While the US has traditionally been a front-runner in technology usage, India is also quickly picking up, said Mr Jay Krishnan, Chairman of Wifinity, who picked up the Lockheed Martin Innovation Award in New Delhi last week.

“Our solution consists of one box, which is connected wirelessly to a variety of sensors that measure temperature, light, humidity, and so on,” Mr Krishnan told Business Line . The product, which has been installed in around 10 apartment complexes in the US — each with around 50 to 100 apartments — is also going to be used by the Confident Group for its Champion Reef Golf Resort, said Mr Krishnan.

“You can use this technology to remotely order food from the club house or to fix the time for playing golf. For example, if you have booked at 9 a.m., it will not allow anybody else to book and play golf at the same time,' said Mr Krishnan.

The box, which is smaller than a standard set-top box, can be programmed to monitor various tasks. It can, for instance, measure how much electricity your fridge is consuming and even keep tabs on the number of times the fridge door is being opened or closed. Mr Krishnan said that this technology could also be used to detect intrusions and gas leaks.

“We offer the box directly to the builder, but existing apartment owners can buy it for around Rs 10,000. We even offer managed services, which reduces the cost to Rs 200.”

Wifinity also has industrial solutions that cost around Rs 10 lakh and are designed for managing automation in factories.

The company also has a smart grid solution that can predict when an electricity grid could go down and also monitor the quality of power.

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