Written by Ken Pyle, Viodi View

The human user interface/gesture recognition, multi-screen access to content and the cloud were three things that made an impression on Kurt Scherf, VP of Parks Associations, at the 2011 Connections Summit. Demonstrations of these technologies at the Tuesday night panel set the tone for this multi-day event. As Scherf points out, the value of the various devices within the home is being enhanced by the broadband connections made possible by networks outside and within the home.

Scherf anticipates that connected devices will grow from 1 billion to 8 billion by 2015. The announcement by Eric Bruno of Verizon of their $9.99 home monitoring and energy service promises a scale that until now has not been possible and is an example of a service that will drive growth of connected devices. When it launches later this year, the Verizon service could shake up the existing market for home monitoring services, as well as introduce these services to a larger market.

Scherf emphasizes the importance of cloud-based services in pulling together these devices into a network. He echoes the comment of Glenn Lurie of AT&T that anything with an electric pulse is a candidate to be part of the network. The proliferation of screens, both hand-held in the form of tablets and big screens in the form of traditional televisions, is another important part of the story told at the Connections Conference, as they are a key enabler for the new services that are being built on the broadband and cloud infrastructures.