The market of the so-called intelligent houses in Poland has a huge growth potential. The solutions that appear on the market improve the activities related to checking the situation in the apartment regardless of where we are currently. Meanwhile, another impulse to increase their popularity is to enable home appliances to communicate with other equipment or even make autonomous decisions to manage the area for which they are responsible at home. This will benefit companies whose technologies will simultaneously offer their customers the security of intelligent products.
- The very concept of intelligent houses or buildings is not new and has existed for over 40 years. Nowadays, smart things and even a smart environment are a trend. We start from the concept of an intelligent house as a compact, closed space, where there is some kind of installation controlling e.g. roller blinds or lighting, to a dynamic concept, where objects located on the premises of a house, company, restaurant or in a public place have the ability to communicate or make decisions - says Patryk Arłamowski, President of the Management Board of Blebox, an information agency Newseria Innowacje, who provides solutions for the Internet of things.
Currently, there are about 80 companies operating in Poland that provide intelligent building solutions. The domestic market for smart home solutions is estimated at a minimum of PLN 100 million with a huge growth potential in the coming years.
- We focused on technological superiority. We use our own, unique communication technology, which allows objects to communicate with the smartphone (i.e. with the user) directly - indicates Patryk Arłamowski. - At the same time, our technology allows you to connect objects such as a regular light bulb, roller blinds, garage door or entrance gateway directly to the Internet without using intermediary devices such as a central unit, hub or gateway. This is possible thanks to the use of microWiFi technology, which was developed by our team at the research stage.
According to the research, among the most commonly used smart home solutions, Poles indicate: possibility of managing lighting (87%), air conditioning, heating and alarm (83% each), entrance gate (about 81%) and home monitoring camera (80%) using a smartphone. Other possibilities of a smart home were: having a TV set integrated with the Internet (66%), a smart fridge ordering missing products (42%) or a washing machine controlled by a smartphone (55%).
- The second thing that distinguishes us is that in addition to supplying products for installers and homeowners, we also supply the technology itself for manufacturers of classic appliances. We help them transform the products they already have in their offer, such as roller blinds, heating, lighting, into smart products," adds the head of Blebox. - Together with the door manufacturer, we can create a door that can be opened with a smartphone or a smart-gate. And not only when we're near it, but from anywhere in the world. With a smartphone, we can also check whether the gate is open or closed when we are out.
Currently, most of the intelligent products available on the market are based on well-known solutions such as Bluetooth or WiFi, but also associated rather by ZigBee specialists, which is one of the standard specifications for data transmission protocols in intelligent buildings. Blebox uses microWiFi technology in its solutions.
- The revolutionary nature of our solutions is particularly influenced by the use of our own communication technology. This is a technology that allows you to connect objects both to the Internet and control them from a direct range through smartphones or tablets - says Patryk Arłamowski. - Our solution combines these technologies. It was presented by our science team at the Chengdu International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovations in China in 2015 and received an award as one of the most groundbreaking technologies of the Internet of Things.
The expert stresses that the company's technology enables objects to communicate both with each other and with infrastructure networks, so that they can be connected to the Internet without other devices.
- Importantly, this technology is immune to interference and attacks associated with attempts to take control of equipment. It takes less than a minute to open any roller blind that is available on the market with a simple computer and a few electronic gadgets. In case of our devices such an attack would have to last around 29 years - states the boss of Blebox. - In addition to microWiFi, we are most proud of the wBox product series, which we can control from anywhere in the world without intermediate devices. Interestingly, in the course of one and a half years of our existence, we have managed to convince some of the largest manufacturers of gates, roof windows, roller blinds and lighting to cooperate. They used our technology and implemented it as part of their product lines, creating intelligent windows, gates, blinds or doors.
