Price is a key to the new systems’ success, according to Tom Kerber, director of research for home controls and energy at Parks Associates, a Dallas research and consulting firm.

Kerber says companies such as Control4, Crestron and AMX, have for years offered high-tech systems that control lighting, home-entertainment systems and other functions. But with installation costs “in the tens of thousands of dollars,” they have reached only the top 2 percent of homeowners, he says.

Progress in wireless controls and Internet technology “makes these systems a lot more affordable and capable,” Kerber says. “They can be offered to the masses — that’s what these companies are betting.”

From the article, "Tech Life: 'Smart home' goes mass market" by Jeff Gelles

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