Most MDUs in Europe have simple, old-fashioned smoke detectors installed in each apartment. Though they realize that a system that alerts everyone in the building is superior to this, they find the traditional cabled solutions both expensive to install and complex in use. Though good, reasonably priced solutions had started to appear for single smart home – there was nothing on the market that took the collective concern of an MDU into consideration.
Our client set out to disrupt this market with easy-to-install sensors, a local radio mesh and cloud reporting that would enable collection of sensor data and logic for notifications and alarms to all residents. The owners or administrators of the buildings should be able to easily check that everything was working – and to be notified if something required their attention (both through a simple smartphone). The system should be as easy to install as their current setup but deliver the value of a smart and modern alarm system for the building. Connection to 24/7 alarm central should be available, but optional.
To engage and show day-to-day value for the residents, they should be able to access their own sensor data and extra features like temperature notifications, motion alarms and the ability to add people they trust to their home by using their home automation app on the smartphone. For the same reason, they also chose to add personal safety features for the resident smart home app, which included both an emergency alarm triggered by the phone and the ability to share their movements with their family and friends when they walked home in the evening.
As the client had interest from strong brands within insurance and telecom, the solution was also built for whitelabeling (apps, messaging and web).
The solution would require extensive technical R&D, development and Quality Assurance from a partner that could support the range of expertise needed – and that had a great cultural fit for an innovative company based in Norway (where developers are not only an important part of delivery and execution but are also vital in product development and producing the roadmap).
