In the latest example of major telcos getting into the IoT business, China Unicom has joined forces with US based chip maker, Sigma Designs and Zeewave to offer smart home services to Chinese consumers based on Zeewave’s Smart Home gateway.
The partnership was announced at the 12th China International Small and Medium Enterprise Fair, where the three staged the first public demonstration of the system.
Zeewave is using Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave range of systems on a chip, modules, reference designs and software to develop a smart home gateway that, according to Sigma Designs will be an open platform supporting voice control, intelligent learning, personal customisation, GPS activation of scenes, and ease of installation.
Raoul Wijgergangs, vice-president of Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave business unit, said the offering would be “the first smart home IoT solution for Chinese consumers through their telecommunication’s provider.”
Sigma says: “The aim of Zeewave Smart Home system is to improve people’s quality of life by allowing the creation of various scenes which will address everyday consumer needs, such as saving energy, ensuring home safety and peace of mind. Zeewave Smart Home includes an easy to use app that brings together the Z-Wave devices to create these customisable scenes to suit consumers’ lifestyles.”
Zeewave will offer the system to China Unicom’s broadband customers. There will be four packages on offer: security, health, energy saving and a premium suite package.
Zeewave, (Guangzhou Zeewave Information Technology Co) uses the Z-Wave technology as the basis for a range of security control, home lighting, energy management, entertainment, home security, environmental control, home health and other smart home technologies.
