Home networking company teams with Panasonic

PALO ALTO, Calif.-A home management network company has announced a partnership with Panasonic to bring to market a home security and control system that the companies would sell through national broadband service providers. The system, being developed by MyCasa Network, a hardware and software company based here, is a broadband-based home management   system that enables a homeowner or small business owner to remotely view and control devices within the home, said Mike Stocker, manager of strategic development for MyCasa Network. "The Internet-based management and security services made possible with MyCasa Network technology represent a very exciting new business area for Panasonic," said Mike Timar, national product manager for the Panasonic Communication and Home Electronics division. Timar said the technology company is a good partner for Panasonic's broadband strategy. Details of the collaboration have not yet been ironed out, but the two companies will be exploring potential channels for its product between now and the end of the year, Stocker said. During that time, pilots and beta tests of the product will also be conducted for about six months. "After that the providers will do their own pilots with end users," Stocker said. "We see it fully starting to go by the third quarter of 2003." One key element of the offering will be the price point of the hardware, Stocker said, which he'd like to get down to about $200. MyCasa Network's lead investor, Enel Capital, a venture investment arm of Enel SPA, a European electric utility company that is conducting a home control project to monitor the electric meters of up to 27 million homes in Italy, Stocker said. That company led MyCasa's first institutional equity financing round, which raised $3.25 million this year.