World Wide likes connected home offering

GARDEN CITY, N.Y.—World Wide Security/GC Alarm has been selected by Honeywell as one of its First Alert Professional dealers to introduce Tuxedo Touch to the marketplace, the company announced last week.

“We're getting it out the market now and we're getting a good response,” Joe Ingegno, VP of World Wide/GC Alarm, based here, told Security Systems News. “We did a lot of the program to beta test the product and we were the most familiar with it, so it was easier for us to sell it when it came on the market.”

Honeywell on June 18 launched the Wi-Fi version of Tuxedo Touch, which it describes as “a touchscreen security and automation controller with Z-wave functionality.”

Ingegno told SSN at Tuxedo Touch is “a control center that can control an alarm panel, [but also] it can control lighting and it can control energy thermostats, and it can open and unlock your doors. It can have Wi-Fi cameras or IP cameras and you can view on the touch screen, and the weather comes up on it automatically. It's got a lot of cool little things.”

For example, he said, you can upload your family photos on it, as well.

Ingegno said, “We promote it as an upgrade to existing systems and we also promote it big time for builders who want to give their clients something extra in their home with energy and lighting control.”

With the aid of a camera, homeowners can see who's coming to their front door, “without a fancy camera system for the house,” which would cost a lot more.

World Wide Security/GC Alarm serve the tri-state area. The companies are part of the World Wide Security Group, which also includes Telestat Security, Vision Monitoring, Rainbow Protection and Dart Security.

Dart was one of three acquisitions World Wide/GC Alarm announced earlier this year.