72% of Households Use Connected Home Services for Real-time Capabilities

Essence Data Provides Insight into IoT Consumer Activities

Herzliya, Israel, 27 April 2015 – Essence, leading provider of IoT, cloud-based connected-living solutions, has analyzed consumer usage of its connected home platform WeR@Home™:

* 72% of households use connected home services for real-time notification and action
*62% of users remotely manage their home alarms using their smartphones
*1 in 5 people interact with their home system three times a day, mostly for home security
*More than 51% of users upgraded from the basic package, adding more than three peripheral devices — primarily cameras and motion detectors

“Adding to what we’ve seen in our 20 years of experience in the home security domain, the connected home results show that people find true value in their home’s smart systems,” said Dr. Haim Amir, Essence Founder & CEO. “In light of research we did for IoT day earlier this month, we see that complete home management systems provide consumers with the peace of mind that comes from full control, being able to easily check on their homes and loved ones from any location and any device.”
Consumers are using their WeR@Home IoT systems as part of service offerings from major security and telecommunications operators around the world, including the United States, Australia, and Europe.

Modern IoT systems allow consumers to adapt them to their daily lives by pre-defining health- and safety-related rules and adding devices. Essence’s usage analysis of 500 households showed that many people were using their cameras to provide a video alert on their smartphones when the front door opens. These basic security notifications allow the homeowner to know who has arrived home and when, allowing them to not only check on their children but also to ensure that no intruder has come in. They are also using the cameras for visual verification when smoke detectors go off.

“Based on the increased amount of remote camera usage, we can only conclude that people prefer to see what is going on in their absence – we call it the ‘look-in’ ability,” concluded Dr. Amir. “As most of the interactions occur remotely, this reinforces the value that IoT can truly deliver as part of people’s daily living.”

About Essence
Essence is a global M2M provider of scalable, end-to-end connected-living solutions for security, communication, and healthcare service providers. Over the past 20 years, Essence has built an impressive installed base, with more than 15 million products deployed and used by Tier-1 service providers worldwide. Essence is committed to developing and supporting solutions that both enhance partners’ businesses and enable people to live fuller and better lives. WeR@Home™ was awarded several distinguished industry awards over the past year including the European Consumers Choice Award and the Telecom Broadband Infovision Award for Home Service Innovation, garnering recognition by both the consumer and business markets.