whose appearance is consistent whether seen on a widescreen TV, a computer monitor, or a small touchscreen. The software is heavily integrated with Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition software, so all of the menus and interface elements look almost identical whether you are managing music and movies or thermostats and security. The system is very flexible with file storage and access, too. You can store digital media on either a central server or Media Center PCs spread across your network, and it’s all accessible from any Lifeware interface (PC, touch panel, PDA) in the home. So if you load a flash media card into a PC in your office, you can view the pictures almost immediately via the Media Center PC connected to a TV in your family room.

“So simple a child can use it” sounds like marketing hype, but it’s an accurate description of Lifeware. “Consumers love it,” Moorer says. “A short test drive is all it takes to convince them. Their only question is, ‘When can I get it?’”

Flexible and Affordable

One of the main reasons people are warming up to home automation is that the prices of new systems have dropped dramatically. We are all getting used to the idea of managing our music and videos in more convenient and compelling ways. The emergence of iPods and ripping music has paved the way for media servers and wireless music systems, so the idea of managing our music and videos hand-in-hand with our lights and thermostats doesn’t seem so far fetched. At the end of the day, though, giving people an affordable, flexible system is what it’s all about for these new companies. “Our mission at EI is to make it more affordable, less an art, more a science, and 100 percent reliable,” asserts Moorer.

Control4 and Exceptional Innovation differ from traditional home-automation systems by giving home owners more control over day-to-day settings and features. If you want to set up an automated sequence to dim the lights and shut the drapes when a movie starts, it can be done using a menu-controlled interface. Both companies also sell a variety of on-site and remote services, so that dealers can connect to a system and make changes to it over the Internet. Although Control4's components are much easier to install than an AMX or Crestron system—the company has been putting its products in places such as Tweeter and Home Depot for people with a DIY ethic—professional installers still do most of the heavy lifting.

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Habla TCP/IP?

Some of the biggest factors in a custom automation company’s success are the number and quality of dealers they have. Not only do dealers install and customize the systems, but they also help market the products and consult with potential customers. As companies such as Control4, Exceptional Innovation, and Lagotek take advantage of low cost networking technologies to drive their systems, installers have to keep pace by learning new and sometimes complex computing skills.

Whereas AMX has its own university curriculum, with three different certification tracks—Installer, Designer, and Programmer—requiring weeks and months of detailed instruction, Lagotek and Control4 conduct three or four day training courses, with primers on wireless technologies such as Z-Wave, ZigBee, and Wi-Fi and hands-on installation routines.

“There is a learning curve for dealers, but they are more than willing and we are making it as painless as possible,” says Ilya Billig, vice president of business development at Lagotek. Part of the Lagotek installation requires a Cisco router, which can be a difficult configuration, so the company hired consultants to develop a software tool to help dealers through the process.

While networking over CAT5 has been a fixture in the computer industry for years, the home automation market has only recently adopted it, along with wireless mesh networks that enable audio and video streaming and two-way communication between devices. Because many of the new home-automation systems are designed to integrate a wide variety of third-party products—lights, security, stereo systems—they are described as “open” systems. Of course, installing any full-fledged home automation system can be difficult without some prior knowledge or instruction, and the more technologies you add into the mix, the trickier it gets.

“I think ‘open’ can be a problem,” says John Dorsey, president of Diem Digital Interiors in Dallas. “I’m an IT guy and I don’t want unlimited options, with vendors all over the place. You can’t have the relationships you need, and if something doesn’t work with something else, you start finger-pointing.”

The shift to more open platform systems is sure to come with its own unique challenges and problems, but the more familiar dealers are with the underlying computing technologies, the more success they will have with this new breed of automation system.