As the expanding vision of today’s ultimate smart home lures a growing legion of solution providers into the burgeoning market, connectivity remains the Holy Grail that designers and engineers seek as devices large and small look for their niche in the IoT universe. From audio/visual systems and HVAC to lighting controls and security systems, vendors and integrators understand the reticence many consumers face when it comes to taking the smart home plunge. For the non-tech savvy user, the concept of connectivity can induce heart palpitations and panic attacks. What hooks up to what and which remote control is the magic wand?
Innovation Leads to New Markets
Quinto Petrucci, who is the Vice President of Connected Home Products at Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI), certainly understands the consumer’s trepidation. For last three decades, his company has promoted the mantra of “keep it simple, stupid” when it comes to developing universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home. Universal’s portfolio of over 300 pending and current patents includes the world’s most complete database to connect and control thousands of entertainment viewing devices.
Petrucci is extremely proud of Universal’s many first-to-market innovations over the past 25 years that have revolutionized the home entertainment control industry. So the next logical step for UEI has been to expand its product reach and technology platform to include home automation, intelligent sensing and security systems.
“At its core, Universal is a technology company. We are about innovations, whether it is in manufacturing or operations so that we can offer our products at a very competitive price,” Petrucci says, touting technology like their advanced Voice Control and Content Navigation solutions that recently won an Emmy Award for technical achievement. “So the bottom line for us is how we can make things easier for the consumer – more practical, more usable. And that is the same tact we are taking in the security and home automation space. The goal is how we can innovate in the security space to make things more secure, more safe and reliable. Whether it is remote controls or door window sensors, the fundamental need is there. The reality is if the technology is not easy to use, whether you are an end user or a customer for a pro-security dealer, you are going to stop using it and eventually stop paying your monthly (fee) and nobody is happy.”
It’s All About the Connection
Connectivity, however, is the core foundation of what UEI rolls out whether it relates to its smart home solutions, audio/visual or now as it migrates to security. Customizing its solutions using Zigbee RF-4CE, the ubiquitous Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth and NFC-enabled mobile devices provide users an array of options. The big splash at the ISC West event this week in Las Vegas is the “soft” relaunch of its Ecolink brand into the pro-security market. Ecolink has been a leading developer of low power and reliable wireless solutions for more than 20 years. Petrucci says the focus is to remind customers familiar with the brand that they are back and introduce it those who don’t know it.
“The Ecolink team has been providing some very innovative products for decades. Although many of these products are available on Amazon and in the pro-security space, UEI services its partners like Honeywell and DSC, while in the Amazon space it is more about the Z-Wave solutions. The channel differentiation eliminates any channel conflicts,” explains Petrucci.
He adds that UEI’s strategies include offering the pro-security dealers an alternative choice when it comes to sensor technology and trying to provide some innovative solutions on the devices themselves. “Some of our competitors lose sight focusing in on the next panel, the next touchscreen and not the devices. We are here to fill that gap.”
UEI stepped into the security space while it serviced its MSO customers, capitalizing on its strengths as a hardware device developer and manufacturer.
“Knowing that a customer is going to have a number of different channels for wanting to get this product, we had to figure out how to get to scale and how we could leverage our capabilities to more customers. That is where the DIY and pro-security market came into play. Not everybody is going to buy through their pro dealer and not everyone is going to want to buy (devices) on their own through Amazon or their MSO company, so being able to broaden our portfolio through these various new channels allows our company to be more competitive and offer our solutions to more customers,” admits Petrucci.
A Vision for the Future
The UEI vision for the future sees a home that is entirely connected and where security plays a large role in that connectivity, which would also include HVAC and finally rounding out the picture with a total ecosystem adding lights, locks and video cameras.
“There are a number of things in that home from a hardware perspective that must work together. That is the trajectory of our vision. It’s not going to matter if the user gets their version from Amazon DIY or gets product from their professional security provider; it will all work seamlessly,” Petrucci says. “And if you want to extend that vision out another five years, let’s include AV. There is no reason that your doorbell shouldn’t show up on your TV with video from your front door or have the ability to arm your security system from your TV remote. Let’s just make it all work seamlessly.”
To that end, having a device that serves as a single-source of contact controlling all the user’s systems is crucial. Enter UEI’s cloud-based solution called QuickSet. First introduced in September 2009, the QuickSet solution is a widely deployed technology that is deployed in more than 250 million devices around the world including set-top boxes, televisions, game consoles, smartphones, and tablets to enable effortless configuration and control of nearly any connected home entertainment device.
Petrucci explains that the QuickSet Cloud is a little different in that it focuses on auto-discovery and self-configuration specifically of audio and video equipment, but the roadmap is to basically extend that to all IP devices.
“The idea is to make it ‘that’ easy for the consumer to be able to do what they want to do. In the AV space, it is, ‘I want to watch an Amazon Prime movie through my Roku box on my Samsung TV’, so let’s do that where the user only has to press one button while we take care of everything else in the background. That is the brand promise that has been delivered with QuickSet through hundreds of millions of units globally.
“It is that thinking and technology we want to bring into the smart home and security space. It doesn’t matter if you are on an iPhone, an Android or a tablet; if it is a lighting or a security system, the vision long-term is to have everything work together seamlessly without having to be a tech geek to make it do what you want. To me, the biggest gap in the smart home market is just getting to a point where things just work,” Petrucci says.
About the Author: Steve Lasky is the Editorial Director of SouthComm Security Media, which includes print publications Security Technology Executive, Security Dealer & Integrator, Locksmith Ledger Int’l and the world’s most trafficked security web portal SecurityInfoWatch.com. He is a 30-year veteran of the security industry and a 27-year member of ASIS. You can contact Steve at [email protected].
