The long overdue launch of the Household Automation web site marks the era of a new drive towards connectivity in the home.

The site clearly identifies all of the Product areas within the home as well as indicating the type of service, customers and suppliers that the company deals with. The chosen format of the site utilises a large number of images of a variety of products both during and after installation.

With well over a decade of trading Household Automation sales included a number of commercial customer projects and it was decided to create a separate operating division Commercial Automation. The generic names of both company's is an asset but at the same time was limiting the amount of new business on the commercial front. Many of the products (especially lighting and bus systems) such as Philips Dynalite, KNX, RAKO, Clipsal CBUS and Lutron Homeworks are used in both the household and commercial automation sectors.

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The home automation market is one that changes constantly and over the past couple of years the introduction of the iPad, iPhone and iTouch has dramatically altered the way in which we are able to control devices. Household Automation now offers iPhone control of all its new installations. The iPhone app may be manufacturer specific or a bespoke set up that can be used locally on the customer's wireless network and/or remotely. Customers increasingly expect that iPhone integration will be part of their installation and ultimately all devices in the home can be operated from and even monitored by the iPhone.

In our experience to date probably one of the most user friendly 'out of the box' apps is the RAKO app easy to set up on iPad, iPhone or android with clear screen formats it provides control of any equipment on the RAKO bus this may include such items as dimmable lighting; colour changing LED lighting; blinds operation and scene setting.

Of course if you want a bespoke set-up to incorporate different functions from different manufacturers' devices all on one app you will need to use bespoke software which inevitably costs money both in terms of materials (interface modules) and labour (programming). The benefits of such an app may be that you can gain remote access to all devices from one app, that you can operate lighting scenes along with heating, gates, security or blinds all on one page, that you can utilise the remote to operate AV equipment; and all from one app on one device.

Household Automation has ongoing projects with different manufacturers' equipment. For advice on the best way to integrate your home visit www.household-automation.co.uk or Tel: 0844 8266 556