Jeff Wilson, Director of Product Management at NETGEAR, responds to this industry question: "What do you think is the most challenging issue for your company as it relates to the residential energy management market?"

The biggest challenge for Netgear is to make fewer devices in the home do more. I think the topic of this panel is a great starting place. In the past we have talked about adding energy management and measurement systems in the home and linking them to home automation systems for a "unified" experience. The tendency is to incrementally add devices to get the information and control capabilities you need. Thinking of energy management systems as a separate sub-system or even separate and distinct devices within the home has led to fragmented networks and infrastructures that are costly, hard to install and integrate and challenging to upgrade.

As an industry we need to find ways to leverage devices and infrastructure in new ways rather than adding more widgets to the connected home. We also need to focus on the three C's that homeowners really care about - Comfort, Cost and Convenience. Any connected home solution needs to focus on the fact that people have limited free time and want to enjoy the time they have at home, and that they expect comfort and convenience - and while they acknowledge that being green is good - saving energy is worthwhile if it saves money without sacrificing comfort and convenience.

These are the same challenges that face us throughout the Connected Home. While consumers move through the world connecting to one app through one phone from one network, there is still much to be desired in obtaining seamless, overall connectivity and interoperability across devices and networks. In order for this to evolve the next revolution of CE devices need to be intelligent, converged solutions that combine multiple functions into one seamless form factor. Through these converged devices integrated with management functionalities, consumers will be able to control a variety of home solutions from one single device compared to downloading multiple applications to only manage a few. And while these devices are close to our doorstep, it is the connected infrastructure and interoperability that is the furthest away. What types of converged devices are being developed and, more importantly, can the truly connected infrastructure even work?

The most significant innovations in history are based on simplicity, not complexity. We need to accomplish our goals for an energy efficient connected home through synthesis and convergence, not by brute force. At Netgear we are looking for unique ways to combine information derived from sources both inside and outside of the home for comfort and convenience, and of course to improve energy efficiency.

Jeff Wilson is speaking at the fifth-annual Smart Energy Summit on Wednesday, February 19. He is part of the session "Energy Management Capabilities of Smart Home Systems and Connected Products," with other company representatives from Aeris Communications, Constellation, Smartenit, and SmartThings.

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