DSC unveils home automation partnership with Life|ware
By L. Samuel Pfeifle
Updated Thu March 29, 2007
LAS VEGAS--Occupying its traditional front right-hand corner on the show floor, DSC has reserved significant space to showcase its home automation collaboration with Exceptional Innovation, the manufacturer of Life|ware software that allows consumers to control devices through their television remotes. This collaboration offers dealers a single package that features a television, Hewlett-Packard media center computer running Microsoft Vista, eight zones of security and two zones of lighting for what DSC and EI are saying is a low price of $7,200.
"A large part of what DSC does is protect homes around the world," said Bryan Watts, manager of new business development and channel management at DSC. "With all of the technology convergence happening now, and the reduction of the cost on sub-systems, everything in the home is becoming interoperable. It's part of our commitment to bring our dealers into this world."
He said the barrier to entry into home automation for most dealers has been the high cost and the difficulty of installation. "We formed a strategic partnership with Life|ware and put the technology into a bundle," said Watts, in order to solve that problem.
"Life|ware has a dealer program as well," said Bret Fitzgerald, director of operations at Exceptional Innovation, "but it's in the CEDIA [consumer electronics] channel. The security market is in the home much more often, so that dealer channel is very important to us."
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