QIVICON helps Bitron Video launch white label smart home offers in Italy and France
QIVICON, Deutsche Telekom’s manufacturer-independent smart home platform, is presenting new partner offers and products at this year’s IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
The spectrum of companies profiting from the platform’s opportunities for fast, easy market approach include telecommunications companies, energy suppliers – and manufacturers of smart home devices, such as E WIE EINFACH and Bitron Video. Both companies are making use of Deutsche Telekom’s complete white label offer, with the aim of offering customers smart home solutions under their own brands, within the coming months.
Along with apps and compatible components, the companies are now offering their customers the new Home Base 2.0 gateway through their own distribution channels. E WIE EINFACH plans to launch its products and services in Germany and the Bitron Video manufacturer is aiming at both the Italian and French markets. Bitron Video joins Austria’s eww and Dutch KPN as the third company to market an international SmartHome offer based on the QIVICON platform.
Innovative smart home solution
Frost & Sullivan has awarded QIVICON its European Connected Home New Product Innovation Award for 2016. “The award from Frost & Sullivan confirms that Deutsche Telekom’s QIVICON smart home platform, thanks to its open, manufacturer-independent approach, is currently the leading smart home ecosystem,” commented Anirudh Bhaskaran, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
QIVICON Home Base 2.0
“What is more, Deutsche Telekom offers business customers a range of different partnership opportunities. For example, telecommunications companies and energy suppliers can use Deutsche Telekom’s white label offer as a means of offering their own complete ranges of smart home products, and of developing the smart home market quickly and efficiently. And the manufacturer-independent-platform approach is also attractive for manufacturers of smart home devices,” Bhaskaran also explained.
“These results for QIVICON are clear signs of success and growth,” added Thomas Rockmann, head of Connected Home at Deutsche Telekom. “We are now partnering with over 40 companies, have presence in a range of different European countries and offer users numerous apps and components, from different manufacturers, that make home environments more secure, more comfortable and more energy-efficient,” Rockmann also noted. “We plan to continue expanding our range of products and services, integrating new products and partners, and developing additional markets,” he emphasized.
New QIVICON Home Base 2.0
QIVICON Home Base 2.0 front plus back
A range of different models of the new QIVICON Home Base 2.0 will be offered this fall, in keeping with the diverse range of wireless protocols found throughout the international market. While the different models all have an identical outward appearance, they differ in terms of their pre-installed protocols. For example, the model designed for the German market, and several other markets, already includes the protocols HomeMatic, Homematic IP, ZigBee Pro and the inclusion of DECT ULE has also been completed.
Another model includes the ZigBee Pro and Z-Wave radio modules. All versions of the new Home Base 2.0 can be connected to home DSL routers either by cable or wirelessly, via Wi-Fi. In addition, users can integrate additional wireless protocols, via USB flash memories, as soon as interoperability with the QIVICON platform is assured. The Home Base 2.0 has two USB ports. And its design has been optimised to ensure aesthetic compatibility with just about any home environment.
New devices from Logitech, Netatmo and Sonos
This fall, consumers will have a range of new QIVICON-compatible devices to choose from. Among these will be remote-control products in the Logitech Harmony lineup, including the Harmony Hub and the Harmony app. With these products, users can control their TV sets, lighting and heating systems and, with the help of wireless socket adapters, electrical appliances.
QIVICON Home Base 2.0 type label
Netatmo’s weather station is also QIVICON-compatible. The weather station displays such data as outdoor temperature, humidity, air quality and air pressure. Significantly, these devices can also be linked with other QIVICON-compatible components. When combined with light-control systems from Osram or Philips, they can perform such useful functions as turning light reddish when environmental carbon dioxide levels become too high.
With the components offered by Sonos, users can control a wide range of still other applications. For example, with the help of a QIVICON-compatible app, such as the Magenta SmartHome App, users can integrate speakers – such as the PLAY:1 devices – in various scenarios.
In one setup, for example, the device starts up your favorite music when you come home. In another, the device, integrated with motion detectors and your home’s alarm system, sounds an alarm if an intruder enters your property. Such options enhance security in connected homes.
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