Need help for Engineering Management project

Hello everyone, I am a sophomore at Vanderbilt University taking a class called Engineering Management 221. Its major focus is the cumulative development of a Technology Strategy Assessment for a frontier-level technology (such as wireless power, OLED, holographic data storage, etc). My group's chosen technology, as you might have guessed, is home automation. More specifically, we are developing a business platform around an imaginary Apple Inc. product line called iBode. We know that it might be far-fetched for Apple to jump into the smart home market, but in many ways they already have: they in some forms dominate the "digital lifestyle" market with the iPod and "cool" computing hardware and OS; with the apple tv and iPhone, their prevalence in this market will grow; they maintain the ability to seem ahead of the competition.

We decided the iBode would essentially be a modified Mac Pro that would serve as the command hub for the rest of the home network. It would most likely be based around a modified (OSX-friendly) X10 protocol, so as to lessen compatibility issues. We have also seriously entertained the idea of Apple partnering with or buying Insteon. Our belief is that home automation is not a frontier technology, it is an existing and refined technology that has simply not reached your everyday Joe. Apple's reputation, creativity, and marketing machine could remedy this inexposure. for how we could approach our technology strategy

So what I ask of all of you here in this Google Group is, quite broadly, what do you think of the idea? How practical is the implementation of such an iBode system? What do you think are the biggest potential problems we might encounter? Do you have any new ideas for how to approach our Technology Strategy that we might have overlooked? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Clay Maffett

Reply to
clay.maffett
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Sorry about that typo there at the end, the drag and drop strikes again.

Reply to
clay.maffett

Do your own homework?

Reply to
Bill Kearney

There are a few positives and at least one negative I can foresee.

It sounds like it has real potential -- not just as a class project but as a real world market entry. Apple has the attention of a significant segment of the population. If they (you) implement an effective marketing campaign such a venture could gain a strong following in the HA marketplace.

First you'd have to get Apple interested. They're not a pair of brave, young entrepeneurs operating out of a garage any more. It's a big, established company with its own ideas and marketing / development strategy.

The next obvious hurdles will be proof of concept and development of a working prototype.

With Apple's financial backing and advertising know-how, building consumer interest will be easier than for some of the other recent startups (CQC, HomeSeer, etc.). However, for a company the size of Apple to jump into the HA market you'll need to attract far more consumer interest than small startups need. The HA marketplace is still a relatively small segment of the overall community. It might not be possible to develop sufficient sales to maintain Apple's support.

Perhaps an old idea might help. Integrate existing technology to make the iBode compatible with most of the existing hardware already on the market. Look at what ELK Products has done with their ELK-M1G system. Rather than reinventing and trying to sell lots of HA wheels, they have made the ELK-M1G system compatible with numerous competing HA control technologies. This gives them a much broader target within the HA and security marketplace.

Good luck with your project. Do let us know what ideas you come up with and how the project progresses. Who knows? You might even develop something to sell to Apple or one of the other players.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

this IS my homework, we are supposed to gather input from real people, including a Google Group members, PRs for companies we have researched, etc...

I didn't think I would find bitterness on Usenet group like this, but it happens i guess

Reply to
clay.maffett

A little unsolicited advice. In this life, you will suffer many, who for one reason or another, have something critical or down right petty to say. IGNORE them. If they choose to show their ass all over the internet, let them. But the rest of us don't need to see yours. You go to Vandy, you're much smarter than that, you know this. Now get on the thick skin and show some self-assuredness. You will be expected to lead and show magnanimity.

Michael

Reply to
Slammer

It might have helped if you had indicated that your homwork was to contact people for their help.

I havent seen it recently but for a while there were people who used to try to get various groups to do the research that they were supposed to be doing themselves. The would put a question out like yours, then rephrase it and turn it in.

Reply to
B Fuhrmann

Reactions in no particular order:

1) iBode -- Good name for the Me generation. (But comes up with 633,000 hits on Google.)

2) This is _not_ a Google Group. This is usenet. Learn the difference or misunderstand the input (and we presume if your prof is savvy, points)

3) I agree that home automation as usually discussed in this newsgroup (comp.home.automation) is not a 'frontier technology'. However there are important areas that _are_ at the bleeding edge of technology and social organization. (And if you search this newsgroup, you will find many topics other than how to retrofit 30-year-old X-10 technology to existing homes in the least expensive way possible.) See my last point in this post (#8).

4) "based around ... X-10 protocol." If you have done any research in this area, you will know that the list of corporations that have chosen this model and failed completely, utterly and permanently include IBM, GE, Sears, Zenith, RCA, Stanley, Radio Shack and many, many others. What do you know that they didn't? If you can't answer that question, or -- more likely -- answer it wrong, you too sh/would fail.

5) You _are_ on the right track by apparently focusing on the usability and human interface solutions that Apple might bring to bear.

6) The principal insight into what you consider "home automation" (X-10 and INSTEON ) involves primarily lighting which is but a subset. The security market/function is at present many, many times larger than the automated lighting marketing.

7) With respect to security, the Apple image and the me-Centered approach may be liability as presently framed IMO. I, for one, do not want Apple, or any computer company involved directly in my home security system. That is a deal breaker for many folks, now and for the foreseeable future owing to real and perceived security and dependability reasons.

A key issue IMO:

8) You need to successfully address the security problem (7 above) which is both an image and a technology issue. Apple might indeed have the required combination of social deftness, marketing panache, and technical expertise to reframe the "security" HA function (to which traditional 'computers' and their makes are typically unwelcome in the present climate) to a different paradigm around sharing, e.g., of awareness, presence, distributed house/baby/etc-sitting responsibilities functions and around sounds and images rather than around private hardwired yes-no decisions (alarm on --> call police.)

The title and premise of a recent post with subject "Stupid home non-automation product" gives a hint of the resistance to non-quantitative, non-action, non-deterministic HA and security functions in some quarters. But the portion of the potential HA market represented by comp.home.automation is miniscule (but bigger than google groups! , so this is a matter of understanding where HA has been, not necessarily where it is going IMO.

HTH ... Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Reply to
Marc_F_Hult

Indeed, thus my reply.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

Good advice. It's obvious that this group is nearly overrun with grumpy men, young and old, each vying for the "old coot of the month" award. (-; They apparently pride themselves in shooting first and asking questions later. We should be aggressively seeking new members with an interest in the field instead of accusing new visitors of plagiarism or immoral behavior and sending them packing.

Clay, I'll address some of your comments in a separate post since I believe what you're doing is a very legitimate "environment search" that's an important part of research projects of any kind.

Accept my apologies on behalf of the group and remember: "That which does not kill me makes me stronger!"

And while no one seems to be eating crow or humble pie regarding your unfriendly welcome, I do smell some waffling in the air! (-: I think it was clear to all but a very few that you had put significant research into your post and that we were sought out for dialog, not as a crib sheet.

This apparently is an ongoing sort of game for at least one of our regulars according to google and a search on a certain name and the word "homework"

******************************************************************* From: "BK" Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:35:57 -0400 Local: Tues, Aug 29 2006 3:35 pm Subject: Re: SSID sniffer on linux, in C Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author

Hmmmm, sounds suspiciously like someone asking the 'net to do their homework.

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Newsgroups: alt.internet.wireless From: "BK" Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:49:12 -0400 Local: Wed, Aug 16 2006 9:49 am Subject: Re: Reliability of wireless networks Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author

Do your own homework for class.

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Newsgroups: comp.home.automation From: "BK" Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:57:45 -0500 Local: Fri, Jan 27 2006 9:57 am Subject: Re: Help Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author

By paying attention in class and doing your own homework?

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Anyone else see a trend? (-:

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Unfortunately, most of home automation is no longer "frontier" technology. At least *I* wouldn't classify it as equivalent to the three other technologies you've mentioned. It's probably too late to change, but I would have chosen something like digital paper, automatic car parking computers found in some newer cars, home robotics like Roomba, GPS enabled camera phones or *something* that hasn't been around for almost thirty years!

There are a number of home automation programs written specifically for Macs. While I agree that Apple has marketing savvy that others lack (Sony really invented portable music with their Walkman but let Apple's IPod quite thoroughly eat their lunch). In my mind, the most important thing about Apple to consider is their ability to make technical stuff "accessible" to non-techies. Perhaps they can bring that skill to the home automation market, but HA doesn't really seem to be a fit for their style. They appear to be interested in monolithic devices like Ibooks, Ipods and Iphones. An Ibode would entail lots and lots of little devices and a big primary controller. Clearly not their style.

There you have it, in your own words: "Our belief is that home automation is not a frontier technology." Oddly enough, it's not a refined technology, either.

The Zwave standard already has split into two very early in the game, with new devices able to make 8 hops instead of 4. That enhancement could easily lead an observer to conclude that the first specification was not working as well as it should in the real world. As the RF spectrum and the powerlines become noisier and noisier, we can expect to see more "corrections" to HA protocols instead of less.

Jeff Volp has enhanced the 25+ year old X-10 technology to produce a far stronger signal than stock X-10 devices, which worked fine when they were first designed but suffer from increasing interference from other AC devices. Who knows what sort of similar problems current HA technologies will face 20 years from now? One thing's for sure. We'll be seeing more transmitters, not fewer, 20 years from now as the world depends more and more on wireless gadgets.

I don't think even Apple can create a demand in this market for a lot of reasons. I think the primary one is the violation of the "simplicity ethic" they seem to exploit so well. Very few HA lighting control systems can be installed "out of the box" without fairly good electrical skills or the help of an electrician. They market no other products that have such requirements, as far as I know. I suspect they are lacking in the kind of technical support a home automation system needs. The final problem facing them is that the construction of an average human abode can range from the country cottage to the city hi-rise to the concrete buildings of the hurricane zone. That's just too varied an environment to market a monolithic product to and expect it to work in all situations.

We ain't no stinkin' Google Group, although you did reach us from there! (-: First off, forget X-10. It's not only NOT a frontier technology, it's pretty much getting close to being an obsolete technology. Concentrate on the new mesh network technologies like Zigbee and Z-wave. They may be the way of the future, but only the future can tell for sure. The most interesting aspect of HA right now is how many competing new technologies have appeared in such a short time frame. I don't believe there's room for all of the currently marketed technologies to survive. I'd be impressed if your group analyzed the various HA topologies and picked the winners and losers-to-be.

Good luck, Clay and sorry for the rough introduction!

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

What, an Olson wannabee now? Seems more like stalking. But hey, feel free.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

I worked with Apple on their failed Newton product. A tragedy on a whole number of levels. But there was one fundamental problem, people without 'lives' were attempting to write lifestyle devices. That's like asking deaf people to make musical instruments. No insult intended based on hearing impairment, of course. So going the next step and asking them to create a system that integrates with the home is perhaps likewise unrealistic. Mainly because they NEVER GO HOME, or certainly don't have a life that doesn't intimately involve access to computers.

Then there's the whole misplaced hero-worship thing expecting the company to be interested in playing along with the game. The policy is almost exactly the opposite, for if they picked up on someone else's ideas, even freely suggested, it'd present an intellectual property nightmare.

More like wake up and smell the realities beyond a college project. Don't get me wrong, enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. But the combination of naivete, misunderstandings of usenet/google, help with homework, etc, have been seen countless times before. So yeah, there's certainly some 'grumpy old men' sentiment but it's based on actual experience. Learn from it.

-Bill Kearney

Reply to
Bill Kearney

Or worse yet, asking a deaf person to compose some of the world's greatest symphonies for orchestras with numerous musical instruments. ;)

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snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com

Reply to
Dave Houston

Can you help me out here, Bill? Just what, EXACTLY, is your beef with this kid?

Please explain, "It might have helped...."

Are you scared he will get something for nothing? Or are YOU paying his tuition?

Why are you suddenly the HOMEWORK POLICE?

WTF?!? Just who are you?

What's it to you?? Enquiring mind want to know.

Michael

Reply to
Slammer

Thus spake the disillusioned and disaffected.

So are you the only one to be rode hard and put up wet?

WIMP.

Reply to
Slammer

Oh, do, please, explain the realities beyond a college project. Educate us about the combination of naivete, misunderstandings of usenet/google, help with homework, etc.

I don't know that I UNDERSTAND. Please explain yourself.

Michael

Reply to
Slammer

To you? No.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

Likewise.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

I fear your keen observation may fall on deaf ears. Aside from Ludwig, a quick trip through Google reveals he was not alone:

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COMPOSER James Douglas has been unable to hear a single note of his own work since illness left him profoundly deaf 14 years ago.

But the apparent disability has not stopped the Edinburgh musician going from strength to strength.

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"Deaf people enjoy music just as much as hearing people do. They can feel the vibrations and sense pitch. They understand rhythm, and love loud music".

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

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