Telstra to launch new "Smart Home Platform"
Telstra has announced that it will launch a Smart Home Platform later this year, as it positions itself in relation to the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market.
Announcing the initiative on 22 June, Telstra said that households were on the brink of a digital revolution that would transform the way people interacted with their homes, creating an industry predicted to be worth more than $1 billion annually in Australia in the next five years.
Currently the average Australian home has 9 connected devices, a figure that is expected to rise to over 30 by the end of the decade. The business opportunity, according to Telstra, lies in providing householders with a way of easily controlling and coordinating these devices.
“Smart devices have been around for some time, but they haven’t taken off in a big way,” Telstra said at the launch, pointing to connectivity as a main reason “It doesn’t matter how smart they are, if you can’t control them simply.”
Telstra says it will launch two packages later this year.
A Watch and Monitor package that will, according to Telstra, allow you to check “on the wellbeing of your mum who lives alone, that your dog is in the backyard and the iron is turned off when you leave the house..’, while the ‘Automation and Energy’ option comes with smart power plugs and motion sensors, helping customers set up tailored energy solutions for their home.
Who will provide the installation and maintenance services that will underpin this initiative – to the extent that they are not automated or self-install? The CWU will be pursuing this issue with Telstra, especially in the context of Telstra’s Commonwealth-funded NBN-related training programme.
