IBM Corp has teamed with Tampa, Florida-based Teco Energy Inc on a home energy management and communications system that would enable residential electricity customers to track and control energy consumption. It would include an interface for providers of speech, video and data services and access to the information superhighway. Live demonstrations start in Tampa in June. The system connects energy measuring and monitoring devices with an IBM Aptiva personal computer inside the home and an embedded PowerPC-based control processor developed by Teco and called SHUbox, attached to an outside wall. The SHUbox, to be made by IBM, is connected to the electricity meter and acts as the central controller for a CEbus local area network, using existing home electrical wiring.
