Duane Paulson, SVP Product and Market Development at Nortek Security & Control, examines the impact of the security industry as a gateway to the connected home:

What is the most important next step to engage consumers in smart home solutions, connected entertainment services, and/or value-added services like tech support and connected health?

The most important thing we can do as an industry is take a solutions based approach that helps consumers understand the true value of smart home technology. For instance, what is the energy savings potential? What are the security benefits? How can it help the disabled or people who are aging in place?

There’s a heavy focus on the devices themselves and the technology behind them because there’s still a lot of disjointedness between all the different players. The market will ultimately dictate who the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ are, but we as an industry can do a better job of painting a picture of what an ideal connected home looks like for young families, the elderly, snow birds, city dwellers, the eco-conscious and others.

What is the biggest challenge your company faces in 2015?

Since changing our name from Linear in 2014, Nortek Security & Control has been focused on defining the opportunities our GoControl, 2GIG and Linear brands present to the market. We have a diverse customer base that includes everyone from the independent security dealer right up to major big box retailers and telecoms, so we’ve been working tirelessly to meet their current demands while continuing to develop innovative and practical smart home solutions to the market.

Within 5-10 years, we think the mainstream public will view smart home technology like they view smart phones today, just a part of everyday life. The big challenge will be streamlining some of the fragmentation that exists today so the technology is more rooted in standards and interoperability.

What is the biggest driver for the connected consumer market?

If you look at the analyst data, security is at or near the top of any research analyzing why people adopt connected products. Partially, it’s because alarm and security systems are an easy pathway towards integration of things like lighting control, connected thermostats, garage doors, and smoke alarms, because they use the same platform for control and the same mobile devices for management.

Looking past industry towards trends, energy management certainly seems to be fueling some of the interest in connected products. Consumers are starting to understand just how powerful connected smart home devices can be in conserving energy. There’s emerging anecdotal evidence and plenty of research about the potential, but I think we are just now entering a time when consumers start to understand that scheduling patterns, remote management and other byproducts of the connected home can really help with waste reduction, and ultimately lower energy bills.

What are the most important initiatives your company is taking in 2015? 

This year, we will launch the long-awaited GC3 integrated security and home control panel. Its predecessor, the GC2 has been a part of more than two million installations, making it the most widely installed home control platform in existence. The GC3 is exciting because it adds important connectivity and functionality features and because it will serve as light commercial solution, giving it a much broader market segment to fill.

Beyond that, the Nortek Security & Control engineers are developing new products for our GoControl line of smart home solutions. We currently offer practical things like light switches and bulbs, garage door controllers, plug modules, thermostats, and more, all of which communicate and interact with each other. As this line grows, Nortek will continue to align other brands, such as Broan/Nutone, and the Core Brands Group in an effort to maximize resources for customers and dealers.

Describe your vision for the smart home and entertainment markets in 2020.

As I mentioned before, I think there will be a certain level of ubiquity when it comes to the smart home in 2020. It will no more of a novelty than TVs were in the 80s, CD players were in the 90s or smart phones are today. Companies like Nortek Security & Control will have a much more solution-based approach, as opposed to the device and technology focus of today. Customers won’t have to worry as much about which hub is compatible with what attachment device because there will be a lot of progress made to the interoperability of systems and devices by then. The ability to adjust the thermostat, lock the front door or queue up a movie will be just as seamless whether it’s done from our TVs, our smart phones, our voices or some other control device. There will be more appliances in the ecosystem as well so the overall connected experience will be much deeper and more powerful.

Duane Paulson will be speaking during the session “Defining the Connected Home: Entertainment, Security, Health, Smart Home” on Tuesday, May 19 at 9:45 AM. Other panel speakers include representatives from Cox, Ford Motor Company, Honeywell, Panasonic Corporation of North America, and Pandora.

For more information on CONNECTIONS speakers, sessions, or topics, visit www.connectionsus.com. Register to attend today!

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