Now that our devices have started talking to each other, imagine all the conversations they could be having without us.

Smart technology is bridging the gap between information and infrastructure. We’re far from moving into the smart homes of science fiction, but new technologies are bringing home automation out of billionaire mansions and cartoon spaceships and into our humble abodes, one connected device at a time. Developments in wireless communication offer faster data transfer at a lower cost, and advancements in sensor and microprocessor design have made it cheaper and easier to embed powerful software into everyday objects. Cloud computing and data analytics have proven integral to the puzzle in their capacity to analyze the resulting volumes of data at high speeds and turn it into useful intelligence. Together, these technologies are fueling a burgeoning network of connected and automated devices known as the Internet of Things.

The expression was introduced at the turn of the millennium to describe the Information Superhighway 2.0 awaiting us down the line, but it’s since become a catchall for the nascent Internet of Things already in our midst. According to estimates by tech research firm Gartner, Inc., as many as 26 billion things will be online in 2020. That number is closer to 33 billion if you count laptops, PCs and smartphones. Consumer products are expected to account for roughly half of those devices as tech companies turn more and more household items into data-slinging gadgets in pursuit of a smarter home.

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

From keyless locks to coffee makers that gurgle to life in sync with the morning alarm, smart home appliances are designed to increase operational efficiency and enhance user experience in every facet of our daily lives. Smart technologies put you in control of your home’s air conditioning or lighting system, allow you to program your water heater to run only at certain times of day and can even mitigate long-term problems like mold by sensing and responding to changes in your home’s outdoor environment. Intuitive security systems alert you to unusual activity, detect motion and offer remote access to surveillance footage, allowing you to monitor your home from anywhere in the world. A well-oiled system will save you time and money while optimizing various functions so that your home runs safely and efficiently.

A growing number of smart home products are designed to be compatible with Apple HomeKit, a smart home platform built directly into iOS software that puts you, Siri and your iPhone at the helm of your connected home. Google is following suit with Brillo, an equivalent platform for Android users. Samsung and Wink have cornered the market with their respective smart hubs, which act like control units for your home’s various appliances. Besides consolidating your devices under one operating system, they facilitate conditional interactions that enable your devices to work in tandem.

This is the basic premise behind IFTTT, a web service that automates tasks based on programmable recipes for cause and effect (“If This, Then That”). Rainy forecast? Your weather app can let the sprinklers know not to water the lawn. Pulling into the driveway? Your phone’s GPS can tell the garage door to let you in. The software supports a rapidly expanding range of smart home products, establishing highly personalized and increasingly refined channels of machine-to-machine communication. However you choose to integrate your home’s various gadgets, it’s the nature of the system that a home is only as smart as its devices are interoperable.

BASKET OF REMOTES

In order for a home’s electronics to communicate, however, they need to speak the same language. Devices today use a variety of wireless network standards to transmit data and each standard has its strengths in particular applications. Low-energy radio protocols such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and ZWave are well suited for short-range communication. Others, like power-hungry Wi-Fi, offer clear advantages in terms of smartphone compatibility. As a result, homeowners are forced to choose from proprietary devices. Even smart hubs, bridges and other third-party devices designed to mediate between multiple network protocols have their limitations.

“Smart” is an exceptionally fluid term when it comes to appliances, but there’s a gaping divide between a connected home and one that can think for itself. Without a universal communication standard, the hopeful home automated is left with what Jean-Louis Gassee, former head of product development at Apple, calls a “basket of remotes”—basically, a house that’s more like the Tower of Babel than a smart home of the future.

THE BIG PICTURE

Unlocking the full economic potential of the Internet of Things demands a keen understanding of how to create real value from smart devices. For every innovative new security system that hits the market, there’s a handset-enabled rice cooker cluttering our smartphones with notifications. iKettles and smart jars may cloud the bigger picture, but home automation isn’t about taking something simple and complicating it. That’s the fundamental difference between a smart home and a house full of gadgets you don’t need. Smart homes are more about the buttons you don’t press than the ones you do.

Unlike information dispatched on the web, data exchanged via the Internet of Things is generated by computers, not people, and is intended for application in the real world. The Internet of Things removes the middleman, turning the world around us into an autonomous information system capable of navigating seamlessly between digital and physical realms. “Our economy, society and survival aren’t based on ideas or information—they’re based on things,” says Kevin Ashton, the tech entrepreneur credited with coining the term “Internet of Things.” “We need to empower computers with their own means of gathering information, so they can observe, identify and understand the world without the limitations of human-entered data.”

That’s the true value of smart home technologies—they’re little more than a gimmick unless they form the building blocks for a more comfortable and efficient home. Just as a smart device’s true value lies in the infrastructure of ubiquitous, self-governing technologies it could potentially build with other devices, the end goal of any connected appliance is a home smarter than the sum of its parts. —Lauren McNally