4Home is part of the emerging field of connected home services, which provides comfort, convenience, awareness and security to households.

These home control services are broadband-enabled and include such sectors as: energy management, home security and monitoring, home health, and media management.

Connected home services are delivered over the Internet, and can be achieved through multiple interfaces including mobile phones, Web browsers, tablets, and TVs.

“4Home is a true platform solution with services enabled on top of it,” 4Home’s Chief Marketing Officer Nate Williams told TMCnet. “We’ve got the ability to go across and connect devices. It allows carriers to piece together the best of breed.”

And with new 4G Long-Term Evolution broadband networks, there are compelling new options available by using 4Home software.

4Home’s ControlPoint software – installed anywhere on the home network – provides coverage of the entire home, from anywhere and at anytime.

The 4Home platform, named FLUID, has a distributed software architecture that includes:

-          Client software, with a modular and standards-based model, that allows for greater control and system expandability.

-          Server software which runs at the network operations center and is implemented as a set of modules, managed through administrator User Interfaces and associated policies.

-          An interchangeable software suite of networked UIs that cover PC, mobile and non-conventional devices with IP capabilities. It is designed to deploy to a wide variety of current devices and has the ability to support new devices that become standard in the future.

All three components communicate with each other via FCML, an XML-based set of messages.

Williams said that the early adapters of the technology were tech-savvy people, ages 25 to 39, who wanted to improve their productivity. “They see it as an extension of what they are doing on the iPhone (News - Alert),” Williams said. In addition, because there is a lower penetration of broadband among seniors, 4Home sees that sector as a growth opportunity, too, Williams said.

4Home has created many partnerships with companies in the service provider, retail, and utility sectors, and licenses its services and end-to-end software platform to these partners.

In addition, Marvell (News - Alert), a provider of integrated silicon solutions, and 4Home recently introduced a new energy management solution, based on the SheevaPlug. The solution allows consumers to monitor and control their home’s energy usage by plugging into an electrical wall outlet. Consumers can self-track detailed energy records and leverage energy data to project and potentially drive down future energy costs.

Earlier this year, 4Home and Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless were demonstrating collaboratively-developed 4G home control services during the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.

Jeff Crews, 4Home’s senior vice president, said that home control services have typically been considered value-added services running over a traditional high-speed Internet connection. But with Verizon Wireless leveraging the higher bandwidths of 4G technology, it opens up an entirely new market for 4Home’s platform and applications.

Research at Parks Associates (News - Alert) has shown increasing consumer interest in mobile and web-based home monitoring applications. A recent consumer survey said that over 80 percent of consumers are interested in cutting energy costs; two-thirds are interested enough in energy monitors to be willing to pay for them; and over 50 percent of these people prefer an online application.

4Home’s platform enables service providers to expand their service offering and increase their average revenue per user through connected home services. 4Home’s platform also allows utility companies to expand their offerings to consumers by providing ways to make their homes “greener.” The service provides lower cost and higher energy efficiency for the consumer. And 4Home’s platform enables home control device manufacturers to reach customers through retail channels. Device manufacturers can expand their customer base by attracting new customers and also take advantage of cross-sell opportunities by selling additional home control devices to existing customers.

To view an entire video interview click below.