The Smart Home, Part II

Bridging the Gap

As utilities move forward with their smart meter deployments, they've turned to a set of companies that offer enhanced communication services that link those meters to utility networks – and perhaps to home networks as well.

Three companies – Silver Spring Networks, Trilliant and SmartSynch – stand out for Canaccord Adams equity research managing director John Quealy as companies that "have very clear pathways to interface inside the home."

Silver Spring Networks has received a lot of attention with its Internet protocol (IP)-based communication network, broadcast over an RF mesh system, which is now being deployed by utilities including Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Florida Power & Light, American Electric Power and others. The Redwood City-based company said in December it had $500 million in utility contracts and expected that to grow to $1 billion.

It's also drawn attention from the money it has raised – most recently a $75 million investment led by Silicon Valley powerhouse VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (see Silver Spring Grabs $75M). It promises the ability to communicate across an array of communications, including RF mesh, WiMax and next-generation cellular.

In home area networking, Silver Spring has a "technology alliance program" that includes many home energy-monitoring companies, including Tendril, Greenbox, Control4, Energate, Radio Thermostat and, most recently, Onzo.

Trilliant is another company putting the communication smarts inside smart meters and home area network systems. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company is more than 20 years old, but reformed in 2004 to concentrate on the smart grid space. It landed $40 million from MissionPoint Partners and Zouk Ventures in August.

Trilliant has deals with about 200 utilities, among the largest with Ontario, Canada utility Hydro One, where they've hooked up about 750,000 homes so far. The company builds a "multi-tiered network" that uses a beefed-up version of the 802.15.4 wireless standard – which the ZigBee protocol uses for in-home equipment – as its primary home-to-utility concentrator point communications technology, according to Eric Miller, Trilliant's chief solutions officer.

As for the home area network field, Trilliant is involved in a pilot project for Louisville Gas and Electric, where they've hooked up about 2,000 homes with pilot home power monitoring systems made by Aztech Associates, smart thermostats made by Energate, and load control switches made by Entec, Miller said.

SmartSynch is using a different means of communication – the existing cellular networks of AT&T and others. The Jackson, Miss.-based company has business with more than 100 utilities, mostly in industrial and commercial smart metering.

On the home area network front, SmartSynch is involved in a pilot project to test its ability to provide smart meter communications to home devices, CEO Stephen Johnston said, though he wouldn't provide details.

Smart Appliances, Home Automation

Once the home area network is in place, there's little doubt that the big boys of home appliances will be on its heels, said John Quealy, managing director of equity research at Canaccord Adams.

Whirlpool was a partner in PNNL's GridWise project, he noted, and other major "white box" manufacturers are also moving ahead with smart appliance plans.

General Electric, for one, intends to introduce a line of "Energy Management Enabled Appliances" in the first quarter of this year, and plans to test them out with Louisville Gas and Electric Co.

Lighting giant Phillips is also getting into the game. The Amsterdam-based company has a partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to jointly research building energy efficiency, with wireless-enabled lighting as a first objective. Products could be coming out this year.

And a consortium that includes Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and Philips has agreed to use ZigBee for remote controls for next-generation TVs and other consumer electronics – and observers say some of them are eyeing energy monitoring and control capabilities in their new devices as well (see Will Utilities Control Your TV?).

Of course, the idea of a "smart home" with Internet-enabled appliances has been around for more than a decade without catching on with consumers. But a utility-sponsored network that can give homeowners ways to save energy might just be the way to spark their interest.

That's according to a market survey released at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. Funded by a consortium including Whirlpool, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft Corporation, Procter & Gamble and the Z-Wave Alliance, the survey found that energy monitoring was one area that seemed to resonate with consumers otherwise interested in the idea of – but not excited about paying for – smart appliances.

But if utilities can succeed in putting home area networks in place, there's little reason why every company making power-using stuff for the home won't jump on board, Quealy said.

"You've got to think that people are focusing on lower energy consumption products" in general, he said. "If it communicates, all the better. It's not an expensive add-on feature."

"In terms of other devices, it comes down to Whirlpool coming down to buying a chipset" from providers like Ember and Freescale Semiconductor for ZigBee-enabled communications, he said. "We've heard of consumer electronics providers out of Asia looking for ZigBee chips for that 2010 timeframe."

"Then you've got Honeywell and Johnson Controls," mainstays in the building automation field that are likely to become more aggressive in the home area network field, Quealy said. Other such giants include Siemens and Schneider Electric.

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