## 4 Conclusions and Loose Ends
### Future-Proofing--Scalability  
The pivotal role of open-source technologies is monumental in the advancement of truly interconnected systems, platforms, and ultimately societies. The primary barriers to the current amalgamation and seamless interoperability of IoT systems mainly arise from proprietary strategies adopted by certain manufacturers. These entities aim to dominate the ecosystem with their unique technologies and protocols. A shift towards a more transparent approach, with shared developments and requirements, could not only accelerate economic growth and exceed market expectations, but also bolster security measures through early detection and vulnerabilities resolution. The open-source paradigm, exemplified by Home Assistant technology, invites an extensive community of developers and end users to contribute towards swift and coherent evolution. This collaborative approach promises to expedite innovation, facilitating the introduction of novel devices and software solutions, thus catalyzing essential real-time interoperability for the IoT's future. The NB-IoT, with its low power demand, wide area coverage, thoughtful design, and strong carriers' backing, stands out as an enormously capable backbone for supporting the scalability of IoT solutions like the one presented in this article. The NB-IoT's deep coverage and support, along with its minimal energy consumption model, is particularly advantageous for scalable IoT ecosystems, requiring fewer resources for connectivity while maintaining robust performance. The narrowband-IoT's capabilities extend to ensuring longer battery life for connected devices, which is a critical consideration for IoT scalability. By enabling devices to operate for years on a single battery charge, the NB-IoT reduces the need for frequent maintenance, further lowering the resources required for a scalable IoT solution. This efficiency is particularly beneficial for applications in smart metering, asset tracking, and environmental monitoring, where devices are often deployed in tough, hard-to-reach scenarios. HA's lightweight, flexible architecture allows for easy, virtually-endless integrations with a wide array of devices and services, including those leveraging NB-IoT technology. This ease of scalability makes it an ideal platform for deploying and managing large-scale IoT applications. The synergy between HAs' versatility and the NB-IoT's efficacious connectivity paves the way for creating extensive, reliable IoT networks that can grow and evolve with little effort. The combined approach of utilizing Home Assistants for device management and the NB-IoT as a universal means of connectivity exemplifies a solution that demands as few resources and particularities as possible. This leads to a robust, ubiquitous framework for IoT harmonization as we claimed in this article. This framework helps accelerate the deployment of scalable solutions without the burden of resource allocation, infrastructure development, or maintenance. The coordination of a few well-founded technologies presents a forward-thinking approach to IoT development. We believe that these such approaches will become more common. These combinations not only champion scalability and interoperability for IoT systems, but they also significantly reduce the expertise and concreteness often required for creating and expanding use case-tailored IoT solutions. The (near) future of IoT lies in the adoption of open, efficacious, and scalable solutions, promising a more interconnected, truly harmonious and seamless IoT realm. Conceptualization, A.S and E.S. ; methodology and validation, E.S. and G.d.C. ; hardware and software, E.S. and I.G. ; laboratory work, formal analysis, resources, visualization, and data curation, E.S. ; investigation, E.S. and I.G. ; writing--original draft preparation, E.S. ; writing--review and editing and supervision, A.S.; project administration and funding acquisition, A.S. and G.d.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.