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20 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON
AU T UMN 20 1 7
COVER STORY
WHO’S THE BOSS?
F
or the best part of a decade, if
not longer, home automation
has been considered ‘on the
horizon’ – something that is so close to
practicality and yet so far from reality.
It always seems to be spoken about
as if its arrival is imminent but it’s not
here just yet.
Well, the truth is it is here now... and it
has been for some time.
As the editor of
Electrical
Connection
’s sister publication
Connected Home+Business
, I have
been immersed in the home and
building automation sector for just
over a decade. In that time, I have
seen it grow from being a young,
niche market to one that now draws
attention from the likes of Apple and
Telstra (neither of which actually offer
‘home automation’ solutions; rather,
they sell ‘smart devices’ under the
banner of automation.)
The terms home and building
automation actually denote a holistic,
integrated system that encompasses
technologies like lighting control, energy
management, AV and security. And at
the centre of it all is a control system
that acts as, well, the Fat Controller
from
Thomas The Tank Engine
– nothing
happens without its knowledge.
So it’s understandable that finding the
right control system for your project is
imperative to a job’s success. What you
may not know is that there are dozens of
control systems on the market and they
all offer installers something different.
So, where do you begin?
WHY AUTOMATION
Before we get to comparing and
contrasting these systems, it’s
important for sparkies to understand
why home automation is important.
“The electrical sector is dynamic
and keeps changing, so you can’t sit
still and expect to thrive,” Convergent
Technologies managing director Nick
Libertone says.
Convergent Technologies is the
Australian distributor of Lutron,
Vitrea and Transformative Engineering
control solutions.
“The home and building automation
market is completely different to 15
years ago. When I started with control
system manufacturer Crestron back in
1998, it wasn’t easy getting systems
integrators on board because they
didn’t want to touch IT. Today, if these
same guys didn’t have a control system
then they’d be in all sorts of trouble.
HOME AND BUILDING
AUTOMATION IS A VERY REAL
PART OF THE ELECTRICAL
INDUSTRY OF TOMORROW. WHAT
YOU MAY NOT REALISE IS THAT
IT IS ALSO A BIG PLAYER TODAY.
PAUL SKELTON
REPORTS.