The PC Takes ControlNext-gen home automation systems embrace the personal computer. Should you?

Builders see it coming. At first, many simply noticed that home automation upgrades fed off the high-end home theaters they built to differentiate their homes from those of other builders. That's because outside the theater itself, automation controls make the notion of a digital home more attractive to buyers.

Now a new breed of home automation is poised to make the digital home exciting to a bigger universe of homeowners.

“I don't see why the same pattern shouldn't make itself felt as home automation moves toward production building,” says builder Chris Parker of Brentwood, Tenn. “The appropriately scaled technology is coming to market.”

And at the center of that scalable technology is the personal computer.

PC or no PC? That will be one of the big questions builders face this year as they confront new home automation options. What has mainly been the purview of high-end builders and top-tier integrators could become a technology free-for-all as hundreds of companies supporting several burgeoning automation protocols roll out fresh products. Many will lean on the ubiquitous PC to introduce automation to a greater range of American homes.

“It's not unrealistic to think the drop in home sales that builders are facing now will actually act as an impetus for home automation,” says Steve Whalley, business development manager for the digital home group at Intel Corp.

Granted, Intel has a dog in this fight: Its microprocessors run the majority of the world's PCs. Still, experts agree consumers' familiarity with the PC could be crucial in helping the next generation of home automation reach critical mass and possibly boost flagging home sales.

“The word ‘automation' often puts consumers off, but that's not the case with the PC,” explains Bill Ablondi, director of Home Systems Research for Parks Associates, a Dallas-based market research firm that tracks the housing industry. Parks' data indicates only three to four percent of new-home construction includes automation, and virtually all of that is at the top end of the market. However, he notes, “The PC is already in most homes—mainly as an entertainment device.”

Whalley and a growing number of automation companies insist the PC can be more. “It's both a bridge from the media server–based entertainment role it serves today, to one of controlling [home] automation,” Whalley says. “It's also a bridge to the outside world, via the Internet. Once people get some level of home control, the next desire will be to access it remotely, just as they do their voice mail and e-mail. The PC can do that.”

The biggest question that builders will have to explore—and one that isn't exactly open and shut—is should it?