Parks Associates today announced the new report IP Home Management Services in Europe, which focuses on the European market for residential home monitoring and control solutions, including an analysis of new channel entrants, vendors, and technology providers. This industry report provides a thorough analysis of the European market for IP-based home systems and management services and examines business models for utilities, service providers, and security companies.

"Adoption of broadband and connected devices provides conduits for many new applications into the home and different means to connect with consumers," said Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls and Energy, Parks Associates. "Overall, European consumers rank traditional security capabilities high among their preferred connected home features, followed by energy management features. The diversity of consumer preferences among European countries opens the market for different business models and channel strategies."

The report notes that energy management is very popular in Denmark, where electricity costs are high. In the U.K., security and home monitoring are popular entry-level features among consumers.

Service providers can offer home controls solutions directly to the consumer or offer the services to a partner such as a utility or OEM, which then provides the service to consumers. Multiple telecoms are launching home controls solutions, using a variety of business models. Deutsche Telekom is investing in energy-specific service platforms, with partners including Miele, Samsung, and digitalSTROM. Similarly, Swisscom and iControl Networks have a strategic partnership to deploy a sophisticated home automation and monitoring solution. Telefónica has announced its "Thinking Things" machine-to-machine (M2M) solution for connecting all types of devices to the Internet in order to automate functions.

The report analyzes the different approaches and features consumer data for a variety of European countries:

23% of broadband households in the U.K have an electronic home security system. Less than 20% have one in France and Belgium, while only 6% of German households have a system.

By 2020, the U.K. and Spain will have over 20 million smart meters. France and Germany will exceed 30 million.

30-40% of broadband households in the U.K., France, Germany, and Belgium rank smoke/fire detectors as the most important connected home control capability.

One-third of German broadband households prefer a home security company to provide connected home monitoring equipment and services. Utilities are the second-most preferred provider but do not score more than 20% of households among any European country.

From the article, "1/3 of German households prefer a home security company to provide home monitoring equipment."