Gesture recognition, smart home services, energy management solutions, and multiscreen video services among top trends from 2011 CES

Parks Associates anticipates 2011 will mark the resurgence of the Smart Home concept following a series of CES announcements as well as research showing U.S. consumers value energy management as a lifestyle choice as well as a cost-saving measure.

CES 2011 featured several significant announcements for connected home systems and services, smart appliances, and broadband-enabled home monitoring services, including Verizon’s Home Monitoring Control offering, which featured applications for a web camera, lighting control, outlet modules, and a communicating thermostat. Consumers are starting to see energy-efficient products and services as a means to improve their home and personal comfort as well as for cost savings, which opens the market for a variety of solutions from utilities, service providers, and manufacturers.

Parks Associates will further explore the opportunities and implications of residential energy management at the upcoming Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, January 24-26, in Austin, Texas.

CES 2011 also featured a variety of sophisticated gesture-recognition and multiplatform connectivity solutions.

Other key CES 2011 innovations center on solutions that link mobile and portable CE such as smartphones and tablet computers to the television so consumers can move seamlessly between platforms and even "flick" video from an iPad to an Internet-connectable TV. The use of complementary video viewing devices has significant implications on how interactive television and TV Everywhere concepts will evolve.

Control4 Announces New Line of Home Energy Manager Products at Distributech

Control4 Corporation, a leader in affordable IP-based control and entertainment systems, announced a new line of Home Energy Manager products that will use the Control4® Operating System to provide a platform for consumers to connect their home to the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) being developed by the major utility companies worldwide.

Control4 is among the first companies to announce a complete solution for the home area network. The Control4® platform will provide programmable thermostat control, load disconnect measurement and control, and allow consumers the flexibility to add lighting control, pool/spa control, sprinkler control, and other features to their control system.

The Control4® Home Energy Manager will provide the utility industry with a practical, reliable and affordable platform for the home. Control4 is among the first companies to offer all of the critical pieces of technology for the home environment including a Home Area Network, an In-Home Display and a Smart Thermostat. The Control4® platform will let utility companies offer customers an intuitive interface that integrates usage analytics with software and hardware solutions for the home and that complements the utility’s load management software. Homeowners enjoy real-time information retrieval regarding their energy usage, greater energy savings and more control over their energy consumption.

The Control4® platform is based on standard technologies such as ZigBee, Wi-Fi and Ethernet to facilitate interoperability and integration between the Control4 platform and leading consumer electronic systems in the home, including temperature control, smart lighting, security, home theater, audio and video applications.

For additional information about Control4, visit http://www.control4.com/ .