Nest takes step into home security

SAN FRANCISCO—Nest announced on Sept. 20 that it would expand more into security, adding a variety of security-related products to the company's portfolio. The company is exclusively partnering with MONI Smart Security for professional monitoring at launch.

“Nest is delivering on the next phase of our strategy to create the thoughtful home," Marwan Fawaz, chief executive officer of Nest, said in the press release. “We've had quite a year so far, expanding into 11 more countries, growing our product portfolio with the successful launches of Nest Cam IQ indoor and the Nest Thermostat E, and today we're disrupting yet another product industry: home security. By building product experiences our customers love, Nest has experienced more than 60% growth on devices shipped in recent years and continues to expand to millions of homes around the world.”

Nest announced a range of new products. The Nest Secure alarm system comes with Nest Guard, an alarm, keypad and a motion sensor, Nest Detect, a sensor that monitors both motion and open or close movements, and Nest Tag, a fob that will disarm the alarm system. The company also announced its Nest Hello video doorbell and Nest Cam IQ outdoor security camera.

“Nest reached out to us some time ago and we've been talking to them for a number of months,” Jeff Gardner, MONI President and CEO, told Security Systems News. “They were really looking for a partner to provide professional monitoring for their customers, and also a partner that could really help them enter the traditional security space.”

Nest's home security equipment is designed for DIY install and MONI's monitoring is an option, otherwise the system would be self-monitored.

“I think Nest can really take the DIY business to another level,” said Gardner. “This product has a chance to really disrupt the industry and we believe that it's better to be a part of that than just competing with it.”

The partnership is more than a wholesale monitoring agreement, Gardner said, “It's much more of a full-service, high-end offering associated with the Nest product. We're going to charge rates to the customers competitive with other DIY offers in the marketplace. We bill the customer, we set the rates for the customer on the professional monitoring and collect the revenue.”

In addition to providing monitoring, MONI will be reselling the Nest equipment to its customers. “No one else in the industry will have this product. … We'll be exclusive, selling this product in the traditional security space,” Gardner said.

“We're trying to grow our sales—it's a great opportunity,” Gardner said. “It's something that our dealers can use as well, to drive additional sales. So, we're trying to get all of our channels pretty excited about it.”

Customers will select professional monitoring from MONI in the Nest app and conduct that business in “an ecommerce fashion,” Gardner said, which required a lot of software work on the front end.

“You don't see too much of that in our industry, in terms of ecommerce,” he said. “I think that the technology we developed there we can use in other parts of our business as well.”