Technology Zone: Residential & Smart Building

ISE has long been positioned as a leading voice in residential solutions and home automation, with the backing of joint-partner CEDIA; and also as a prominent player in smart building, thanks to the long-running Smart Building Conference. The combined Residential & Smart Building Zone in Hall 2 is our strongest-ever offering in this fast-moving area of AV technology.

Consumer demand for connected systems and services in the home is increasing by the day and has been accelerating as a result of the global pandemic. The last couple of years have seen a real expansion in the trend for technologies to facilitate working from home. Robust and secure Wi-Fi connected spaces that can serve as the home office, home entertainment and home security system are in demand.

As such, the home is now a multi-functional space that provides a place of comfort, rest, and relaxation, as well as a secure and practical home office, a learning environment, a cinema, gaming room, and fitness suite.

The seismic shift for many organisations from on-site working to remote working has also catalysed strategic investments that make more intelligent use of the office building. Frost & Sullivan reported that, before Covid-19, out of the nearly 90 million meeting rooms worldwide, only 7.8% were video-enabled. That is quickly changing, with hybrid work becoming more dominant. Adding videoconferencing and collaboration technology to every size of space is now a requirement.

The next big development for home automation is the deployment of Matter – the emerging common protocol that will enable devices that are from participating manufacturers to talk to one another. Matter, which is managed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance and backed by a who’s who of home automation solutions providers, should help solve interoperability issues and further enable selection of best-of-breed products for specific tasks rather than needing to stay in-brand. Expect the first products supporting the protocol at ISE 2023.

Following the pandemic, there is heightened customer demand to deliver ‘well tech’ solutions in the corporate environment and at home. There is a renewed focus on technologies that can better control and optimise power-hungry HVAC systems. In order to cut the carbon footprint of buildings, limit rising energy costs and reverse the negative effect on the environment, advanced building monitoring and control systems is a fast-growing tech trend embedded in Smart Building design.

Some of the major names present in the Residential & Smart Building Zone at ISE 2023 include Presenting Show Partner KNX, which is joined on its stand by other KNX Partner companies; controls manufacturers including Basalte, Rako, RTI and Savant; and remote monitoring and management platform developer, Snap One. Lighting supplier Lutron is well-placed to help advise on requirements for networking sensors that inform the lighting controller about the presence of inhabitants. Also returning is Jung which delivers sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions.