Smart home software company Sure Universal will demonstrate at CES interoperability among connected home electronics products compliant with the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) standard, it said Wednesday. Demonstrations will include set-top boxes, gateways, smart TVs and appliances from different brands, it said. Sure’s client software is the first to be certified by OCF and it will enable remote operation of smart home devices, it said. The company plans to show Linux and Android gateways and set-top boxes featuring its technology, and it plans to announce certification of its iOS mobile client. Lack of a universal IoT standard was identified as an obstacle to IoT and smart home adoption, said Sure, saying the OCF standard is supported by more than 300 global tech companies, including Cisco, Electrolux, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Samsung.

Four in 10 smart home light bulb owners in the U.S. use Amazon Echo or Google Home to control their devices, said a Thursday Parks Associates report. In 2016, U.S. consumers bought an estimated 14 million voice-controlled smart speakers, said analyst Dina Abdelrazik. The digital assistants have the potential to “connect all the moving parts of a connected lifestyle,” and simplify the user experience, said Abdelrazik. While Amazon Echo and Google Home are the most used devices for controlling most smart home products, Samsung Smart Things, Apple HomeKit, and IFTTT (If This Then That) were more commonly used for control of water shutoff valves, she said. Analyst Patrice Samuels called voiced control “a catalyst for growth in the smart home industry.” Parks will present research on voice control at its Connections conference, Jan. 9, at CES.

More than 26 million U.S. broadband households will have professionally monitored security by 2021, said a Tuesday Parks Associates report. Revenue from professionally monitored security will top $14 billion by 2020, it said. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. smart home device owners made their purchase to keep their home safe, and 29 percent wanted to monitor their home while away, said a Parks survey. A fifth of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a smart all-in-one-security product in the next 12 months, it said. Smart devices and services have opened new opportunities in the home security market, said analyst Tom Kerber. "Security providers must adapt to this trend and embrace the new IoT reality, which will expand the market for monitoring services and ultimately bring provider higher revenues.”

Billing itself as a “smart content and device company,” South Korea-based TiTAN platform announced Thursday its U.S product line that promises to create a “seamless, all-in-one experience” for consumers and content creators. "The time has come for content, platforms, networks and devices to be unified,” said TiTAN platform founder Jae Young Yoon. TiTAN Play is a “highly encrypted” transactional content platform that allows content owners to securely upload their IP and have access to consumers through a secure content marketplace, said Yoon. It works with the TiTAN Core 5 ($599), a smart hub that delivers a “lean-back” living room entertainment experience, he said. The company’s TiTAN Platform Content Identifier (TCI) is said to protect all digitally uploaded content against illegal downloads and copies, “while allowing for advanced measurement, analytics and transactions,” it said. Play and Core together offer a “new OS for the home,” said Adrian Sexton, CEO, TiTAN Platform U.S. The TiTAN Core open platform will enable smart home devices to talk to each other, while enabling content creators and studios to monetize content in China through TiTAN’s joint venture with China telecommunications company China Unicom. TiTAN content creators will be able to launch subscription VOD channels by uploading content directly to TiTAN Cores or the free TiTAN Play app, available for Android and iOS devices. The company plans to expand globally.

Fifteen percent of U.S. internet homes own a home automation device, up from 10 percent in April 2016, said NPD in a Thursday report. For 2017 to date, U.S. dollar sales of home automation products have increased 43 percent, with strong growth across all device types, it said. “The growth we are seeing in the number of owner homes is an indication that a broader field of available products, wider distribution, and greater awareness are actually adding users,” said NPD. “Voice-enabled speakers have also played a key role in catalyzing interest in the smart home.” In fact, ownership of voice-activated wireless speakers “has more than tripled in a year's time,” now totaling 10 percent of U.S. internet homes, it said. Of Amazon Echo and Google Home owners, 48 percent and 57 percent, respectively, “reported buying their first home automation product after owning a voice-enabled speaker, it said. It estimates 36 percent of existing smart home device owners also own a voice-activated speaker, and 65 percent of smart home device owners are interested in using voice commands to control other devices in their home.

Smart home devices are one of the fastest growing CE categories, on track to pull in $6 billion at retail this year, said a Wednesday Futuresource report. Revenue is forecast to triple by 2021, said the research firm. High-profile brands Samsung, Apple and Philips are among those conveying to consumers benefits and possibilities of smart home technology, said analyst Filipe Oliveira. Security and monitoring products are leading the smart home market in penetration and retail volume, said Oliveira, but lighting is showing the fastest growth. Futuresource predicts a decline in unit prices of lighting products, but the category will “reinvent itself, with the emergence of products that combine lighting with other functions such as speakers and cameras, adding both value and appeal to the category,” he said. Growing consumer appetite “for all things smart home” is giving rise to smart home devices beyond the four main categories -- hubs and control devices, security and monitoring, climate control and lighting systems, he said. North America has more than 60 percent of global smart home shipments and will continue to hold a larger share of the market through and beyond the forecast period, he said.

Personal safety and emergency notifications are the most desired smart home features among European broadband households with at least one smartphone, said a Tuesday Strategy Analytics report. Alerts to fire and other emergencies were five times more desired than the ability to schedule or adjust window coverings remotely, said the survey of 6,000 broadband households. The least desired functions were ability to program lights, cover windows and control a gate.

Leviton added features to its Decora Smart Wi-Fi-enabled lighting controls, it said in a Wednesday announcement. Enhancements available via firmware and app updates include IFTTT (If This Then That) integration, multiuser support, home and away occupancy modes and automatic shut-off, said the company. Decora Smart light switches, dimmers and plug-in modules also provide time-based schedules, remote control via Wi-Fi and optional integrated voice control with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, it said.

Legrand’s radiant Collection RF and adorne Collection Wi-Fi smart lighting systems are now controllable via Amazon Echo devices and Google Home, said a Thursday Legrand announcement. Using Google Assistant or Alexa apps, Legrand smart home lighting system owners can control multiple lights with a voice command, name individual lights, and set lights to go on or off on a schedule and scenes by time of day, said the company. Voice integration is powered by the Samsung Artik Cloud platform and requires a Legrand LC7001 hub, Artik account and Legrand radiant or adorne switches or dimmers, it said.

Some 70 percent of U.S. consumers think smart thermostats aren’t affordable, and only 18 percent would buy one at the typical $250 retail price, said a Tuesday Parks Associates report. But utility programs offering consumers a $100 rebate for a smart thermostat more than doubles consumer purchase intentions, said Parks, which reports household smart thermostat penetration of 11 percent. Forty percent of broadband households are familiar with the devices, Parks said. Combined energy efficiency and demand-response rebate programs such Commonwealth Edison’s program in Illinois can boost smart thermostat adoption, said analyst Tom Kerber. Households in ComEd’s territory have bought smart thermostats at a rate 50 percent higher than the national average in the past 12 months, he said.