Wi-Fi Alliance recently introduced the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design certification program aimed at ensuring consistent coverage of Wi-Fi signals.
Wi-Fi Alliance recently introduced the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design certification program aimed at ensuring consistent coverage of Wi-Fi signals. Developers can now follow the guidelines when building a smart home. Kevin Robinson, Vice President of Marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance, spoke to SMAhome in an interview to elaborate on the new program and the trend of smart home development.
1. How can the Wi-Fi Certified Home Design program ensure whole-home coverage?
Kevin Robinson, Vice President of
Marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design brings enterprise design practices to new residential Wi-Fi installations, such as reviewing building drawings and generating heat maps, and considering where access points are placed as well as building materials. Wi-Fi Home Design plans integrate professionally designed Wi-Fi networks directly into builder floor plans. This same enterprise-grade rigor is being brought down to the home space to create an underlying network infrastructure that’s robust and reliable.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design also supports the latest Wi-Fi technologies. Akin to builder-installed lighting schemes, turnkey Wi-Fi Home Design networks are professionally designed and implemented, bringing reliable, scalable, high-performance Wi-Fi to all parts of the home.
2. What advantages does Wi-Fi hold over ZigBee, Z-Wave and other communication protocols?
Wi-Fi is ubiquitous; moving more than half of the Internet’s traffic, Wi-Fi is denoted as the de facto connectivity technology in the home today. Wi-Fi Alliance’s strong 16+ year history of interoperability, growing portfolio of technologies, and broader role in the wireless ecosystem provides an assurance to both industry and consumers that Wi-Fi CERTIFIED equipment will bring reliable connectivity in a variety of scenarios.
3. Does the program’s launch signify greater adoption of smart homes nowadays? What are some of the recent development you have observed in the smart home industry?
Smart Homes are becoming the new normal, and in a world where Wi-Fi is now considered nearly as important as electrical in the home, it’s important to have a strong foundation to fully take advantage of the connected home trend. The average US home has 8 connected devices, and nearly 50% of households are wireless-only.
The many recent announcements around virtual personal assistants, home-monitoring and home automation applications point to continued growth in this area. The growing number and diversity of devices have resulted in new considerations for home networks to ensure robust connections. Wi-Fi Alliance is committed to providing a good user experience in all areas of their lives, and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design delivers consistent, whole-home coverage for an exceptional Wi-Fi experience in the Smart Home.
4. What is your view of smart home development in the future? Could smart home become universal?
It’s forecasted that 20.4 billion connected things with be in use worldwide by 2020, with consumer IoT devices expected to account for 63% of those units. The increasing need for convenience, safety, and security will continue to fuel global Smart Home technology adoption.
5. Besides Lennar, have many homebuilders contacted Wi-Fi Alliance to inquire about the Home Design certification program? Is the adoption of the new standard moving at a pace you expected?
Wi-Fi Alliance has seen interest in Wi-Fi Home Design from several large homebuilders. These homebuilders are interested in providing a strong Wi-Fi foundation for their customers from move-in day.
6. Do you have any other observations on the trend of smart home development, and what does all this mean to Wi-Fi Alliance?
The trend of hyper innovation for home technologies will continue. For Wi-Fi Alliance, this means continuing to deliver the best possible experience to consumers with a variety of innovative Smart Home technologies. Wi-Fi Home Design helps propel a trend where users will now experience move-in ready Smart Homes that can handle the increasing number of devices being brought into the home.