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The home automation market is growing at an unprecedented pace, especially in the urban parts of India. Many well-known real-estate developers are now providing homes to its customers with cutting-edge technologies being the core USP [Unique Selling Point]. The demand for smart-homes is largely being driven by the increased concerns about safety, privacy & security in the urban parts in India.

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As per a report titled ‘India Home Automation Market by Product Type, Technology, and End-User: Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026’, the Indian home-automation market is expected to reach $13,574.1 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 29.8% during the period 2019~2016 [Source].

Growing mobile internet penetration, competition between different ISPs [Internet Service Providers], growing disposable income, improved lifestyle, and increased awareness about the advantages of home automation are some of the major drivers behind the growth of home automation in India. Smart lighting systems, smart bulbs, smart cameras, and other avenues related to smart-homes are expected to fuel the growth of the segment.

For the young generation, smart homes are no longer a differentiated offering but essential components of the dwelling specifications. When it comes to converting an existing home into a smart home, there are a lot of doubts in the minds of the users. Some of the pertinent questions are:

  • Will there be any re-wiring for fitting the smart-home essentials?
  • What if there is no internet connectivity? Can I fall-back to the older system for operating the connected devices?
  • What will be the AMC [Annual Maintenance Contract] charges?

Easy Homes by Schneider Electric

Keeping these and a number of other questions that arise in the mind of the customers,  Schneider Electric, the global leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation announced the launch of Easy Homes – one of their innovations in the Smart Home space in December 2019. There were a number of technology bloggers and tech journalists present at the launch event in Bengaluru.

I could not blog about the event in December due to personal & professional commitments after I moved into full-time writing in the month of November 2019. To maintain the same motivation in blogging is one of my new year resolutions of 2020 :). Let’s get back to the launch by Schneider Electric.

Easy Homes by Schneider Electric is one of their innovations in the Smart Home space. Bringing IoT to power homes, Schneider Electric’s Easy Homes empowers customers to manage power in their homes through a single app.

Easy Homes – The ‘Smart’ Integration

With four interfaces, it can be operated by everyone through Alexa or Google Home, smartphone, remote and switches to control power usage in the house. Designed to meet the unique requirements of everyone, it converts homes into a smart home, turning every switch and appliance into a connected device.

While most of the smart home solutions are designed to be installed in new homes, existing homes and retrofit projects need to be made smart. Schneider Electric believes that it is imperative to design smart home solutions for Indian customers comprising families with people across generations – from millennials to parents and grandparents.

Srinivas Shanbhogue, Vice President, Retail Business, Schneider Electric India

Speaking about the solution, Srinivas Shanbhogue, Vice President, Retail Business, Schneider Electric India, said

At Schneider Electric, we are committed to providing ease of access to the new age customers through energy-efficient smart home solutions. Apart from ensuring energy efficiency, smart home solutions should be easy to install and operate thereby making life easy for individuals navigating small struggles of managing electricity touchpoints in the home seamlessly. We understand that the #StruggleIsReal and with Easy Homes, we hope to address these.

With the IoT taking over the lives, automation has made lives simpler and homes smarter. Smart homes are the base of smart cities and à more efficient lifestyle. Connected home technology is designed to automate functions and bring to individuals control over their property.

Smart homes make lifestyle easy with its smart features like

  • Easy to install
  • Easy on pocket
  • Easy to Operate
  • Converts houses into smart home without disruption of existing wiring
  • Allows connectivity through 4 interfaces – Voice, App, Remote and the existing switches work too
  • 24*7 helpline to help troubleshoot issues
  • Easy to buy, through an online eShop
  • Can be customized to individual needs

Schneider Electric’s Easy Homes is for every home – existing, old, and new.

A number of questions about efficient handling of voltage fluctuations, wiring, AMC and durability, and more were patiently answered by the Schneider Electric team.

Easy Homes – Pricing

Starting at Rs. 28,998, Easy Homes is affordable and can be installed without changing the existing electrical setup, upgrading homes in just about four hours. Further, in case of any challenges, a local electrician is available 24*7 to troubleshoot the device, thereby easing the overall maintenance process.

Easy Homes – Where to Buy

It is easy to buy Easy Homes from Schneider Electric and one can purchase the product in just three simple steps on the website.

Wrapping it up

There are already a number of devices like smart bulbs, smart fans, etc. available in the market which are preferred by DIY [Do It Yourself] enthusiasts. However, there is no single-point contact to isolate & solve problems in case the device falters or stops working. The advantage of Easy Homes is that it comes from a reputed brand like Schneider and their platform acts as a single-point contact for all your smart home needs.

Easy Homes addresses to the entire spectrum of consumers who aim to convert their normal homes into smart-homes without much hassles or getting into the technicalities of the technology.

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Hero Electronix, a Hero Group company forayed into the consumer technology market with the launch of Qubo, a range of AI connected smart devices. Qubo aims to create technology products that will allow users to stay connected with their home and loved ones be it family, pets or valuables. The products launched today under the Qubo portfolio are Smart Indoor Camera, Smart Gas Sensor, Smart Smoke Sensor, and Smart Door/Window Sensor.

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The Qubo Smart Indoor Camera, the most secure and powerful camera in the Indian market will be available at a MRP of Rs. 13,490. It comes with best-in-class Full HD camera, AI features and secure–encrypted video streaming, & storage. The smart sensors namely Qubo Smart Gas Sensor, Smart Smoke Sensor, and the Smart Door & Window Sensor all priced at Rs. 3000. The Qubo Smart Indoor Camera and Smart Sensors will be available for purchase on Qubo’s website and will also be available across major e-commerce sites and retail stores from 27th September. Keeping customer centricity in mind, Hero Electronix will also have a dedicated round the clock customer support team to assist users on any issues.

The team at Hero Electronix believes that a massive revolution is coming as smart devices proliferate driven by technology trends like ubiquitous connectivity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and low-cost sensors. Taking advantage of these technologies, Hero Electronix plans to launch more than 10 smart products across Home Automation, Automotive and Entertainment domains in the next 2 years.

Each of these devices is being architected ground up to solve specific needs of Indian consumers and to work in Indian environments and family set-ups. The smart ecosystem of devices has been designed with an aim to connect Indian families/households to the world around them and to cater to their infotainment, automation and security needs.

Commenting on the launch, Hero Electronix Founder Director Ujjwal Munjal said

Our vision with Qubo is to create a leading consumer technology brand and reach a million homes in next 3-5 years. Hero Electronix has been at the forefront of engineering technology and services for enterprise with Tessolve, Mybox, and Zenatix. We are excited to launch our first independent brand for smart devices in the consumer segment.

As technology proliferates further into our lives, we are getting increasingly disconnected from what matters most. We see a great opportunity in to build products that meaningfully impact our lives. We have invested close to Rs. 350 Cr in Hero Electronix and we foresee an investment of ~Rs. 150-200 Cr over the next couple of years.

Commenting on the launch, Nikhil Rajpal, CEO, Hero Electronix said

There is a major revolution coming where AI-powered connected devices can solve major real world problems pertaining to security, connectivity, entertainment & healthcare. We have invested more than 2 years in research and development of products that harness leading edge technology like AI to solve for consumer needs. While we are addressing the home security & automation space with our range of products launched today, we are also exploring more products in home, automotive and kids categories too.

The Flagship Qubo Smart Indoor Camera aims to address the growing challenge around separation anxiety from our loved ones. With its 1080p Full HD Camera, it helps a user to remotely monitor home and stay connected with loved ones. It sports a host of best in class features such as

  1. Industry leading camera features – Full HD camera, 140 degree Field of View, night vision and 2-way audio
  2. AI powered image analytics technology to deliver person detection, face recognition and baby crying alerts
  3. The most secure device in the category – The device houses a custom secure silicon chip by Qualcomm, with PKI based root-of-trust making it tamperproof and protecting against malware. Data transmission and storage also complies with the highest global standards of cryptographic algorithms and security.
  4. Alexa built-in enabling the device to be controlled by voice and also serve as entertainment and automation center of the home

The flagship Qubo Smart Indoor Camera is built-in in partnership with Amazon for Alexa and Qualcomm for its processor in the device. This flagship product has been engineered and designed by the in-house team at Hero Electronix. With Alexa built-in, users can also access a wide range of services across news, music, weather, and reminders with simple voice commands. Qubo Smart Indoor Camera can be used as a smart home hub to control & remotely manage various smart devices at home through Alexa.

[L-R] Nikhil Rajpal – CEO, Hero Electronix, Suman Kant Munjal – Chairman – Hero Electronix, Ujjwal Munjal, Founder Director – Hero Electronix

Dilip R.S., Country Manager for Alexa Skills and Voice Services, Amazon India, said

Our vision for Alexa is to be everywhere that customers want to interact. Through the Alexa Voice Services, we aim to simplify building voice-first devices with Alexa built-in. This helps devices to handle complex speech recognition and natural language understanding. It is exciting to see Hero Electronix innovate for customers in India with their Qubo range of smart Home devices. Convenience of simply asking Alexa for home security and controlling smart homes will be delightful for customers.

About Hero Electronix

Hero Electronix is the Hero Group’s venture into the technology space with a vision to create leading technology businesses emerging out of India. Our Their aim is to create a $1Bn+ business in 5 years by standing up 4~5 verticals. They plan to do this by investing in businesses that are attempting to take advantage of one or more of the following massive opportunities before them.

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Subex, a leading telecom solutions provider released the findings of its State of Internet of Things [IoT] Security Report for the second quarter [April-June 2019] of this calendar year. The report, based on threat intelligence data gathered from across 15 cities all over India, outlines key sectors being attacked, the methods of attack, malware, and variants deployed, key cities that are being attacked and studied by hackers, malware developers and hacktivist groups.

The report was released by Minister of State for Home, Krishna Reddy at a function in New Delhi.

Key findings of the report include

  • Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru are attracting the maximum number of cyber-attacks
  • Smart cities, financial services, and transportation sectors lead the sectoral rankings in terms of cyber-attacks
  • The number of cyber-attacks registered a 22 percent jump in the quarter
  • There has been a significant rise in reconnaissance attacks
  • A range of sophisticated malware is being deployed by hackers to target critical infrastructure projects
  • IoT projects are being targeted at the proof of concept stages itself and many malware samples isolated showed a tendency to persist and listen to the network traffic

The study identified over 2550 unique malware samples in the country which is the highest reported so far. Modular and military-grade malware is often used by specialist hackers and groups with budgets and access to research and development facilities or online shops that develop and sell such sophisticated malware. Increase in the number of attacks with a geopolitical motivation is also a trend the study has reported.

The high level of malware persistence reported is indicative of a larger trend. Hackers are becoming more patient and willing to wait to attack or steal data. Also, the newer malware variants being detected are stealthier and can evade detection for a longer duration of time than before the study found. Such malware operates by staying silent while keeping their footprint and signature below detection thresholds. They can also streamline their behavior to match network traffic and stay dormant until certain thresholds are breached.

P Vinod Kumar, CEO, Subex, said

By releasing these findings we intend to increase awareness and provide decisionmakers and other stakeholders sufficient data points to frame appropriate interventions. We hope this report will serve its purpose and help India secure its infrastructure and connected components. Today, our honeypot network is active in 62 cities around the globe.

The threat intelligence generated from these cities is crunched in our IoT lab in Bengaluru to generate actionable intelligence on the threat environment surrounding IoT deployments. The threat intelligence compiled points to a high level of hacker interest in projects in India and this is indeed a matter of concern.

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Industry leaders gathered at India’s largest industrial automation event ‘Rockwell Automation on the Move‘ 2019 [RAOTM] conference emphasized on the need for a major shift towards Industry 4.0 technologies if India aims to triple its combined factory output in Gross Value Added [GVA] terms to $1 trillion by 2025.

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Noting that the ambitious target needs a concerted effort from across the industry, Rockwell Automation is taking the lead by further expanding its Partner Network in India to allow local manufacturers access to a collaborative network of companies mutually focused on developing, implementing and supporting best-in-class manufacturing solutions across industry verticals.

The announcement was made at Rockwell Automation’s RAOTM 2019 Annual User Group Conference in which industry partners and customers are invited to showcase and discuss latest digital transformation solutions and business opportunities. This year the conference hosted over 25 exhibits and 50 technology sessions.

Dilip Sawhney, Managing Director, Rockwell Automation India said

We want to take the lead in building India’s first industry 4.0 ecosystem of partner companies that will create solutions for The Connected Enterprise that can analyze machine conditions in advance to avoid breakdowns and enhance productivity but also improve on quality and compliance parameters.

Rockwell Automation has in the past partnered with L&T, Cisco, Microsoft, Endress+Hauser, and Wipro Infrastructure Engineering to develop smart manufacturing solutions in India.

John Watts, Regional Marketing Director, Asia Pacific at Rockwell Automation added

Globally, digital-induced disruption is inevitable. To maintain and improve global competitiveness, Indian manufacturers need to accelerate the adoption of Industry 4.0. While India has a lot of catching up to do in this respect, it can accelerate digital transformation by leveraging its strengths in the IT services sector and tapping the entrepreneurial spirit seen in the start-up sector.

Throughout the event, Rockwell Automation and its partner companies showcased new products and solutions support:

  • The Connected Enterprise – New analytics and digital solutions that can help transform data into understandable information, empowering users to confidently make more informed decisions – from the plant floor to the enterprise.
  • Data Analytics and Augmented Reality – How Rockwell Automation is expanding its portfolio and tapping into its partnership with PTC to help customers increase productivity and plant efficiency, reduce operational risk and provide better system interoperability.
  • Innovation – Customers will get an early look at how new technologies will change manufacturing and production, including artificial intelligence, augmented reality, wearables and other disruptive technologies.

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Microsoft India showcased progress on its vision to democratize AI in the country to fuel economic and social growth. As part of its mission to empower every organization and individual, Microsoft is working with stakeholders across public and private sectors, civil society and academia in the country to create the right conditions for human-centered AI.

Image Source – AI

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said

The next wave of innovation for India is being driven by the tech intensity of companies – how you combine rapid adoption of cutting edge tech with your company’s own distinctive tech and business capabilities. We believe AI will enable Indian businesses and more for India’s progress, especially in education, skilling, healthcare and agriculture. Microsoft also believes that it is imperative to build higher awareness and capabilities on security, privacy, trust and accountability. The power of AI is just beginning to be realized and can be a game-changer for India.

The four pillars of Microsoft’s AI strategy include

Enabling Digital Transformation

Microsoft is committed to use its Cloud and AI technologies to create breakthrough innovations and accelerate the digital transformation of the nation, focusing on core industries that are critical to economic growth.

  • Over 700 business and government organizations have adopted its Artificial Intelligence [AI] solutions to drive breakthroughs in their digital transformation. Over 60% of these AI customers come from large businesses in manufacturing, financial services. In addition, Microsoft is working with new-age organizations that are leapfrogging and disrupting industries.
  • 715 partners are working with Microsoft in India to help customers design and implement a comprehensive AI strategy, aimed to boost employee productivity, increase business agility, improve customer engagement and jumpstart new product innovation.

Building coalitions for responsible innovation

Microsoft works with government, industry, academic and civil society stakeholders to create a collective approach to AI and build solutions that meets the needs and expectations of citizens.  Microsoft India is partnering with NITI Aayog to combine the cloud, AI, research and its vertical expertise for new initiatives and solutions across several core areas including agriculture and healthcare and the environment. We are also an active participant along with CII in looking at building solution frameworks for application in AI across areas such as Education, skills, health and agriculture.

Bridging the skills gap and enhancing employability

Microsoft believes development of talent pipelines vital for economic growth and is working to empower individuals across all demographics with the skills needed to succeed in an AI enabled world. In India, Microsoft aims to skill over 10,000 developers; set up AI labs in 10 universities; and train 500,000 youth across the country over the next three years. Microsoft also recently announced the Intelligent Cloud Hub Program to equip research and higher education institutions with AI infrastructure, build curriculum and help both faculty and students to build their skills and expertise in cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT.

Creating sustained social impact

Microsoft is enabling public and private organizations to apply Microsoft AI technologies to address pressing societal challenges. This includes healthcare, education, agriculture, local language computing environmental sustainability, accessibility opportunities, and supporting humanitarian action. 2018 saw Microsoft roll out several new projects across healthcare, including a partnership with Apollo Hospitals to use AI for early detection of cardiac diseases.  SRL Diagnostics is applying Microsoft AI for more accurate diagnosis in digital pathology and early detection of diseases such as cancer.

Microsoft customers and partners driving AI innovation for transformation in India

Engaging customers with AI

Future Generali India Life Insurance – Future Generali has built a AI based chatbot, REVA, for its life insurance business on the company’s website.  REVA addresses two business requirements viz., customer service and new customer acquisition and onboarding. Through a one-click service, existing customers can get policy status, premium due date, renewal payments, request for a soft copy of unit statement, premium paid certificate, fund charges among others. On the other hand, REVA also enables anytime, anywhere access to customers, enabling new customer on-boarding through a guided sales process that recommends the right products and also generates quotes.

REVA enables zero human intervention for certain products including Cancer Protect Plan and Heart & Health Insurance Plan. Moreover, it facilitates faster policy issuance and real-time resolution of policy queries. REVA has helped improve customer satisfaction scores by 91%, promoter customers by 70% and renewal premiums by 50%.

Empowering employees

UST Global – UST Global has been using an automated BOT framework to empower its employees to gain access to the information they require, without having to make countless calls and be able to make transactions from one single interface. This framework is available for all UST employees across web, mobile and Facebook at Work. So far, it has completed 6 million transactions and services 10,000 unique users every week. The company has also seen a 30% reduction in support ticket count.

Transforming products

Spetkacom Power Bat – The Power Bat, introduced in partnership with Anil Kumble’s technology start-up Spektacom Technologies and Star India, provides cricket players and coaches a new way to engage with the sport and help improve their game. A lightweight Azure Sphere-powered sticker is stuck on the shoulder of the bat. During a live match, as soon as the batsman hits the ball, data on different parameters [speed on impact, twist on impact and quality of the shot etc.] are captured in a new unit of measurement titled Power Speks.

Microsoft’s Azure Sphere ensures that the data is securely captured and processed. Using advanced analytics and AI services on Azure, real-time insights are captured through the stump box and displayed via the broadcaster. During practice or coaching, the same data can be viewed through a mobile app to help players and coaches learn from the shots and enhance their game.

Optimizing operations

Talview – Talview’s automated video interviewing solution helps customers hire from the untapped talent pool from multiple cities across the country. It has saved a customer upwards of 9000 hours of time for a customer in identifying, sourcing and screening talent. The solution is built on Azure Cognitive services to identify behavioral insights for hiring the right candidates. It can be accessed by candidates from any smartphone device and is fully functional even on low speed Internet.

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Aeris, a technology leader in the Internet of Things [IoT], announced it is working with the Roambee Corporation, an IoT supply chain and enterprise asset visibility company, to help enterprises improve their monitoring of shipments and assets through IoT-based technologies offered by both companies.

Roambee provides IoT-based real-time global condition monitoring and visibility services for in-transit goods and in-field assets. Roambee’s unique end-to-end solution simplifies global shipment visibility across the supply chain, including the entire cold chain process for enterprises. The company provides patented hardware and software technology, combined with an array of senor data, analytics, predictive reporting and open application programming interfaces [APIs] to increase Return On Investment [ROI], improve supply chain operations, and reduce inventory loss.

Aeris offers end-to-end IoT and machine-to-machine [M2M] solutions through its comprehensive Aeris Mobility Platform [AMP] and Aeris Connectivity Platform [ACP]. Collectively, these platforms enable enterprises and original equipment manufacturers to embark on a digital transformation journey to enhance revenue, create new services and form new business models.

ACP provides Roambee with the ability to manage its global data connectivity, which in turn is being used by Roambee for its shipping, inventory, pallet, asset and fleet monitoring services. This helps Roambee advance its service delivery while improving supply chain predictability and throughput for enterprises.

The Aeris Connectivity Platform provides a ‘smarter’ cold chain because real-time monitoring devices provide managers with live data and situational alerts, thereby mitigating risks along the cold chain before they arise, while providing actionable insights for future business improvements.

Christina Richards, Vice President of Global Marketing, Aeris, said

Aeris is an Internet of Things industry leader. Through our work with Roambee, we enable them to easily manage a host of cold chain monitoring data analytics and connectivity capabilities for global enterprises. The Aeris Connectivity Platform is built for IoT and has been globally tested at scale. For more than a decade, we have unlocked IoT value for enterprises and look forward to helping Roambee be the preeminent provider of cold chain monitoring solutions.

Vidya Subramanian, Vice President of Products, Roambee, said

By utilizing Aeris Connectivity Platform’s data management and location capabilities, Roambee better manages our own quality of global service for enterprises at scale. This is an integral part of Roambee’s portfolio of end-to-end, real-time visibility and monitoring solutions, and we are proud to partner with Aeris in this capacity.

Roambee’s real-time monitoring solutions provide managers with live data and situational alerts, thereby mitigating risks along the cold chain before they arise, while providing actionable insights for future business improvements. By leveraging ACP and its location-based services, Roambee’s services alleviates on-time delivery risks; reduces spoilage and damage risks; lowers theft and financial risk, and improves its overall delivery of service.

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Smart Homes are taking the world by storm. It is changing the way people live their lives. This technology is causing rapid change. But, the benefits of this change are good. Here are the reasons why people love smart homes so much.

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A Long Time Ago…

Contrary to popular belief, smart homes have been around for quite some time. The two first smart home concepts were invented between 1966 and 1967. However, ECHO IV and the Kitchen Computer were never sold to the public. The ECHO IV was so impressive that it could perform activities like calculating shopping lists and even switch kitchen appliances on and off.

It’s a far cry from today’s home automation, but the concept has come a long way.

It Will Save Some Time

It is one of the main reasons why people love this technology. Many people have grown accustomed to their new lifestyles with smart homes. They simply can’t go without it. 57% of Americans claim to save about 30 minutes per day. That adds up to a staggering 182,5 hours per year.

That is a little more than a week. Smart homes will be of particular significance to those living life in the fast lane. Time equals money, doesn’t it?

It Helps To Save Money

Now there is no denying it. Some smart home products are pretty expensive compared to it’s ‘non-smart’ compatriots. But, buy your products smartly. Use it effectively. You’ll end saving money. Over the process of time, you might save more than the initial price of the product. 45% of Americans save an average of $98,30 per month. That adds up to $1,179,60 per year.

Take smart thermostats, for instance. These units are controlled remotely through smartphone apps. You are now able to control the temperature of your home as long as you have an internet connection. This helps the average user to save 20% off their yearly warming and cooling costs. Give it a go. You may save a small fortune.

It Does The Hard Yards

Home automation surely needs to save you some effort. Many smart appliances do just that. Smart home products interconnect to form a network of devices. You can cue actions and reactions between your different devices. Your smart coffee machine can be triggered by an alarm. Your cup of “good morning” will be waiting without you having to push a button.

It will even help in the backyard! Smart lawnmowers will cut the grass on your behalf. Set it up. Map out your lawn on its system. Set the cutting schedule frequency. Now let it run its own course while you enjoy the Saturday sports games.

Great Security

Smart security is highly sought after. 62% of Americans claim security as the top benefit derived from smart homes. 3 out of 5 American smart home owners use devices like smart CCTV to monitor their homes. Analysts believe the security market will grow beyond $100 billion dollars in the year 2020.

It’s no wonder that smart locks and alarms are one of the most used smart products. Top notch security will give you the peace of mind you desire. Less stress will do you good.

It Improves Your Health

Smart homes are designed with the customer in mind. Inventors look for all kinds of ways to make your life easier and better. Smart device and appliances have many built-in features that improves your health.

Smart cooking appliances are equipped with new techniques to reduce your oil intake. Smart refrigerator water dispensers have filters. Cleaner water leads to better immune systems. Download healthy recipes from the internet onto your smart fridge. Then have it read the recipes back to you as you cook. Lack of inspiration will never curb your diet again.

Give It A Try!

What’s not to love about it? These devices are waiting on store shelves for you to pick them. Its sole purpose is to make your life better. Some of the products may be expensive. But, be wise. Utilize the cost-saving measures. A couple hundred dollars of savings can go far. And you certainly won’t regret a healthier immune system.

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Home automation is no longer the stuff of science fiction; it has become real with the concept of Smart Home. It is equipped with latest features and technologies: a smart home is being touted as the biggest innovation in the real estate sector today. It is more comfortable, highly secured and part of a lifestyle, therefore, they are more in demand.

Image Source – Smart Homes

As per Colliers International India, the concept is still evolving in India, although at its core, is the ability to manage a system of networked devices, also known as the Internet of Things [IoT] and servicing powering homes remotely through apps on the smart-phones and computers. The adaptation of a smart home is largely driven by various smart devices for convenience, security, entertainment, efficiency and health.

In India, the concept was earlier limited to luxury segment only, with now spreading its wing to the mid-income segment also. The increment in its demand has mainly increased with a rise in internet penetration and affordability of smart devices.

For most young professionals, smart homes are no longer a concept or differentiated product offering, but essential components of their dwelling specifications. The developers need to understand the consumer preference and incorporate these into their products.

Talking about the Smart homes, Gaurav Mittal, Managing Director, CHD Developers said

Smart homes concept is new to India and it is trending in the Indian real estate market. Smart home technology products aim to incorporate comfort, entertainment, mobility and security, providing consumers with connected solutions all the time. New advanced technology is making people smarter and that too homes, a variety of things can be controlled like lights appliances, security systems from anywhere in the house or as well as any region in the world by phone and internet. Technology shapes the future and it can help to make it compatible with nature.

As per Anarock Property Consultants, in India, these are common in IT-centric areas like Pune’s Kharadi and Navi Mumbai in Mumbai. It comes in various shapes and sizes, and saturation of smart features. Its features are turning into the ‘must-haves’ and are becoming common among all age groups.

Anupam Varshney, Head – Sales & Marketing, Vatika Limited said

Today’s homebuyers look for a home which complements them and simplify their busy lives. With Vatika Smart Homes you would be able to control your gadgets through a voice command or remotely through a mobile app. We have focused on the elements which make a home more convenient.

The concept of Smart Homes is set to revolutionize the real estate sector and we are glad to provide the same to Vatika buyers. Vatika Automated Smart Homes will be available in Vatika India Next and Vatika India Next 2 townships in Gurugram.

Increasing awareness about the need for environmentally sustainable development and living is also another reason for the rise in the increasing demand for smart homes. Thus, a genuine smart home is conceived and developed with a certain tech-enabled focus, ensuring optimal use of the facilities at the project level. It becomes necessary for a developer to use the latest technology without ignoring quality and security.