The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), representing 150 suppliers providing more than 95% of the appliances sold within the United States, recently released a detailed evaluation of communications technologies proposed for use by “smart appliances”. The report outlines a detailed study of the many candidates for a position within the smart home, specifically as driven by the goals of the smart grid. The big conclusion is that Wi-Fi, ZigBee and HomePlug GreenPHY are the preferred in-home connectivity choices, with Smart Energy Profile (SEP) 2.0 and OpenADR the preferred application layers. For some industry watchers (including this one), this is akin to a major study concluding that yes indeed, fast food does make you fat. Duh!

All kidding aside, the AHAM study is actually an important result. It provides a reasonably well-done assessment of the various wired, wireless, and powerline technologies evaluated against important consumer-oriented metrics. It seems like a ‘duh’ result because the evaluation validates the hard work, over many years, of several multi-vendor committees uniquely focused on smart-grid-in-the-home issues. In particular, the work of ZigBee Alliance members on SEP is noteworthy, especially since adaptation to Wi-Fi and/or HomePlug does not necessarily benefit many of the vendor contributors.

(Full disclosure – I spent a couple of years as an executive with a ZigBee technology leader. So I have some positive bias, though I also know the warts…)

The AHAM report confirms the existing process, and allows appliance makers (if they choose) to move forward with smart appliance products using these standards. The selection of multiple options might induce some uncertainty, but all these groups are already collaborating. A different result would have induced much confusion into the market, adding even more delay into a market that has been slow to emerge. Pike Research will be releasing research on the Smart Appliance market soon, but suffice to say we expect it will be some time before the market matures. However convergence around a set of communications standards is an important milestone.

So, just as an umpire signaling “home run” as a ball exits the ball park over the center field bleachers might be a “duh” call, the AHAM conclusion is the right call. And as any sports fan knows, the right call is never guaranteed.