Intamac Case Study

Digital Home: how about offering peace of mind first?

By Reginald Warlop

This weekend I read through a large stack of articles about the Digital Home and it struck me that the primary focus was how PC’s, entertainment systems and appliances can be networked together.

The mechanics and the resulting ‘combinatorial’ functionality may be an interesting topic, but it fails to address what would fulfil people’s needs in the Digital Home.  Is the sharing of music and films through a home network such a killer app for the masses? The internet fridge example is another digital home cliché that makes people wonder when they will embrace the Digital Home.  Forrester’s recent Digital Home Manifesto lists ‘household budget management’ and printing as the most pressing applications. Indeed – lots of confusion out there.

While the media are fixed on Sony’s and Microsoft’s digital home moves, there’s a less sexy industry that is quietly undergoing a major transformation: security.  Arguably, security systems were the first digitally networked systems in the home and today, Americans spend $19Bn yearly on security. Home security is high on people’s shortlist of needs and according to research performed by Parks & Associates, those needs are much broader than catching burglars. One’s need for peace of mind comes in the form of knowing when your children come home, whether or not your grandmother is up and about, whether or not the nanny is just watching TV all day.

Peace of mind scenarios are likely to combine the whole spectrum of Digital Home technologies:  mobile devices, security systems, cameras, new IP-based sensors, Wi-Fi, Broadband routers, browsers, SMS, and email. While the technical incompatibilities are ironed-out through consortia in the next few years, companies such as Intamac operate a connectivity hub in the internet. For example, they can indirectly connect a brand new Linksys Wi-Fi camera to a traditional security system, thereby opening a new range of peace of mind capabilities. When a presence detector picks up a signal, Intamac captures a picture and sends it in a MMS to a mobile phone chosen by the owner. This connectivity hub enables a gradual adoption path, leveraging familiar technologies and expanding the variety of applications to meet simple needs.

Companies such as Xanboo and Intamac are creating innovative solutions that offer consumers the peace of mind they are searching for. Xanboo has swimming pool monitoring and elderly care solutions. At Ariadne Capital, I work closely with Kevin Meagher, the CEO of Intamac. He has gained strong insights on the growth of the digital home and how it can deliver what consumers want - particularly when it comes to 'peace of mind'. Using a web-browser, Intamac's customers can flexibly configure how events, coming from a variety of home monitoring devices, can trigger different alert mechanisms. Currently, some customers monitor their vacation property for flood hazards, while monitoring also which estate agent is showing their property around. Instead of pushing high-end ‘closed’ solutions, companies such as Intamac are offering a flexible, gradual adoption path starting with home monitoring. 

The debate on who will own the universal home gateway has started. While Cisco, Microsoft and Sony are eying that position, the evidence suggests that web based platforms operated by specialist Vendors will be increasingly essential in the digital home market.  More importantly, the way to achieve success in the digital Home market may be to focus on using the technology to meeting today's needs and then drive it towards tomorrow’s vision.