Habitap smart home management system connects Singapore residents

Imagine living in a state-of-the-art high-rise apartment outfitted with every amenity, including appliances that automatically switch on and off, air conditioning and lights that self-adjust based on mood, and a whole array of luxury delivery services that can be booked effortlessly just by swiping your phone.

That's the smart home life envisioned by Philip Tang & Sons Pte Ltd., a software development and consulting company based in Singapore, which is using its long-time software integration expertise to create a new offering called Habitap based on IoT technology from Greenwave Systems.

The initial idea for the platform sprung from consulting work Philip Tang did in 2014 to build a prototype system for city-state Singapore's public housing sector. Unlike other cities, Singapore's public housing sector is not just for low-income families, but for a broad swath of the population -- more than 80% of citizens by some estimates. The prototype smart home management system was commissioned by a Philip Tang client looking to capitalize on the city's Smart Nation charter, which designates the city as a testbed for smart technologies that address common urban challenges.

While the project didn't gain ground in the public housing sector due to the costs associated with build-out construction, the initiative got Philip Tang execs thinking about the opportunity to branch out on their own and create a comparable IoT-based platform which could be marketed in the private housing sector.

"We spent a lot of time building products for our customers -- creating the first version and then they would take it in-house and build subsequent ones," explained Franklin Tang, the company's CEO. "We had gained expertise in many industries and across different verticals and understood business requirements. IoT provided an opportunity to do it on our own."

The early public sector smart home management system became the prototype for Habitap, an app and managed services offering Philip Tang currently markets to developers and property managers in the booming Singapore real estate market. Unlike other smart home management systems built around hardware, Philip Tang focused specifically on the app. Its key differentiator? The Habitap user experience, which serves as a universal control for all smart home features compared to most offerings that employ unique systems for control over smart appliances, lights, or heating and cooling systems.

"We cover almost every appliance -- you don't have to use the apps that come with any of the smart products," Tang said. "We're a universal control app for the smart home branded or customized for specific apartment projects."

Habitap offers three main capabilities: universal smart home controls; single app access to community services, like booking common rooms or spa appointments; and an open API capability which allows for integration to other apps -- for example, the regional car-sharing service or a restaurant booking system.

"Habitap lets a condo project developer bring in partners to create unique apps and allows residents to get special discounts on concierge and other services," Tang explained.