National Grid is to increase its smart meter roll-out in the Worcester, Massachusetts from 5,000 to 15,000. National Grid said they will start deploying the additional 10000 meter early this year.  To support the project they have assembled some of the biggest names in smart meter and smart grid sector to implement the latest technology solutions. National Grid said the smart grid pilot will evaluate the integration of home automation, dynamic pricing and distribution automation.

When Google announced that they were acquiring Motorola Home, I thought they would use it as a vehicle into the connected home market.  They then launched the android@home initiative which I think would further cement their position. I held that opinion until last month when they said they have sold Motorola Home to ARRIS for $2.35 Billion in cash and stock.
 

Comtrend has become one of the first to select Sigma Designs’ new G.hn CG5200 family of chipsets for its PowerGrid 9051s Powerline Ethernet Adapter. Complying with the latest G.hn MIMO standard, the CG5200 improves coverage and throughput over powerline even through surge protected power strips and multiple phases.

IBM is collaborating with STMicroelectronics and Shaspa as part of a smarter home initiative, to create a cloud solution for service providers.  All three companies will be at this year’s CES to demonstrate the solution, which features a TV linked to ST’s home gateway, running software from Shaspa and connected to the IBM cloud infrastructure.

All three businesses said the solution is driven by the desire to offer manufacturers and service providers innovative ways for us to manage and interact with home appliances connected to the network.

Sigma Designs today release a new set of G.hn based chipsets for OEMs developing for today’s digital homes.  The CG5200 family includes the CG5210, CG5220 and CG5230 chips, which enables superior networked entertainment performance and throughput for seamless, high-quality distribution of Triple Play and IPTV. The versatility of the chips work over powerline, coax and phone line.

Netgear has expanded their range of smart TV solution NeoTV with NeoTV Prime.  Unlike the other models NeoTV Prime comes with Google TV adding Netgear to the list of companies offering Google TV.  The new addition to the Netgear family of streaming players offer advance flexibility to your home entertainment; NeoTV Prime allows you to easily search and find what you want to watch.

The city of Johannesburg has awarded a contract worth approximately $150million to Itron and Edison power group for the supply of smart meters and supporting technologies.  Itron will work with City Power to implement its latest smart meter solutions, allowing city Power’s customers to better manage their electricity and complements the city’s demand side management program.

Utility companies planning to upgrade their communication network to support the next generation of smart grid infrastructure are being offered a new range of Service Aggregation Routers (SARs) from Alcatel-Lucent. The company has recently announced a new range of routers designed for the part of the grid that distributes power to the energy supplier's residential or business customers, also known as the Distribution and Field Area Network (FAN).

In 2011 Taiwan’s County of Penghu launched its smart gird initiative at an estimated cost of NT$8.09 billion they hope to make Penghu a low-carbon destination.  The Penghu smart grid project will run from 2011 to 2015 and over that period it hopes to reduce it carbon emissions per person from 5.4 tons each year to 2.1 tons. The UK government and its European neighbours have set themselves similar targets of improving energy management and cutting carbon emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020.

Anyone in the connected home market would be happy to hear that the sector is predicted to reach revenue of $101 billion in 2013, this is according to Visiongain’s latest report: Global Connected Home Market 2013-2018: Smart Appliances, DLNA & 3-Screen Strategy. The growing demand for smart devices in the home and to hav them all connected has created a new revenue streams for operators, digital content providers and OEMs.