A smart home is networked to enable the interconnection and interoperability of multiple devices, services and apps, ranging from communications and entertainment to healthcare, security and home automation. These services and apps are delivered over multiple interlinked and integrated devices, sensors, tools and platforms. Connected, real-time, smart and contextual experiences are provided for the household inhabitants, and individuals are enabled to control and monitor the home remotely as well as within it.

The technologies behind the smart home can be grouped in the following categories:
Networking: Familiar home networking technologies (high bandwidth/high power consumption), such as Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, as well as 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE), are complemented with low-power consumption networking standards for devices and sensors that require low bandwidth and consume very little power, such as thermostats.
Media and Entertainment: This category, which covers integrated entertainment systems within the household and includes accessing and sharing digital content across different devices, has proved to be the most prolific and contains some of the most mature technologies in the smart home.
Home Security/Monitoring and Home Automation: The technologies in this category cover a variety of services that focus on monitoring and protecting the home as well as the remote and automated control of doors, windows, blinds and locks, heating/air conditioning, lighting and home appliances, and more.
Energy Management: This category is tightly linked to smart cities and government initiatives, yet consumer services and devices/apps are being introduced at mass-market prices that allow people to track, control and monitor their gas/electricity consumption.
Healthcare, Fitness and Wellness: Solutions and services around healthcare have proven slow to take off, because they must be positioned within a health plan and sold to hospitals and health insurance companies. The fitness and wellness segment have strong and quickly developed ecosystems that range from devices to sports wares to apps, which integrate seamlessly with each other to create a strong customer experience.

Smart home technology promises to make your living space more comfortable, more convenient, and more secure.

Want more comfort, convenience, and peace of mind from your living space? Smart home tech can help -- here are just a few of the ways.

• Turn off the lights before bed with one word
• Automatically lock the front door when you head to work
• Get notifications when your kids walk in the door
• Wake up to a warm cup of coffee
• Wake up to your favorite song
• Watch your napping kiddo on this smart wrist monitor

The future of the home is smart – a place where you can control your gadgets remotely using your smartphone – saving you time and money.

Networking technologies such as superfast broadband and wi-fi mean that more of the devices we use are connected to the internet than ever before. And as well as allowing us to communicate with friends and family, many of the devices communicate with each other to create what’s been dubbed the ‘smart home’ or ‘smart home’.

Many smart home devices such as heating, lighting and security systems can be controlled remotely by a smartphone, tablet or computer, typically via an app.

It’s becoming easier to connect an entire home too: broadband is faster, more reliable and more affordable than ever before and the improved signal range of wi-fi routers means that a single router can offer wi-fi coverage across more rooms in our homes, allowing more devices to be connected.

What's more, low-priced networking equipment has made it cheaper to extend home networks into rooms that were difficult to cover using just a single wi-fi router. This means that even previously difficult properties, such as older homes with thick walls, can now benefit from a home network that covers the entire property.