Comcast and Alarm.com to acquire Icontrol

TYSONS, Va. and PHILADELPHIA—Interactive services platform provider Alarm.com and cable giant Comcast today signed agreements to acquire different business units of platform provider Icontrol Networks, based in Redwood City, Calif.

Security Systems News reported on the potential deal on June 15.

Alarm.com, a direct competitor to Icontrol, will acquire the Connect and Piper business units from Icontrol for approximately $140 million.

Comcast will acquire Icontrol's "Converge" software platform, which powers Comcast's Xfinity Home product and is used by other cable providers. Comcast is not required to disclose the purchase price because the deal is not "material."

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close at the end of the year.

Jay Kenny, Alarm.com SVP of marketing, told Security Systems News the deal is a “sign of our belief in and commitment to the security dealer channel as the right way to go to market for smart home technology.”

Kenny said the announcement should give current Alarm.com dealers “confidence that we continue to invest in R&D for the security channel.”

The Connect business unit, based in Redwood City, Calif., provides an interactive security and home automation platform, used by security dealers. Its marquee customer is ADT Pulse, which has more than 1.6 million subscribers.

Will ADT, which uses the Icontrol platform for its Pulse product in the U. S., and Alarm.com in Canada, approve Alarm.com for use in the U.S.?

Kenny said he could not comment on ADT until the deal is approved.

The Piper business unit, based in Ottawa, Canada, is a DIY Wi-Fi-enabled video and home automation hub.

Kenny said the deal brings significant engineering talent.

The business that Comcast is acquiring, essentially the former Ucontrol business, is based in Austin, Texas.

Dan Herscovici, SVP and GM, Xfinity Home, said in a prepared statement that Comcast plans to “strategically invest in its technology and technologists, so that we can deliver new features, products and services to both individual Xfinity Home customers and enterprise-level Converge customers, faster than ever before.”

Herscovici said the Icontrol team in Austin “will work closely with our engineers in Philadelphia and Silicon Valley to build simple, elegant and powerful connected-home and connected home security products for our customers.”

Raymond James advised Alarm.com in the deal. Imperial Capital represented Alarm.com in the deal.