Nokia's Home Control Center platform will make it possible to turn off and turn on home appliances, monitor home energy consumption and more - also via the mobile device, remotely
Nechama Almog, ThePeople system, DailyMaily
The mobile phone manufacturer Nokia announced this weekend that it is developing a smart platform for managing home electronics and electrical accessories: HCC - Home Control Center, which will serve as the basis for future "smart home" systems. With the help of the platform, consumers will be able to check and manage the level of energy use at home and will be able to turn devices on or off and even monitor various devices, such as a camera, temperature and even movement. In the future, the company plans that most home systems will connect to the platform, including security and air conditioning systems. All solutions that will operate under the Nokia software shell will allow access to them from a smart cell phone or a personal computer, including remote access.
According to the company, the platform will be open and allow third parties to integrate their own solutions and services into it, and it will be commercially available at the end of 2009. The partner program for Nokia's HCC platform is built on five key areas: security, energy efficiency, health, building maintenance and real estate.
In a video call held by the company with journalists, Tapu Fabula, vice president and director of business development, said that the company sees potential for growth in the smart home solutions market. "Today's home contains intelligence everywhere, but so far there is no integrated solution that makes it possible to easily manage home systems. We want to create an open solution, so that external partners can also develop their own solutions and services that will run on our platform. We believe that the mobile device is an ideal interface for monitoring home intelligence, especially when the user is outside the home."
One of the company's first collaborations is with a major European energy company, RWE. As part of the collaboration, the two companies plan to develop a smart solution for managing energy consumption and checking the CO2 status at home. The first solution will be presented, according to the company, at the end of 2009, and will focus on the management of home heating. After 2009, the companies plan to develop additional services in the field of smart meters, which will allow consumers to receive real-time information on energy consumption at home and remotely monitor their electricity bills.
The company even announced that it has started working with other companies in order to define and create a base on which the next generation devices will be built, which will enable remote access to smart home systems. The company did not say more than that, but promised to present the topic and innovative ideas in the field at the Nokia World conference, which took place in early December 208 in Barcelona.
