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Nokia aims to put itself in control of the smart home
Published: 1 December, 2008
Tags >> Nokia
One of the key goals of every technology vendor is to put itself at the heart of the emerging wireless home, creating a hub for high speed media networks, PCs, communications and home management. Intel, Microsoft and others have been working on this agenda for years, and now Nokia has shown its hand, unveiling its Home Control Center.
The company expects this to turn into a commercial product about one year from now, and it should drive an enhanced role for the handset in managing the 'smart home', taking on functions like TV/DVR remote control and control of heating and security systems, from within the house or while the user is travelling.
Nokia says its Center will be the basis of a whole range of next generation security and smart home systems, energy management and digital media control. For instance, said Teppo Paavola - VP of corporate development, who unveiled the future product last week - users could monitor their electricity usage by switching devices on and off remotely, and even have remote security systems sending live video feeds via the mobile network.
Nokia would look to open up its platform to third party applications, extending the use of the mobile network and devices, with itself driving the standards that underpin that.
Paavola said: "The home of today has intelligence everywhere, but to date there has not been a solution that is interoperable with wide range of home systems that can easily be controlled. We want to create an open solution where external partners can develop their own solutions and services on top of our platform. We believe that the mobile device is an ideal interface to control home intelligence, especially when the user is not at home."
