Content Submitted by Universal Electronics Inc.

A recent survey by Parks Associates claimed that 75% of the consumers purchasing a new device want it to work with the existing devices within their homes. This means that consumers value interoperability, but what does this actually mean? What is it that consumers really want?!

Let's take a look at some examples from today's homes. I am a consumer and want to buy a new garage door opener. Before making a purchase, I want to make sure that it works with the existing hub in my home and I can use the same interface to see my garage door status or control it!

Last week, my roommates and I decided to purchase some window shade controllers for our home and ended up spending a lot of time looking for the specific brands that work with our existing thermostat. This is what interoperability means to a consumer, that any new device that enters the home works smoothly with all other existing devices.

Interoperability can be defined as the ability of any device within an ecosystem to work with any other device that is present in the same environment without any additional efforts from the consumers. An environment where all devices work with each other in harmony.

Manufacturers have tried to address this pain point either through a centralized hub such as the TV in the living room, acting as an orchestrator in the environment or by building interoperable devices that work with major hubs or assistants already existing within the home.

A recent survey by Open Connectivity Foundation revealed that over 37% of the audience that was trying to adopt a new device, claimed that devices not working with each other was their single largest barrier in this process. They face out of the box problems with their device setup followed by unexpected difficulties in their daily usage, control, and interaction.

The increasing demand for interoperability has made manufacturers realize that for them to build successful products, it is essential to make them interoperable. Whether they are selling security cameras, garage door openers, switches, plugs, or any other device that consumers care about and have in their home, these manufacturers are forced with new challenges to ensure interoperability. These challenges involve heavy investment in designing, building and maintaining infrastructure to make their devices interoperable.  

Interoperability as a Service With QuickSet

Truly interoperable systems should consistently discover and interact with devices regardless of their underlying properties. When it comes to interoperability, QuickSet is already making major consumer electronics brands an orchestrator in the house, such that they can discover and control all compatible devices.

On the other side of interoperability, when offered as a service, QuickSet enables manufacturers to leverage the interoperability that comes native to the platform. Over 500 Million devices globally are using QuickSet to discover and interact with other devices in the home. QuickSet offering Interoperability as a Service effectively makes any device interoperable with this growing install base of devices.

Interoperability as a Service offered by QuickSet allows manufacturers to leverage the power and reach of this platform to make successful products that interoperate with already installed devices in the home without having to go through the challenges and investment mentioned above.

Our mission is to provide an unmatched user experience within the home and with this belief, we are constantly finding ways to overcome challenges such as device interoperability that add friction to today's home. For more information on Interoperability as Service, contact us here.

QuickSet offering Interoperability as a Service enables device makers and manufacturers to easily build interoperable devices.

QuickSet’s Interoperability as a Service will further address these challenges for the ecosystems that are not powered by QuickSet's technology. As an example, a sprinkler system or a garage door opener will soon be able to work with any voice assistant present in the home, using this service.  This means that device manufacturers do not have to build any additional "skills" or "actions". Stay tuned as QuickSet team is expanding the offerings in this category.