Looking at sector coupling and IoT in focus.
The increasing popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) set new records for the smart homes and buildings industry. Smart homes and smart buildings are destined to open their focus on more crucial topics, which are, respectively still coming with the IoT revolution. Moving away from regular consumer solutions, there are further topics, such as sector coupling and IP based solutions. Even today, IP and digitisation are permeating all areas of life. Thanks to a timely identification of the issues and topics, an infrastructure, currently known as KNX IoT, has been created, providing IoT manufacturers and system integrators with key technology and expertise for the latest IoT developments. This has enabled them to significantly expand an application portfolio with topics such as energy management, mobility, renewable energies, energy storage, smart metering and the smart grid.
Manufacturers benefit from the positive trend
Smart homes and building technologies are nothing new. However, since the birth of KNX in 1990, the absolute preservation for the compatibility of all products, a restrictive certification process, well-defined interworking and a consistent, neutral tool have set the standard. Today’s result is that these quality advantages are also reflected in the manufacturer’s sales for smart home and building solutions. In markets with the highest turnovers, sales increased in some cases by more than 60 per cent compared to the previous year.
Survey confirms the positive trend
The facts and figures just mentioned confirm the results of a pan-European survey by BSRIA, according to which KNX was the most popular protocol in most European markets. The standard contributes to technical standardisation in the industry. BSRIA estimates that the proportion of KNX based solutions averages 50 per cent. This reflects the growing importance of KNX in Europe. Even in the UK, where the market is dominated by special solutions compared to continental Europe, KNX’s market share is already rising to 27 per cent.
The future development is firmly under control
After the very positive impulses from the developments in 2018, such as the secure transmission with KNX Secure, the easy commissioning with ETS Inside and the very strong expansion of the KNX RF product portfolio, KNX is well prepared for the next year of its success story. As a future standard, KNX is also setting new expectations in energy management. KNX IoT combines sectors such as transport, electricity, renewable energy, energy storage and heat supply as part of sectoral interconnection, and offers a holistic approach to increasing energy efficiency in the smart city.
Today, KNX has more than 470 leading technology groups from 44 countries and almost 83,000 certified partner companies in 190 countries. This development supported the maintenance of its leading position in the smart building sector. Within a year, the number of KNX certified products rose from 7,000 to 8,000 – more than ever before since the founding of the association in 1990. Market analysis regularly shows considerable market shares of over 50 per cent for the standard in important markets. Even in China, the most important growth market, KNX has approached this milestone with a recent share of 42 per cent. In the meantime, more than 300 million KNX certified products are in use in various projects worldwide.