By Rebecca Engmann*

Digital home: since 1999, Copenhagen-based company Zensys has been at the vanguard of the high-tech "digital home" revolution. Zensys' "Z-Wave" technology, an RF-based, two-way, mesh-network communications protocol that allows standard household appliances and home energy fixtures to be monitored and controlled wirelessly, has revolutionized the field of digital home technology.

Price points down

In just five years, the Copenhagen startup has blossomed to become the market leader in the rapidly expanding, billion-dollar wireless home control networking market. And the future looks even brighter. Zensys has developed software that bridges Z-Wave technology with Intel's Universal Plug-n-Play platform. In tomorrow's homes, TV's, radios, and stereo consoles will "talk" to one another - and Universal Plug-n-Play is the default language - making Zensys' technology "future-proof." Raoul Wijgergangs, Zensys' VP in charge of US Business Development, spoke with Øresund IT Magazine on the history of the company and the future for digital home technology.

"When Zensys started in 1999, the focus was on end products for home automation. By 2001, we switched the focus to technology and software. There's been a market for this kind of technology for a long time - mainly in big, expensive homes where people used hundreds of thousands of dollars to optimize entire rooms for audio/video equipment, lights, thermostats, etc. That level of convenience is compelling, but the price isn't going to drive the mass market. Our goal is to bring price points down to capture the mass markets, so we provide chips and software for manufacturers in that market," explained Wijgergangs.

Zensys was helped along by two breakthrough developments in "digital home" technology - first, progress in radio-frequency (RF) technology, thanks to mobile, wireless networking technology, and a general increase in the level of networking expertise and capability. Combined, both developments made it suddenly possible to build extremely efficient network architecture at a low cost-removing "home intelligence" from the rarefied domain of custom-fitted playboy mansions, and within the reach of middle-class homeowners

Selling point: convenience

Ultimately, digital home technology will revolutionize our homes in ways we can barely comprehend today. Convenience will be a major selling point, as universal remote controls become fixtures in controlling radio, TV, lights and temperatures. Safety and security features will be enhanced - lights will come on as soon as you come home, smoke detectors can illuminate safe escape routes in the event of fire, and false alarms (which today account for some 75% of security company outcalls) can be reduced. Energy bills will be slashed, as rooms can automatically "detect" when someone has left the room, and adjust thermostat temperatures accordingly. And finally, intelligent technology may provide inroads in the field of telemetry - allowing health care providers to monitor patients for non-critical issues in the comfort of home, keeping health care costs down as patient demographics shift in the years to come. It's a brave new world in home technology - and Zensys is at the forefront.

This article was originally published by Øresund IT Magasine (nr. 5 - 2004). You can download the magazine in PDF format on Publications.

*Rebecca Engmann is an American journalist living in Copenhagen.