Qivicon is an alliance of companies from different industries that was founded in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom. The companies are collaborating on a cross-vendor, wireless-based home automation solution that has been available in the German market since fall 2013. It includes products in the areas of energy, security, and comfort. Qivicon won repeat awards from the international management consulting company Frost & Sullivan’s. In 2016, Frost & Sullivan has awarded Qivicon with the European Connected Home New Product Innovation Award. In 2014, the smart home platform has been awarded with the European Visionary Innovation Leadership Award in recognition of what the management consulting company saw as the most innovative Smart Home solution of the year.
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Aims
Qivicon has stated that it would like to take the "Smart Home" further forward around the world. Its aim is to establish a vendor-neutral solution that enables users to combine different brands of Smart Home solutions and thereby makes home automation possible for everyone. The alliance uses Smart Home optimized wireless protocols to make solutions easy to install in any home without needing to lay cables. Qivicon reckons that a Smart Home solution will be all the more attractive for the user the more companies offer compatible devices for use in different areas. The technical platform is international and open for companies of all sizes and in all industries. Qivicon wants to enable its partners to gain access to the Smart Home market with the aid of a technical platform, thereby enabling them to make use of the new market and open up new business models.
Members
It currently consists of over 43 companies in different industries such as energy, electrical and household appliances, security and telecommunications. Qivicon partners include Deutsche Telekom, EnBW, eQ-3, Miele, Samsung and Philips. Its members include German retailers, online shops, and wholesalers.
Platform
The Qivicon platform has been around in the German market since the fall of 2013. It connects and combines controllable devices made by different manufacturers. Every partner company can market their product offer of its own and develop apps to control them. To date, the product portfolio consists of devices such as motion detectors, smoke detectors, water detectors, wireless adapters for power outlets, door and window contact, temperature and humidity sensors, wireless switches, carbon monoxide sensors, thermostats, cameras, household appliances (e. g. washing machines, dryers, coffee machines), weather stations, sound systems and lighting controls.
The platform’s technical control unit, its home base, is connected to the Internet via a broadband connection in the house or apartment. In August 2016, Qivicon launched a new generation of the home base focusing on international markets. The range of different models will keep up with the diverse range of wireless protocols found throughout the international market. The models all have an identical outward appearance. But 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, ZigBee Pro and the inclusion of HomeMatic IP and DECT ULE has also been completed. Another model includes the ZigBee Pro and Z-Wave radio modules. All versions of the new home base can be connected to home DSL routers either by cable or wirelessly, via Wi-Fi.
The system can be expanded to include other wireless standards by means of USB sticks for which there are four corresponding slots in the home base of the first generation and two slots in the second generation. Qivicon partners’ devices can be controlled and monitored via various partner apps for the smartphone, the tablet or the PC. Since September 2016 Qivicon is compatble with Alexa from Amazon. Users can now control lights, blinds or alarm systems with their voice via Amazon Echo.
AV-Test, an IT security test institution, rates Qivicon as “secure”. It found that the Smart Home platform used encryption for communication and provided protection from unauthorized access.
The platform is now available internationally as a white label product. Partners are developing their own offers based on the smart home platform QIVICON, which consists of several components: a white label smart home app, which can be rebranded, the Qivicon Home Base, and a range of compatible hardware to choose from. Alternatively, partners can also develop their own app. The partner’s smart home offer is sold under its own brand and via its preferred distribution channels.