Prior to Parks Associates’ 22nd-annual CONNECTIONS: The Premier Connected Home Conference, Joe Liu, CEO, Mivatek Smart Connect spoke with the analyst team to discuss the future of the connected home.

Joe will be participating on the Future of the Connected Home: Delivering on Promises panel on Thursday, May 24, at 10:30 AM. Panelists joining him on this session include:

Christopher Baskin, CEO, American Two-Way
Bob Gulino, Founder and VP Marketing, Nuro Technologies
Lainie Muller, Director, Wellness, Alarm.com
Jeffrey Weiner, VP, Product, Marketing and Sales, Mersoft

Given the continual increase in the number of connected products, how can providers ease consumer concerns associated with data security and privacy?
A distributed premise IoT system requires security and privacy guard, working with cloud-app software to prevent data hacking, especially audio and video theft. Mivatek Smart Connect has multiple patents on low-cost security and video privacy control.

How will artificial intelligence (AI) impact the smart home, IoT, and connected entertainment landscapes in 2018 and beyond?
AI is a high growth area for smart home IoT, especially edge video analytics. AI will have overwhelming impact on future connected offerings, especially as the technology improves and the AI systems grow more proficient at learning the living patterns of the smart-home owner.

What effect will the implementation of 5G technologies have on connected consumers? What effect will it have on providers?
Consumers will be able to enjoy less than $1.0/node 5G narrowband-IoT service. Providers will be able to deploy more 5G IoT service. So ultimately, it will be lower-cost service for consumers, and providers will be able to deliver more of it.

How might blockchain impact the smart home landscape? Is it worthy of all the hype?
The decentralized nature of block chain-based approaches will help service providers to detect unwanted guests. It can have significant impact in the smart home arena, as block chains are secure by design from tampering and revision: once recorded, the data in a block cannot be altered. Consequently, it offers an effective decentralized identity management approach. However, it will involve significant energy, delay, and computational overhead. For a distributed premise IoT system, we have a proven, cost-effective way to take care of consumers’ data security and video privacy protection.

Have you seen any new cutting-edge innovations that could tip the smart home scale from early adopter to mass market adoption?
Google Home, Amazon Echo and API are cutting-edge drivers bridging the chasm. The recent price drop is another key driver in helping to generate mass-market adoption. Google Home and Amazon Echo are particularly important because of the increased interest by consumers in voice control of their smart home devices. API’s are significant because they allow connected-device manufacturers to design third-party products that can communicate easily with specialized software programs. Amazon’s Smart Home Skill API, for example, allows smart home appliance manufacturers to create products that can communicate with Alexa, Amazon’s voice recognition software.

Will the rise of DIY solutions significantly impact the traditional security landscape?
Yes, it will. But it’s important to look at DIY security in two ways. One is the aspect of consumers installing security systems on their own, which is becoming increasingly popular. This starts to eliminate the need for professional installers and integrators as the installation process becomes simpler and faster due to the introduction of more plug-and-play systems). But in addition, one has to look at the MIY (Monitor It Yourself) aspect of security. What this means is that instead of paying the high monthly cost of involving Central Monitoring Stations, many consumers who don’t feel the need to have their homes watched 24/7, are electing to monitor their homes themselves, receiving alerts only when incidents occur.

How can companies capitalize on consumer interest in a home insurance-smart home connection? What potential impact will that interest have for business models on both sides?
When you can connect security devices and water leak, Fire/Smoke safety sensors at home to alert multiple family members, and caretakers, even directly to first responders from cell phones, the likelihood of damage payout – and the amount of actual payouts - can be reduced substantially. As a result, the insurance company is willing to provide FREE smart-devices to homeowners to reduce damage payouts, and consumers are willing to install smart devices for discounted insurance premiums.

For more information on CONNECTIONS, visit: www.connectionsus.com.