So new that it won’t even be available until August – with installer training scheduled for May – is Home Control from Niko, which saw its worldwide launch at ISE. Known as a developer of home automation solutions, the company sees home control as something very different from – and a development beyond – home automation.
It is, says Niko, a complete home control system designed with installers in mind, with a number of ‘installer-friendly’ features.
The company says that its market research has revealed two key issues in the minds of consumers. The first is that they dislike or distrust technology – and the second is that energy management is very important to them. Niko Home Control is said to respond to these concerns with its intuitive, user-friendly design and its provision of a broad range of features intended to conserve energy and reduce costs.
The system is, for example, capable of showing how much energy is being produced – by solar panels, for instance – as well as how much energy is being consumed. Water and gas consumption can also be monitored, and Home Control provides users with energy saving options. Niko calculates that, using Home Control, a typical user can save up to 15% in energy costs.
The system can be controlled from smart phones and tablets, and a backup of the user’s system is not only maintained locally, in the event the system crashes, but also by the installer: restoring the system is therefore a relatively trivial task.
Stand: 5O82
