Here's a vote of confidence for smart homes

Data from Juniper Research has found that home automation hardware, sold as standalone units rather than as part of a subscription package, will exceed 300 million in 2020.

That growth would make a 1,000% gain from an estimated installed base of 28 million units in 2015.

Efforts among retails are one of the reasons for the high expectations, according to Juniper.

 While the smart home industry has been years in the making, more open approaches, partnerships and falling hardware costs are driving adoption. Furthermore, media and retail efforts are aiding in raising consumer awareness.

"There's light at the end of the tunnel," said research author Steffen Sorrell. "However, the consumer still needs to be convinced: that will be the job of retail to solve, and that's a question of educating both employee and consumer."

The research found that, due to the lack of consumer understanding of the smart home value proposition, retail is to play a crucial role. Indeed, efforts such as Target’s Open House; a smart home demonstration centre; offer consumers a ‘show and tell’ and rapid understanding of the benefits of the smart home. Nevertheless, retail continues to grapple with effective product placement, staff education and the fact that many brands remain unfamiliar to consumer

The research comes from Juniper's "Smart Home Ecosystems & the Internet of Things: Strategies & Forecasts 2015-2020."