Shane Dyer, CEO of Arrayent, which develops connected home technology used in products from brands including Maytag and Whirlpool believes that pressure from consumers would ensure that it becomes easier to use connected devices from different companies together.

“There’s a lot of big siloed systems right now, but that’s just how it will start out,” he said. “People get frustrated if there are five, six, or seven apps to control their home.”

Dyer’s company is committed to making it possible to hook up different products and systems in the interest of making home automation widely used, he said.

Another major challenge for home automation is security, with researchers having demonstrated sometimes spectacular failings in the security of smart home products.