Home monitoring: Folks will do it for themselves

The home monitoring market is set to undergo major transformation as a result of strong consumer interest and the emergence of new technologies, IDC said today.

IDC, a Framingham-based provider of global market intelligence, said more than half of 1,500 consumers who responded to a poll that it had commissioned "expressed interest in the ability to monitor and control heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, as well as electricity and home appliances from an external PC or wireless phone."

The home security and monitoring market "has changed little in decades and remained largely unaffected by the Internet," IDC said. "The major difference between traditional and next-generation security systems is that the latter are broadband-based and offer redundant connectivity via wireless and voice," while many traditional systems rely on voice or wireless alone.

"The new home security systems are digital, broadband-based, and give the user unprecedented control, including the ability to log in and control systems from anywhere," Irene Berlinsky, an IDC research analyst, said in a statement. "New distribution channels through cable and telecommunications companies will reach nontraditional customers and potentially expand the entire market."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff. Photo: Michael Moore/AP)