Movinta Future Tech brings next-gen home automation devices to Sri Lanka

By Hiyal Biyagamage 

The irritating afterthoughts you have when you leave home for work or shopping are quite normal. Did I switch off the lights, the cooker? Did I set the security system? Are my children doing homework or playing computer games? These thoughts would nag you for quite some time throughout the day which results in losing your concentration and will to work.

With a smart home, you can quit all those worries and take a breather. In a smart home environment, you can control your electrical appliances, lighting and security as well as temperature and humidity. You could connect the devices and appliances in your home so they can communicate with each other and with you. You can control them from anywhere in the world using your smartphone or tablet.

Movinta Group, a Sri Lankan business cluster founded by Nadeesh A. Weerasinghe, is now bringing a range of products for Sri Lanka that will help Sri Lankans experience the best of smart home technology. Movinta’s technology arm called Movinta Future Tech has partnered with BroadLink, a global company which holds the patent for Wi-Fi enabled solutions, to give a glimpse of the very best of futuristic smart home technologies to local consumers.

Weerasinghe told the Daily FT: “Smart homes or home automation has a long history and over many years, numerous smart home products have been developed by many companies. In Sri Lanka, we are yet to see a considerable growth of the smart home technology market but there is an interest. Couple of years back, we did a research on how Sri Lankans would react to a range of futuristic smart home products. The outcomes of the research were very positive. That’s when we tied up with BroadLink to bring this range of products so that Sri Lankans as well as Maldivians could have an idea and feel the future behind smart home intelligence.”

At present, the product range includes a Wi-Fi universal remote control center, a smart light switch, Wi-Fi enabled smart socket and a smart environment monitor and Movinta looks to introduce more products. These devices can be controlled using a smartphone app called e-Control so that the customer can govern the mechanisms of home electrical appliances and or Radio Frequency (RF) devices such as any remote from anywhere in the world.  These devices have the capability to run technology called IFTTT (If This Then That) which helps you to control content in the digital space of smart home intelligence.

The Daily FT had the chance to look at some of the products and the specifications of these devices proved that they are crafted to perfection. All these devices are enabled with the ‘Auto home/Auto away’ feature and overload protection. The smart socket comes with 1% energy measurement accuracy, a safety lock, anti-theft mechanism, surge protector, lightning protector and it automatically kills standby power. The smart environment monitor has embedded sensors to monitor noise, temperature, humidity, illumination and volatile organic compounds (VOC) like poisonous gases.

“These devices enable you with smart home intelligence and help you to convert any of your current electrical or RF equipment that are non-smart into smart devices at an affordable price. Besides convenience, power saving thus reducing electricity consumption, security and greater control and monitoring are key benefits. Movinta means experiencing life’s creative journey and we really mean it and want to touch the lives of Sri Lankans and enhance lives by doing so.”

“The world is changing with futuristic technologies and many of them have completely changed the lifestyles of people.  As a country, we need to embrace the digital change and grasp its benefits. We have a good plan for the next few years and we want to be the first in introducing many other futuristic technologies to Sri Lanka which would ease the work and bring comfort to Sri Lankans. We’re committed to that,” Weerasinghe added.

When asked about the challenges Movinta faces in the market, Weerasinghe said that creating greater customer awareness on smart home technologies, its capabilities and benefits was a challenge. 

“At the moment, we are serving a particular segment which has knowledge about these technologies. We need more awareness to promote smart home technologies in Sri Lanka. A portion of people still has a sense of fear in trying these technologies due to security and perception concerns. Sri Lankan market is one of the fastest growing markets in terms of Internet products and other novel technologies in the region, as well as in the world, so in order to enrich that potential as the benefits are greater; we need a change in the perception.”