The government of Singapore is keen to take leadership in pioneering smart home technology, believing that the small, tightly urbanized city-state is ideal for the purpose.
Next month, 30 homes will become testbeds for home automation, using technology from Dutch firm Philips, under a scheme launched by Singapore's Infocomms Development Authority (IDA).
The households will be fitted with some of its latest Internet-ready gadgets including the Streamium Broadband Internet radio, DesXcape detachable monitor, iPronto universal remote control, and the Wireless Digital Multimedia Receiver, a device which streams PC content to television and stereo systems. The devices will be linked through open wireless standards such as 802.11b and the infrared communications protocol.
Philips Australia told ZDNet Australia it had no plans to run similar trials in Australia in the near future. "We're not considering doing a concept home in Australia for various reasons," said a spokesperson. "There are other markets that are bigger than Australia and we'll launch there first."
One country determined to take the lead in smart homes technology is Korea, which has more than twice the population of Australia and almost twice as much GDP.
The Korean government wants to create 10 million 'smart homes'--two-thirds of all homes in the country--by 2007 as part of an ambitious plan to lead the world in such technology.
According to a report on the English-language news daily The Korea Times, Seoul will invest US$1.7 billion into the project.
The Korean Ministry of Information and Communication hopes that when there exists a critical mass of smart homes--defined as networked homes with a high degree of automation--there will be positive effects for the Korean IT industry as a whole.
"The project is forecast to generate new demand for related industries like high-speed Internet, mobile Internet, home appliances and home networking," the ministry's technology policy director Suh Gwang-hyun was quoted as saying.
Among other things, the investment will go to devising open standards for home automation, which at the moment relies on a mix of vendor-specific proprietary and open protocols, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radio.
And Korea is not just looking into mere Internet refrigerators or smart air-conditioners: Cutting edge technologies such as ultra-wideband (UWB) radio communications, household robots and fiber-to-the-home broadband will be looked at.
Also, there will be research into how to best adapt home networking to current types of low-rise and high-rise dwellings, and how to make sure that consumers can buy smart home products in retail shops, instead of in specialty computer centres, according to the Times.
Korea is well positioned for mass home automation, as it has the highest penetration rate of home broadband in the world, thanks to very low usage fees and comprehensive national cable infrastructure.
James Pearce contributed to this report
