The continued integration of structured wiring and broadband access is making home control technologies such as remote management, integrated security, and energy management more attractive to home owners, reports Parks Associates, a Dallas-based research firm.

According to its latest analysis of the home controls market, entitled Home Systems: Home Controls (Sixth Edition), lighting applications continue to dominate the home controls landscape, with 80% and 56% of all U.S. homeowners currently using control systems for outdoor and indoor lighting applications, respectively. However, emerging applications such as structured wiring and broadband have created new service possibilities for remote management, security, and energy management. The study also reveals expanded functionality has renewed homeowner interest in these applications.

Aside from recent improvements in the technology, a growing concern over energy shortages is driving the popularity of the home controls market.

“The energy crisis in California has created heightened awareness and increased demand for HVAC controls and energy management applications,” says Ian Bryant, Parks Associates' home controls analyst and author of the study. “In addition, while remote management has not become the killer application once predicted, it has found success among an important niche market, the segment of U.S. households with a second home — around 12% of all households.”

Aside from profiling 43 companies and nearly 100 products, the report provides a brief history of home controls, analyzes home control standards and technologies, looks at current automation in the home, and examines the opportunities, challenges, and recent developments driving the market.

From the article "Popularity Rising for Home Control Technologies."

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