TAHI exists to create the market for applications and services into the (BroadBand) Connected Home and to make the connectivity intelligent.

The TAHI Industry Sector Group Programme has as its goal to promote, provide the environment for and launch large scale deployments of "Smart Houses" and the services or service sets for them so that people can see and experience the benefits the connected home can bring and demand them for themselves.

TAHI believes that this will greatly accelerate market growth and at the same time provide significant economies in healthcare and its provision, energy and the cost of living so that people can live better, longer at reduced costs to themselves and also the taxpayer.

It is intended that TAHI Members will take the lead in this work and as the founder members of working groups and consortia will be best placed to benefit from this initiative.

What are the targets

To make the market grow in a cohesive and controlled manner where competition is strong and choice is wide, TAHI is planning to promote large scale deployments of smart houses using connectivity intelligently. We believe that deployments must have a good cross section of people involved in them and that many types of homes should be included. Therefore, we must involve the building industry as well as the technology providers. We must deploy in many regions so that people can see examples of benefits that they could enjoy happening in their area. We must engage the champions of change in many sectors of each deployment and cultivate competiton between regional developments. So for each regional development we need champions in:

• National and Local Government
• The Building Industry and the services to it - Planners, Architects and all the trades.
• The Manufacturers of household appliances and Consumer Electronics equipment, of systems in the house such as security and heating systems.
• The Service Providers and Utilities in every area.

We need them to get together and use the methods outlined by TAHI to make real identifiable deployments of the Smart House.

Knowledge and Promotion.

If people don't know what they can have and benefit from, they will not ask. Therefore, much of the role of the TAHI Industry Sector Groups is to inform and pass on our knowledge that what we have learnt from TAHI Trials and Working Groups. This is a two stage process:

1. We engage the champions and form deployment businesses.

2. We deploy new smart homes that people can see, enjoy and benefit from. Their stories will then enthuse the whole population.

In Practical terms:

1. We hold workshops and seminars for the champions, we plan deployments, we promote at the "champion" level.

2. We make sure that new build, refurbishment and retrofit work in Houses in the areas of deployments use the new smart systems we have defined in our workshops and seminars.

Because most of the additional cost is a benefit to the end user, it is likely that the leverage of the money spent versus the economic benefit will be great.