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Interoperability in a Smart Home

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Cologne, Paris, Rome (pts023/05.11.2014/13:15) - The three leading international smart energy / smart home-initiatives AGORA, Energy@Home and EEBus initiative established an cooperation to define a common language for the Smart Home and now present their product solutions for the first time on the leading international fair "Utility Week" in Amsterdam (04 - 06.11.2014). The wide range of supported products will deliver new specific benefits and services to consumers, regardless of the technology they use to communicate. During the fair the three initiatives, with over 100 members and with brands that are either market or innovation leaders, are going to present their demonstrator of a common ecosystem for their devices that will set a milestone in terms of interoperability in the smart energy and smart home sector. For example the US-companies Intel and Whirlpool also are members of the initiatives.

The main benefits provided by the connected devices in the smart home are related to user comfort and functionalities that make the everyday life easier and more enjoyable. Consumers across Europe will be able to integrate the various technologies of supported products and services into their smart home with the assurance that these devices will work together and thereby establish interoperability in the smart home. The mentioned benefits will come as easy to use as "plug and play" solutions for the customer. This all can be summed up best in our common vision "One World, One Language, One Smart Home"!

Connected products create also the possibility for the user to have a new and active role in the energy market while supporting a higher integration of green energy sources. This will provide benefits in two directions: to the consumer and to the environment, with an economic return for the former and lower CO2 emissions for the latter.

The three smart home-initiatives issued a list of key functionalities based on agreed use-case scenarios. Connected appliances as well as whole ecosystems will require these functionalities as a common base and interoperability in the future will be ensured through an open and standard communication protocol that is technology 'neutral, so ready to evolve together with technological progress.. These key functionalities are mainly focused on energy management as a first step and will be enlarged later with additional specific functionalities for the smart home. By doing this the three initiatives plan to realize the common target: "One World, One Language, One Smart Home".

During the "Utility Week 2014" the partners demonstrate at booth 4.G20: energy management, focusing on an optimization of self-consumption and the use of cheap energy in the interoperable home.

About AGORA
AGORA was born when several large French companies and SMEs (with an opening to international partners) joined forces to design and distribute components, products and terminals that would communicate with services to provide better "smart home" living. The idea was to jointly review all ways to enable domestic technologies to communicate, interact and cooperate. The Parties' shared goal was to provide residents of "smart homes" with more fluid, more economical, more efficient services by building a bridge linking everything together. This "bridge", this new household language, could improve the management of energy, communications, comfort, entertainment, security, home care services and e-health, while protecting personal data. What's more, it would create new opportunities and open up new ideas, for example through interaction with social networks.

About EEBUS Initiative e.V.
EEBus e.V. Initiative ( http://www.eebus.org ) is a German nonprofit association which networks the leading companies, associations and stakeholders in the German and international energy, telecommunications and electrical industry (by today: 50; http://www.eebus.org/eebus-initiative-ev/mitglieder/ ). The initiative is active within different standardization bodies (among others IEC TC57 WG21, CENELEC TC205 WG18, IEC/CENELEC TC59X) and defines neutral data models based on generated use cases, in the first phase mainly focused an smart energy systems. In coordination with the German institutes VDE and DKE, it cooperates with the different working groups in order to contribute to the efforts of standardizing a unified ontology. The association also has cooperation with BACnet, Echelon, Energy@home, KNX and ZigBee. The mission: increase in energy efficiency, comfort and security for the good of consumers, society, the environment and the economy.

About Energy@home
Energy@home is a nonprofit association that, for the benefit of the environment, aims at developing & promoting technologies and services for energy efficiency in the home based upon device-to-device communication. Energy@home envisages a holistic approach where the house is an ecosystem of connected and interacting appliances and sub-systems that coordinate themselves in order to optimize energy consumption, increase energy efficiency and create new services for end customers. The association's goal is to promote the development and spreading of products and services based on interoperability and collaboration of the different appliances within the household and with the energy infrastructure. In line with its mission, Energy@home pursues the development of open international standards for products in the home through proactive contribution in relevant standardization organizations and Alliances.

For further information please contact:
AGORA
Agora du Réseau Domiciliaire
Association loi 1901
France
http://www.reseau-domiciliaire.fr/

Press:
Jean Pierre Lacotte
+33 1 41 86 57 88
+33 6 07 24 21 82
Jean-pierre.lacotte@technicolor.com

Energy@home
Associazione Energy@home
http://energy-home.it

Press contact:
Marco Calini:
Phone: +39 339 1544973
Mail mcalini@eoipso.it

EEBus Initiative e.V.:
Phone: +49(0)221 47 44 12 - 20;
Mail: info@eebus.org;
Internet: http://www.eebus.org

Press contact:
Wolfgang Ludwig,
Phone: +49 (0)221 29219282;
Mail: mail@ludwig-km.de

Submitter: Ludwig Wolfgang Contact: Wolfgang Ludwig Phone: +49 221 29219282 E-Mail: mail@ludwig-km.de Website: www.eeebus.org