Photo: istockphoto.com
The demand for smart homes and home appliances is growing. The more choice there is, the cheaper the basic technologies become and the scope of their application expands. But in order for the market not to stretch in different directions, like a swan, a crab and a pike, there was a need to develop standards. They will allow all hardware manufacturers and software developers to speak the same language.
At the Fontanka round table, experts talked about import substitution and technology development, as well as why voice—controlled houses are no longer fiction, but reality.
— The demand for smart home technologies is growing in general. More and more companies are present in the market of smart remote control devices,” said Oleg Burenko, Director of Software Development at the Code Format company. — It seems to me that this is a popular service that makes life much easier. But at the same time, do not forget that the responsibility for managing these smart devices still lies with the person.
— I think that the emergence of smart homes and smart neighborhoods is inevitable. It’s not just fashion anymore — it’s a steady trend that our customers are actively interested in,” says Maxim Zhabin, Deputy General Director of Lenrusstroy IC. — Therefore, it is now important to maximize the possibilities of digitalization and automate what can be transformed. But many things still require human involvement, intelligence, emotions and feelings. In many professions, a living person is needed.
— A separate segment of the audience has long been formed in the market, for which the arrangement of a smart home is becoming the norm. These are people with a certain temperament, education and outlook on life. There are not many similar ones yet, but they form a trend in the development of this direction. For the most part, consumers’ craving for new solutions is limited by their interest in individual gadgets and devices sold in the “smart technology” category,” Alexey Sapin, Marketing and advertising Director at REDMOND, shared his observations. — It is much easier to buy a smart iron or kettle, a base or an outlet than to fully equip a house by connecting the maximum available solutions to a single control center.
— It is so created by nature that people are afraid of any complex technologies that require certain skills and a level of knowledge. And to put it bluntly, technophobia and cost are still the main deterrents to the phenomenon of “smart home” becoming widespread, — the expert comments. — The sales growth of smart equipment is growing from year to year. But for most, it’s more a tribute to progress or fashion. Therefore, often people who have bought a gadget and connected it to remote control do not use this option regularly. In any device, functionality is most important, not the ability to turn it on from a distance.
— At the same time, the number of players in the smart device market is also growing, — says Alexey Sapin. — Firstly, all innovations are brought to Russia (mainly from China). Secondly, Russian manufacturers are trying at least to keep up, and in some cases even outperform foreign competitors in technology. In particular, in software development.
— Popularity is determined by availability and needs: for example, a large number of modern indoor lighting fixtures can be controlled via phone, voice, remote control or timer, — comments Sergey Sofronov, Commercial Director of the PSK Group. — And when buying something new in the house or when replacing an old one, buyers tend to choose from more modern items. The same robot vacuum cleaner. Or an oven that will clean itself. This is more of an evolutionary process.
According to him, the smart home device market today offers a huge selection, but, on the other hand, there are practically no ready-made solutions out of the box. This is due to the individual nature of the demand for such systems.
— As a rule, the most demanded control systems for electricity and water supply, both general and individual consumers, – added Sergey Sofronov. — I think that among the buyers of such devices there are many who have a habit of worrying about an iron that is not turned off or a leaky faucet. Demand is based on the desire for innovation and, of course, the main engine of progress. However, it is not entirely correct to mention laziness when describing the life of modern people. Saving time and convenience is the right way.
If we talk about the equipment of smart buildings, smart homes, then initially this market was divided into two directions: there were expensive wired Western solutions and cheaper wireless Chinese ones, said Maxim Marachuk, commercial director of Clover Lab.
— Now, taking into account the fact that technologies and equipment are getting cheaper, they are becoming more accessible, and the market is actively developing, — he said. — If a few years ago an IP intercom was considered the limit for a smart building, which can broadcast a video image to a panel in an apartment, and ideally to a mobile application, now things like video intercom, video call broadcast to a mobile application, leak sensors that automatically block water, automated meter reading transmission systems are already becoming basic options for apartment buildings. But comfort and safety devices for individual apartments are purchased according to individual needs, and this market is also expanding.
Changes in sales are also related to the fact that Western vendors have almost completely left Russia. Demand is seriously shifting towards domestic and Chinese manufacturers.
“Russian cloud technologies are also being completely replaced by Western ones,” says Vadim Yezhov, Director of Business Development at LIIS. — In principle, our companies quite confidently occupy a niche that has been vacated in the market, produce solutions, controllers and end products of a very good level and present them to customers — developers who implement them into their projects. Our software developers do not lag behind Western ones, they offer quite interesting interfaces, and the market is showing growth — in pieces, for sure!
The expansion of demand has generated another trend — simplification, says Artyom Kazarin, product manager at Teplolyux.
— If you tell a consumer that the device works through an application, it causes rejection for many: people have so many applications — now every store has them, — he explained. — Apparently, we are in some kind of intermediate stage between when all manufacturers create applications “for themselves” and when someone combines them into a single system.
So far, according to Artyom Kazarin, the most popular device that performs such a “unifying” function has become the “Alice” from Yandex.
— Indeed, our company’s programmers are working to ensure that all the smart devices we produce can be easily integrated with Alice and Marusya, — Alexey Sapin confirmed. — Voice assistants become the “single window” that receives commands from the user and transmits them further to the devices.
The expert said that international studies have been conducted on why many people are still wary of using smart technology. It turned out — for fear of doing something wrong. This gives rise to a certain shame for not being ready to understand new technologies and unwillingness to understand technical subtleties. Therefore, we see a tendency to simplify the management of smart home solutions as much as possible all over the world.
— Smart technology is good when it’s easy to use, — Maxim Marachuk agreed. — And if, to turn on the kettle, you need to go to three submenus by pressing the button three times in the application, then this is more difficult than walking up to the kettle with your feet and pressing the button once on it itself. Therefore, the simpler the control, the more likely it is that the device will be used. The management of smart devices should be intuitive. We’ve all watched science fiction movies where a person enters a house and controls all smart devices and assistants with just their voice. And in reality, we are now seeing a strong increase in the popularity of voice assistants.
Lay the groundwork
Today, developers are increasingly introducing smart home technologies right at the design stage — it’s more about basic functions related to access security and engineering control. But it is obvious that this has a certain price — and it must be paid by the buyer, for whom such novelties have a certain value.
— If elements such as leak, smoke, short circuit sensors, etc., are prescribed in the standards, then the value of this for the consumer and the price can be comparable, — comments Alexey Sapin. — A person is not ready to pay a lot, but if you show him that it is valuable to him, then he will agree to it. In the meantime, most often developers simply offer some kind of service, without investing in promoting the idea of a smart home.
The margin for the smart qualities of the house may be up to 20-30% in the future, but at the same time, a person should not verbally understand and feel the advantages compared to living in a simple “concrete box”.
— Developers mostly create preparations for a smart home, — explains Sergey Sofronov. — This is not a very large cost, a fraction of a percent of the total cost per square meter. In expensive real estate, the degree of such training is higher, and the smart house there starts from the front door. For example, in our residential complex “Severnaya Korona” there will be keyless access, automatic door opening in the front rooms and much more. At the moment, everything is subject to competitive pricing.
Since there is no clear definition of what level of automation a house can be considered smart, a minimum set can be taken as a starting point, he recalls. For example, a banal light bulb that can be controlled via WiFi — this will be the initial cost.
One of the most expensive individual solutions, according to Sergey Sofronov, is supply and exhaust ventilation systems, which are more common in rural construction, but are also found in apartment buildings.
— This is more of a comfort technology that automates temperature and humidity maintenance, CO2 recovery and tracking. The price range is from tens to hundreds of thousands of rubles,” he explained. — Complex equipment, where every aspect of everyday life is automated, probably has no top price. A useful sensor can be installed even in the septic tank of a country house. There is a direct analogy with a personal computer: there is no universal answer to how much a modern PC costs.
— The LIIS company has been equipping residential complexes with smart apartments for the past few years. Over the past 1.5–2 years, their number has reached two thousand lots, so we clearly understand how much and what it costs,” says Vadim Yezhov. — At the same time, the price depends on the type of technologies used in construction. If this is a wireless system for a turnkey apartment with functionality that includes technical security, lighting control, and climate control, it will cost about 2-2.5 thousand rubles per square meter. It’s inexpensive. If we are talking about wired technologies, then the price increases to 3-4 thousand per square meter, because the equipment itself is more expensive. The capital costs of laying cables are also rising.
Of course, if we talk about top-level wired technologies, the price can reach 9-10 thousand rubles per square meter. Such solutions are used in the premium class of housing — in club houses, which are built “turnkey” completely finished.
Wireless systems, according to Vadim Yezhov, are cheaper, because they are constantly developing, a large number of brands are appearing. They are chosen by those who want to get the fastest result with minimal investment. There are fewer wired devices on the market, they are more reliable, because they do not depend on the availability of Internet in the house, and therefore more expensive. Many people make a mix of wired and wireless solutions in one facility.
— The cost of implementing certain technologies, of course, depends on the class of housing. But, sometimes, in order to upgrade the class, the developer chooses more expensive devices,” Maxim Marachuk continued. — At Clover Lab, we make solutions for developers that allow them to build full—fledged smart apartment buildings – from smart systems in the surrounding area to individual sensors in each apartment. We integrate all the engineering systems of the building and combine them within a single application with smart apartments. If we take the starting price for the developer at the level of the house and territory, it will be from 5 thousand rubles per apartment. And a further increase in the price depends on what functionality will be added directly to the apartments.
According to him, some developers equip apartments with a small basic volume of smart security devices such as wireless device controllers and leak sensors. Someone adds access control and climate control sensors, smart calls and curtain control — that is, the buyer immediately receives advanced functionality of smart devices that can be installed after moving into a new home.
Maxim Zhabin told how the smart home system was created in the LesART intellectual quarter in Housewarming. It was necessary to optimize the costs of hardware and low-current work, as well as select the necessary devices. The company managed to do this without loss of quality. According to him, the cost of implementation was about 5 thousand rubles per square meter, although in the market of wired solutions, without often unstable radio signals, the average price is from 8 to 12 thousand rubles.
— Today, lighting, climate control systems and various media devices are in the greatest demand – these are three key areas that our customers actively use, — he says. — These technologies are already well known and widely advertised, devices from many manufacturers of different levels are on the market.
In second place, according to him, are internal communications: mobile applications for interacting with the management company or communicating with neighbors. Resource management and security are equally important: access to the apartment, personal safety and protection from man—made threats, such as water leaks or power supply problems.
— Water, electricity and heating management is becoming more and more relevant in the light of the constant increase in the cost of resources, while intelligent systems help to save on this, — Maxim Zhabin added.
At the same time, if we talk about monthly expenses for the user, then for an apartment with an area of 45-50 sq. m. the service fee for such solutions will be approximately 400-500 rubles.
Everything is according to the standard
The active spread of smart home technologies has led to the need to regulate this market in some way. It is known that the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2024 plan to develop and approve a set of national standards for digital services and services in new buildings. At the end of 2023, GOST 71199 and 71200 for smart homes have already been approved. Experts believe that the appearance of such standards will help to define the concepts in the first place.
— Standards will help to set a framework to understand where a smart home is, where it is not smart, where it is a mandatory device, and where it is not, — comments Artem Kazarin. — That is, at what point do we switch from a light bulb in the remote direction to a smart home.
According to Vadim Yezhov, the standards will show certain rules of the game and are intended primarily for new buildings — both residential housing and apartment buildings.
— At my previous job, I dealt with Western European countries and saw that a lot of things there were standardized in the use of digital technologies. In particular, the focus was on energy efficiency in all new buildings,” he continued. — If we follow the same path and build on Russian realities and developments, then the emergence of standards will help full—cycle system integrator companies like ours to work with customers based not only on their desires, but also on the requirements of the state.
— Standardization is good if it does not drive developers and manufacturers into the framework, but gives guidelines — for example, so that small companies can offer products to large developers, confirming the quality of products by meeting standards, — Oleg Burenko believes. — This creates competition, and competition is a blessing. But if the standards are written exclusively for one or two developers, then this will have a negative impact on the market, because the monopoly does not create conditions for evolutionary development.
According to him, so far there have been a number of de facto standards on the market — for example, access control systems.
— We make software for the ELTIS company to manage the systems of residential complexes with a developed digital infrastructure, including a well-developed engineering network and modern equipment. This software allows, for example, to integrate an intercom with its functionality into the mobile application of the management company in order to additionally carry out parental control, connect to cameras on the playground, in the entrance, remotely open barriers, doors, etc. If there are common standards in one device, many systems can be integrated at once that will make life more comfortable, Oleg Burenko explained.
— I got acquainted with the recently adopted GOST 71200 and 71199 and saw in them a fairly reasonable approach. There are no requirements for technologies or software, they started by establishing terms and definitions of what is considered a smart home, a smart outlet, what is a hardware and software complex at home,” says Maxim Marachuk. — In fact, these GOST standards are the alphabet so that all market participants — designers, developers, manufacturers, buyers — speak the same language.
He agreed that GOST standards should set the direction, but not limit competition.
— I think that everything is moving along the right path now, — Maxim Marachuk added. — What will happen next? As far as I know, a standard has been developed for smart apartment buildings, where they are planned to be divided into 5 or 7 classes, depending on the saturation of smart technologies — by analogy with energy efficiency classes. And this is also absolutely the right decision, because now the same developers and sellers of real estate are ready to call any house smart. And what is really there and to what extent he is smart is a big question. If there is a standard, it will be possible to confirm the real “smartness” of each house.
Another issue that does not lie on the surface is house maintenance tariffs, which, apparently, will also take into account the saturation of smart infrastructure in accordance with standards. Now, officially, there is only the “maintenance and repair of ROMs” tariff for intercom and locking devices, which appeared in the late 90s. However, since then, the level of engineering infrastructure has increased significantly.
— Standards are needed, ultimately, in order to increase the popularity of these systems, — believesSergey Sofronov. — One way or another, comparability is needed, which simplifies integration and serves to popularize. It is easier for consumers to operate with standards: for example, the standard of the same energy saving.
According to him, from the point of view of the legal field, there are several nuances: with the development of the Internet of things, IoT, household appliances, up to a kettle, get access to the network. The convenience and necessity of connecting some devices to the network is questionable, but all of them are already on the market for free sale.
— All this creates potential risks of hacking and attacks related to the operation of these devices — up to new ways of committing existing crimes, — said Sergey Sofronov. — Each of the devices is an independent computer system at risk of hacking. Therefore, the development of legal mechanisms, coupled with cybersecurity, in this case matures by itself.
— We all live in a world of standards: 220 volts in an outlet, centimeters and meters, mobile frequencies, etc. — these are standards that were once invented, implemented, and we exist in them, – says Alexey Sapin. — There is a question about the depth of this standard. What has been announced now is still an attempt to bring all knowledge about a smart home into a single conceptual apparatus. The imagination of developers is limitless, but the endless inconsistency of different forms and solutions does not allow the market to develop. As manufacturers of equipment with smart properties, we need to understand the realities in which consumers will live in the coming years in order to create in-demand devices. Standards are vital for companies involved in the construction of smart homes and housing complexes, but we also need confidence that we are moving in a common direction in our development.
Replace wisely
The departure of Western companies allowed Russian manufacturers and developers, who, however, had previously been present in this market, to expand their activities more widely.
— Of course, from the point of view of user interfaces, everything that we have done is done for us, — comments Vadim Yezhov. — At LIIS, we compared Russian and Chinese interfaces, and ours are objectively better. In addition, the interfaces differ depending on which segment the product is aimed at — comfort class, business or premium. Different solutions and different interfaces are used for each.
So, for more expensive products, as a rule, not universal assistants are used, but more interesting, custom developments. They include all engineering systems and functions that will help you feel both the class of housing and the level of comfort. Vadim Yezhov stressed that all these are domestic products.
— Moreover, some Russian developers enter the international market and feel quite confident there. They were there before and are still present,” he added.
“China is bringing its products to market fairly quickly, but the quality of the code, interfaces, and accepted patterns of how they are used are very different from what they are used to in Russia and the West,” says Oleg Burenko. — That’s why we create a product for “our own” to make it convenient to use.
He added that the main trend is now towards integration with voice assistants. It is much easier to just say “Alice, turn on the kettle” than to choose the right one from a dozen applications. And around these voice assistants, we can say, a certain standard of devices is being formed, because everyone wants to be able to integrate with them.
— We at the Code Format company are also implementing the possibility of integrating various elements with Alice for customers, — Oleg Burenko continued. — The question is how much the user is interested in this, since demand generates supply. And if someone makes a “superapplication” with a simple integration of the remaining elements and a voice assistant that will constantly listen to commands, it will probably be a breakthrough in the market.
All experts agree that it is the voice assistant, with which you can talk the way you are used to with a person, that is most understandable for users. Moreover, both “Alice” from Yandex and “Marusya” from VKontakte are Russian—made products.
— Therefore, REDMOND plans to produce all smart devices that are necessarily compatible with voice assistant services or with direct voice control. These technical parameters are laid down at the development level,” says Alexey Sapin. — A smart home is a kind of constructor that can be infinitely completed and developed. But the concept itself begins with the first device, when you buy it and set up management. Being in direct contact with the consumer, we understand that the simpler the technology is for him, the more likely it is to succeed. Everything else is for “technogics”, for that category of people who are ready to dive in, add code, come up with additional chips and just get carried away with the topic.
As the expert noted, today a large number of Russian brands and even more Chinese manufacturers are already represented on the market of smart home appliances. The technologies are basically similar. The only difference is in the software and marketing approaches. According to him, there are great prospects for companies that are engaged in turnkey smart home equipment. But there are not very many buyers of this type of service in Russia yet, because it is not a cheap pleasure. It is easier for a simple consumer today to immerse themselves in such a story by buying one or two devices and starting to rebuild their smart home with them. As a result, in a few years he will come to a fully robotic home space. After all, technology does not stand still.
— The Teplolyux company is initially a Russian manufacturer of leak protection systems. Although, of course, we use components from China, for example, boards,” Artem Kazarin continued the topic of import substitution. — At the same time, our goal is not to implement the system as some kind of “fashionable feature” for technogics, we want the installation of such systems to be mandatory, such as water filters. So far, not even all residents know about the existence of leak protection — only plumbing specialists.
— There is no such product category as part of smart home systems that could not be bought in Russia, — Sergey Sofronov believes. — There are domestic products — with production in both Russia and China. Moreover, there is even equipment that is created by Russian entrepreneurs in the EU, sold in Russia, but produced in China. It is difficult to say which country such goods belong to. Purely subjective — it’s nice to support a domestic manufacturer.
According to him, the overwhelming share of the cost today is know—how, technology, development, sales, and production accounts for a minimal part, and everyone is trying to make it cheaper. Therefore, Chinese production does not surprise anyone and in general does not become some kind of inhibiting factor in the choice.
— As a matter of fact, software is the main product that is being created in Russia, — said Sergey Sofronov. — An example is our PSK Home application, where we cooperate with Octus, a Russian developer. There are a number of integrators on the market who assemble a smart home, as a designer, for any TK, combining it with their own software and, ultimately, integrating it into one or another service familiar to the user from the largest developers.
Maxim Marachuk from the Clover Lab company suggested considering import substitution of hardware and software separately.
— Avoiding any foreign software is associated not only with sanctions, but also with the fact that our solutions and our programmers are better and tailored to the tasks that are relevant to us, — he explained.
According to him, there are two main areas of development: some create products for individual apartments or private houses, i.e. solve the tasks of the end user living in this room. And a separate layer is the development of software for apartment buildings: These are software applications for management companies and residents that make it convenient and automate meter readings, bill payments, utility service requests, and enable residents to use common video surveillance and access control systems to the territory and entrances through the application.
— We see that growth will be exactly where the smart home software will become a single integrated solution that meets the needs of both a large developer who is building an apartment building, and in the future the management company of this house, and will also be as convenient and functional as possible for the tenant himself when using smart devices and devices and receiving digital housing and communal services, — Maxim Marachuk emphasized. — And we at Clover Lab have developed and are developing just such a comprehensive software product.
Import substitution of equipment is a more difficult task: there are problems with the domestic element base and with high production costs compared to the same China. According to Maxim Marachuk, first of all, Russia is starting to produce either the most marginal lines of devices, or equipment whose production control is easier to conduct in our country. However, in both cases it is the production of foreign components.
— For example, the build quality and the possibility of rapid modernization were important to us, so we produce our main complex devices — controllers and apartment panels of a smart home — under the CleverHome brand in St. Petersburg, and we make standard sensors in China.
Interlocutor and assistant
There is no doubt that the technologies that make smart apartments, houses and even entire cities will develop.
“The future lies in combining smart devices and smart home elements into one voice—controlled application,” Oleg Burenko believes. — I think that the supply of housing from developers with systems integrated from scratch, including a minimum set of, most likely, wireless devices, will grow: they are cheaper and easier to implement. Now their cost is no more than 2-3% of the cost of the apartment, and it is quite inexpensive, in my opinion.
— The development will be evolutionary: as household appliances become “smarter”, the scenario of interaction with them, the habit, will begin to change, — comments Sergey Sofronov. — The new generation that was born with smartphones, of course, will gravitate towards more “smart” homes.
Artyom Kazarin believes that due to the development of competition, technologies and devices will become cheaper and more and more introduced into the market.
— Until recently, electric cars were an element of fantasy films, but now there are charging stations everywhere, — he gave an example. — The same thing with smart homes: if 20 years ago they appeared only in movies, now it is already available to representatives of the middle class. However, if the implementation is quite active in the house territory and at the level of the whole house, then there is still a trend for customization. People want to keep their individuality, so there is a need for individual solutions.
— The market will grow in all directions. Developers will definitely offer more and more smart elements inside apartments,” Vadim Yezhov believes. — If everything started with technical safety, now it has come to the management of routine operations: lighting, climate — people are interested in everything related to energy efficiency, as well as protection from leaks, etc.
According to him, user interfaces — both voice and in the form of applications — will be simplified and become understandable to more people. In addition, Vadim Yezhov predicts a serious impact of global players such as BEAC or Yandex. They will expand the “umbrellas” of possibilities for connecting all devices to a single system, adding various services there.
Maxim Marachuk recalled that most smart technologies existed 15 and even 20 years ago, but everything was much more expensive and therefore inaccessible to most users.
Progress has led to the fact that the same element base has become cheaper by several orders of magnitude in 20 years, technology is cheaper, artificial intelligence can be used almost for free, and devices that allow you to meet the needs for user comfort and safety have also fallen in price,” he explained. — This means that the market will grow, and technology will cover an increasing range of the population and become the norm of life.
— Any technology, as soon as it appears on the market, strives precisely to become accessible to as many people as possible. Our company, among other things, is making efforts to do this,” says Alexey Sapin. — The second point that I see is the expansion of the line of smart appliances in the house itself due to robotics. A new generation of gadgets with the properties of robots should appear — like a standard robot vacuum cleaner, which already drives almost every third apartment in our country. Robots will appear for washing dishes, slicing vegetables and fruits, maybe catching mosquitoes — you can come up with a huge number of small household appliances with robot functions.
— I assume, — the expert continues, — that unified management will be simplified as much as possible towards interaction through voice assistants: exactly as it was shown in science fiction films back in the 70s – control through cotton, voice, gaze, i.e. what is available to almost all people without special education. And, of course, the development of a smart home will be influenced by artificial intelligence, which will allow you to control all systems in the way that ready-made algorithms do now.
— One should not expect that digital solutions will begin to fill a person’s life in all its aspects, but it is also pointless to try to completely exclude such systems from our lives, — Maxim Zhabin comments. — Smart technologies are called “smart” for a reason: They analyze the flow of information and offer solutions that can improve people’s lives or increase their comfort level. It seems like it’s just: I activated the device and the light bulb lit up. However, in fact, this light bulb can turn on even when you are climbing the stairs, adjusting the intensity of the light to create the right mood and illuminating the path with reasonable intensity. This is the result of an analysis of the user’s condition by a highly intelligent system that allows a person to maintain emotional engagement.
Speaking about the prospects for the future, he added: thanks to smart devices, the apartment should adapt to the residents, creating the right atmosphere through music, climate control, lighting, food automatically prepared according to the tastes of the client, ensuring optimal water temperature and a prepared bath with a selection of herbs and shampoos.
— I may be getting ahead of myself too far, but creating such a favorable environment for every person is the near future, — Maxim Zhabin believes. — Japan is already actively working on these technologies. So far, they are available to a limited number due to the high cost, but every year these solutions will become available to the masses.
Photo: istockphoto.com
Источник: www.fontanka.ru
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