Future of Home Automation?
hodeyp
Posts: 104
Hi - Given the premium attached to high end home automation I was very excited with the release of the samsung Q1 ultra mobile PC. One of these tablets and a cheap linux server could spell the end to thousands it costs to setup up multi-room automation.
Looking at what is available these days its almost getting to the stage where AMX and its competitors need to be careful they don't price themselves out of the market...
Looking at what is available these days its almost getting to the stage where AMX and its competitors need to be careful they don't price themselves out of the market...
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No offense to you, but your observation has been expressed so many times in so many ways that it is like a broken record.
Hardware prices will ultimately drop for the processor and UI resulting in little profit for the reseller. The true value of a system will be in the software application and integration expertise. AMX will continue to have a long and healthy life for the high end custom market as long as they continue to deliver a premium product.
My only concern is that as the automation industry is commoditised to the degree that it is opened up to the masses then companies like AMX need to constantly re-invent themselves to get the product offering right.
X10 and the like were never going to be a competitor to the high end (read reliable) but the advent of PC's like the Samsung Q1 really do alter the dynamics of part of the AMX product offering - I for one would jump at the chance of using a real PC (or preferably mac!) optimised for handheld use and a control programme that would give you access to industry standard software design tools.
There is no doubt that the real edge is in good software engineering so I expect the professionals who supply automation solutions will always be a premium offering. But I also believe that I could choose to buy a linux box and tablet pc and write an interface and control code that would replicate pretty much all of what the amx system can do at a fraction of the current cost.
AMX have some great products, the MAX-HT content servers look awesome - I just hope that the bread & butter products are not being relied upon for profitability and future R&D as I do not see a bright future for it.
And great passion to boot.
Yes you could (maybe). Even if you could, you would be in a very small minority. AMX systems and their programmers exist because most people cannot do such things on their own. Joe Well to Do has better things to do than design UIs and write code, but still wants slick control in his home, thus he hires someone to do it.
Even with the seemingly high price of AMX product, it would still cost you less in the long run than if you had to develop your own hardware systems and perfect them to the level that AMX has. And when it doesn't work you don't have anyone to call that can help.
Unless all of the world's equipment manufacturers get together and develop some universal communication language and connectivity system, AMX isn't going anywhere soon. Heck, I deal with some bozo projector manufacturers that can't even supply the correct serial control protocol for their products.
The biggest problem, in my opinion, of any PC based system is upport. There is just way too much variety of hardware out there. And, once a customer has a PC of any sort, they start thinking along the lines of, "why is this just controlling my house, I want it to do ... as well?" So it doesn't remain a dedicated system, and you have to start dealing with software conflicts, security upgrades, driver issues, and all that junk that simply doesn't exist in an integrated product designed for a specific purpose.
Neither do I buy into the concept that Unix, or Mac OS are inherently much more secure than Windows. They are (1) more specialized and have a smaller exposure to errant third-party software, (2) they are not as big a target for hackers and exploiters, and (3) they don't have the stigma of being part of the "evil empire," and accordingly are not scrutinized as closely.
While there's plenty to gripe about when it comes to AMX and those whose name we shant mention, there is one big element that keeps them at the top of the game. That being, they understand that they are not above or beyond their market and its forces. They have a very vested interested in maintaining a connection at all levels of their customer base.
PC / Software manufacturers have the luxury of remaining somewhat aloof to the needs of their clients. PC manufactuers are not necessarily interested in which brand of software you choose to use on their machine. Likewise software designers don't care much which flavor of PC you use.
However, AMX and the other guy have a vested interest in the whole enchilada. As long as these forces are still at play, the high-end control market is going to be generally safe. Until someone like Microsoft makes an earnest attempt at doing 'whole-(house,business,etc...) control the little trunk-slammer upstarts are probably not going to knock AMX and C off the heap.
I do watch them and look at the options. the major problem I've seen so far is that the designers of such things still don't seem to have a clue what a truly 'high-end' system looks like or how it works.
enuff beating on this horse.
later.
mr gates used amx or so i've heard. They use meetingmanager in their offices
But it never works out like that. The pc hardware is always betrayed by the unacceptable compromises of it's "general platform" architecture: service packs, antivirus & firewall conflicts, slow boot, unsteady drivers, high latency.
Take the latest PC and compare it to a 5 year old TPI. See which boots faster, which loads its UI faster, which pulls up a video screen faster.
Now take that functionality and lay it on top of critical functions like security, lighting. No reason I'd make that tradeoff now.
This stuff could follow the path of Wang or Apple. It all depends on how nimble AMX et al are at managing the cost structure and keeping the products fresh.
And there will always be the need for some sort of intermediary to design the system and lay out the UI.
Then there's the customer service and support aspect which has been brought up already. If a customer is buying product from a dealer/mass merchandiser who's scraping bottom to compete on the basis of price, they're going to have to sacrifice somewhere and that somewhere is almost always going to be in customer service and capability of the integrator. That's why people are willing to spend more for quality, not just of quality of product but quality of service. And that's one of the nice things about AMX, they don't sign just anyone up to be a dealer and that maintains the quality of the brand name and the quality of our group here.
--John
There are too many reliability issues for Window to be used for home automation. My clients don't want to be told they have to reboot their house every day, and wait 5 minutes for the operating system to boot up before they can do anything.
Paul
Just a quick follow up - found this from an older article.
Just my two cents.
Sheldon Samuels
IPS Resources LLC
Sheldon worked hard on his metaphor but I feel it isn't quite right.
I am paid well to create unique solutions - not that uniquely look pretty (maybe cos I don't have those skills) but that do the unique things my client wants them to do.
I am still praying for the cookie-cutter job but it hasn't come along yet...
We live in a world of specialists, and often it simply doesn't pay to do work yourself if it's not your specialty. When I was a teenager, I loved working on cars. I thought of a career as an auto mechanic; I think it was the thought of constantly being greasy that changed my mind. But I was good at it. I rebuilt engines, transmissions; I used to buy junk cars and get them in working condition again. Even with all the new technology they have put in cars today, I'm confident that I can do most repairs myself if I really have to. Yet, I haven't so much as done my own oil change in 20 years. Why not? I have better ways to spend my time. I'm perfectly capable of doing the work, and the things I don't know how to do, I could learn. It's just not how I want to spend my time.
The minister at my church asked me about doing a computer analysis of the acoustics of a new building they put up. I don't him that wasn't quite my field, and that I don't have to sofware or expertise to really do it. He said, "Well Dave, if I buy you the software, could you do it?" I declined ... I told him I could certainly learn the software and eventually get the job done. But he would be far better served to hire someone who was expert in that field and has a day-to-day working knowledge of it. They would do a better job of it, and far more efficiently.
The only people who will be messing around with their own AV systems are the hobbyists. And they have always been a class to themselves. Everyone else will be looking for an installer or integrator.
So I just had a new security system installed, and I talked nicely to the tech and he arranged to send me the serial cable (what a doozy) and the floppy with the info on it.
(Floppy? What that? I have three PCs and none of them has a floppy drive!)
So now I can climb in the ceiling and run cables everywhere and connect my spare controller I got on eBay to my security system (and who knows what else) and I can write some rilly juicy code so that I can send an email to my house from anywhere in the world and find out if I am being burgled. And other stuff too.
Woo hoo! I'm so looking forward to it.
But in my heart I know that it will probably happen only if one of my clients pays me to write the code.
Darn...
(No way will I feed it through a vol3.)
I lurve doing big residential jobs but you gotta wonder what the punters do it for...