The Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect are available now through WF Senate. See them on the roadshow. Google Nest

The Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect are available now through WF Senate. See them on the roadshow. Google Nest

Rexel has announced that a hundred of its branches across the UK will take part in the ‘Nest Pro Tour’. This is a roadshow that will take the firm’s dedicated Google Nest training team to visit partners across the country to educate electrical installers about this Internet of Things technology. By James Hunt:  

The Internet of Things (IoT) is not just coming; it’s here now! Regular Voltimum UK users will have noted that in 2015 we’ve been looking hard at the IoT, what it is, its many advantages and potential perils – and its implications for the smart home and building automation sectors.

This is because the IoT, in which billions of everyday (and not so everyday) devices are IP enabled with tiny integral chips and which ‘talk’ to each other wirelessly or over the ‘net, will change the world just as surely as computers, the Internet and smart devices have already.

The IoT is based on the idea that everything will be – and is already starting to be – connected to the Internet. It will be the key enabler of novel industry scenarios and innovations in highly networked economies.

IoT related news is coming in thick and fast – and now there’s more. Starting on the 19th of May at Newey & Eyre in Birmingham, Rexel’s Nest Pro training team will visit Newey & Eyre, WF Senate, Wilts and Denman stores across the country in a fully customised Nest Pro van.

This follows the news late last year that following the distribution agreement between Rexel and California-based Nest Labs, major electrical wholesaler WF Senate had acquired the rights to supply the new Nest Protect and Learning Thermostat products in the UK.

These are the latest intelligent Wi-Fi devices for domestic energy saving and protection about which Nest – a Google-owned US company – says: ‘We take the unloved products in your home and make simple, beautiful, thoughtful things’.

Such smart devices are growing in number fast, and one prediction is that by 2020, there will be at least 50 billion devices connected to the Internet (some say this is very conservative and it’s more likely to be 200 billion). So in this context, Rexel’s move is noteworthy indeed.

Hands-on demonstrations

With purpose-built training materials onboard the van, Nest Pro training staff will provide hands-on demonstrations of both the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms.

Participants will also be able to enrol in the Nest Pro program during training, and learn about the exclusive benefits offered, including qualified local customer leads, marketing and sales tools, and VIP support from Nest.

Rexel UK marketing director Alexandra Berger says that this tour is a result of an overwhelming level of interest and enquiries since introducing the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect to Rexel branches last November.

She explained: “With this in mind, we want to bring the Nest Pro Tour to Rexel branches and provide dedicated training and support on all things Nest for installers, as well as giving us the opportunity to educate key staff in each location.

“Not only will it provide a great opportunity to meet installers and gain valuable insight into their changing needs, but it also ensures they are able to make the most of this truly ground-breaking technology and the new opportunity Nest offers,” she concluded.

For further information on the Nest Pro Tour, go to: https://pro.nest.com

The changes to come

Google’s Nest Lab smart connected products – available here though WF Senate – provide a mere taster of what is to come. Wi-Fi-connected devices reportedly already outnumber all the people on our planet. Soon, each of the world’s 500 million Wi-Fi-enabled households will have dozens of devices – such as Nest Protect and Learning Thermostat products – that exchange information, optimise energy usage and make lives more convenient.

Many of these connections will be machine-to-machine (M2M), but others will enable new ways for people to control and interact with the world around them. This is the IoT made manifest.

The IoT will also change the ways in which companies interact with their customers, by adding intelligence to products.

Such products, connected to the Internet – thermostats, machines, household appliances, lighting systems, waste bins, clothing, toys, drinks cans, pets, even (highly controversially) people, as well as mobiles and tablets – will bring greater interactivity and a wealth of new data about consumer activity. Moreover, IoT technologies will provide unique ways for organisations to monitor the environments in which they operate.

More about Google Nest

Acquired by Google in January 2014, Nest Labs was founded by two former Apple executives and is a home automation company that designs and manufactures a thermostat capable of learning user behaviours and working out whether a building is occupied or not. It does this by using temperature, humidity, activity and light sensors.

Included in the range are Wi-Fi enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors, such as the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect.

As reported in Voltimum UK, Nest has recently added Philips advanced IP-controlled Hue LED lamps, plus LG smart fridges to its ‘Works with Nest’ programme.

To learn more, please use the links below.