Geeks and their gadgets took centre stage last Thursday at the Armidale Smart Home, putting on an impressive show and tell for NBN Co Chief Executive Mike Quigley who was in town to survey the construction of the National Broadband Network.
Mr Quigley praised the innovative work being developed locally that is harnessing the enormous potential that the NBN will bring to regional centres like Armidale and announced that Armidale is on track to become the first city in Australia to be fully fibred.
“It’s been great to see the progress of the NBN rollout in Armidale today, and I am excited to think that this wonderful city will be the first in Australia to be fully fibred by the end of this year,” Mr Quigley said.
“Armidale’s Smart Home is an excellent example of how the NBN will help improve the way we live and work for decades to come.”
Organisations that gave demonstrations included: CSIRO in association with the University of New England’s Smarter Safer Homes Program, ICT International with soil moisture probes, RM Tech with remote video monitoring equipment, AI Vision with remote eye testing, TAFE New England Institute with their Edge1 robot and ISU Solutions with their all-in-one telemetry and sensor device and the University of New England’s SmartFarm applications.
Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) have taken the lead in the Smart House project, said Regional Development Australia Northern Inland Executive Officer, Nathan Axelsson.
“We are ensuring that the consortium involved in the Smart Home are working together to open the house and provide hands-on practical demonstrations into what the NBN can do,” he said.
“We hope that the businesses that demonstrated their applications today will continue to flourish but essentially, the Smart Home is an open access living laboratory for those organisations to come in and show their products and applications.
“We see the Smart Home as a showcase, particularly for local technology firms to provide them with exposure to a wider audience.”
Independent Member for New England Tony Windsor also visited the Smart Home and viewed the progress of the NBN rollout.
Story: Jo Harrison
