The concept has been woven around Aftek's flagship IP Jadugar, which can operate and communicate, without interruption, between various protocol interfaces like GPRS, GSM, Bluetooth and VoIP. The solution is based on this platform and the company has developed software and hardware around the same. The main control motherboard is interfaced with wires to various points like telephone lines and network related connections. Commands for switching on/off travel between the control and sensor units to the board. While the company optimizes and customizes the OS, it comes from standard vendors ranging from Embedded Linux and Windows CE, while on the server side Desktop Linux and Desktop Windows is used.

Smart Tips for Smart Homes

The level of bandwidth at your home should be as high as possible Get wiring done throughout the house Brick and cement affect wireless network; signals are stronger through wood Continuous power supply or else invest in a spike protection unit Check out the size, noise it makes and performance capabilities How easy is it to use-can you turn it on without a keyboard? If you have a gaming focus, the memory and hard disk drive should be big enough

However, it's not just Aftek but a host of vendors who are making efforts to have similar smart homes across the country. Software giant, Microsoft, which launched its concept early this year on a partner driven model, has a clear idea of what a smart home should look like. "Our smart home is to give consumers an environment where they can integrate various technologies with their everyday lives in a seamless manner," says Rishi Srivastava, director, Windows Client Business Group, Microsoft. Entertainment, security and automation of processes are three key elements in a digital home, he adds.

He recognizes the fact that the market is still nascent. According to him, "Though the idea of digital homes is not new, the market in India is very small, so our thrust really is to first spread awareness about what technology can offer."

Consumer electronics company Samsung India's deputy-managing director, R Zutshi, agrees when he says, "We are still in a 'market creation' and 'awareness creation' stage, and it is still very early. For instance, till 2005, a huge chunk of the market for digital still cameras and camcorders was grey (approximate 65%), and it is only now that it's coming into the fold of the organized market."

The digital camera market grew by leaps and bounds in 2005, registering a growth of 60% in unit terms on yearly basis and a CAGR of 43% for the organized market between 2006-10. According to IDC, this is just the beginning. The growth of these is a good sign as these would lead to growth of digital homes.

The fact that there are too many choices available to the consumer in not just the digital camera market but also in the other product ranges-is an optimistic sign. As per industry estimates flat CTVs; VCD/DVD players; Microwaves, and PCs, all saw more than 25% growth in 2005 and other product categories are fast catching up.

According to Zutshi, "Samsung is not marketing it as a concept solution, it is promoting its digital products through its brand shops. Till last year, we did not even have too many products in the digital product range, but now we have introduced many products. What we want to do is offer top quality products at competitive prices."

The phone makers too are gearing up. Mobile handset maker, Nokia, feels that the increasing consumption of digital content, such as music, photographs, and video, on a variety of different consumer electronic devices coupled with new connectivity solutions such as wireless local area network (WLAN) is ushering in a revolution in how people consume digital content-both outside and inside the house.

The leader in the mobile phone maker market aims to be at the forefront of developing the networked home by providing solutions that introduce mobile handsets to the digital home offering, said a Nokia spokesperson. Although Nokia's UPnP enabled phones are available in India, these have not really taken off, says the Nokia spokesperson. Nevertheless, Nokia is bullish about the market picking up.

Apprehension Aplenty
Consumer electronics major, LG's R&D, consumer electronics and IT head, Vipin Gupta, more or less agrees with the phone maker but feels there is still a long time before the digital home concept truly picks up. "What we know from our experience is that prototype concepts do not work here. At the moment we find the digital home concept gaining popularity in small bursts-from LCDs to digital cameras and camcorders," he quips in a mater of fact manner. Nevertheless, LG already has a global concept of digital home in place.

Whether the market indicates a go-ahead also matters to chip giant, Intel. While Intel has a global concept paper ready, John McClure, director, marketing and operations, Intel South Asia, says, there are no plans to launch the technology in India. "We had carried out a study to see if the time was right. We found, that it wasn't," adds he.

Intel has named their digital concept, the 'Viiv' technology. The concept includes latest devices from all major companies along with a powerful computer to obey and perform according to the will of its user. The whole system of their digital home is cordless and free from all types of switches and cables.

Even though these top IT giants are at various stages of conceptualization of the digital home idea, apprehensions of introducing their products in India are clearly visible, as they feel the Indian market is not yet ready for adopting the same. Pricing is another crucial issue that the consumer electronics companies feel, needs to be resolved. It is also an area where the government has an important role to play as well. "In 2005, the government had cut down duty on MP3 players by approximately 16% and the idea really was to create a market for it through encouraging competition. Till then one only had MP3s from Apple," explains Zutshi as a case in point. LG's Vipin Gupta admits that LG's concept of digital home, Home Net, which is still available in the market, did not take off primarily because of pricing and poor Internet infrastructure.

On the other hand both Intel and HP refrained from spelling out a timeframe for introducing their advanced technologies for digital home in the Indian market. According to an HP spokesperson the company is trying to get some clarity on issues like the end customer cost of digital homes. "We are close to finalizing details of digital homes, and by the end of the year we would be able to shed some light on our concept," is the only thing he said.

Page(s)   1  2  3