Daniel Herscovici
SVP & GM, Xfinity Home
Comcast

Daniel Herscovici, Senior Vice President and General Manager of XFINITY Home, discusses the importance of and strategy behind unifying the consumer experience of the Internet of Things. As the use of smart home devices increases, quality customer experiences decrease. This rapid market adoption has the potential to cause industry-wide issues. Daniel discusses the solution—a disruptive platform approach that will set the standard for the future of IoT.

Disruption in Interfaces: Evolving Cloud Services and Content Access - Grand Peninsula EF

Nearly 90% of U.S. broadband households watch video on a streaming media device or smart TV. OTT has challenged the traditional pay-TV model, and service providers are incorporating new cloud services and delivery methods into their offerings. This session addresses the disruptive effect of new content options on the user experience, including cloud DVR offerings and strategies to integrate existing OTT content into a unified user interface. This panel examines challenges and opportunities for the pay-TV industry to personalize and enhance the consumer experience.

SPEAKERS

Jonathan Beavon, Director Strategy, Video Software & Solutions, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Chris Drake, Vice President, Business Development, thePlatform

John Driver, CEO, Lynx Technology

David Mowrey, VP of Product Management, Clearleap

Scott Williams, EVP Americas, Piksel

Moderator: Glenn Hower, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

IoT: Smart Home and Connected Health Applications - Grand Peninsula ABC

Health and wellness applications and services will play a large role in the smart home, driving innovations in security, wearables, and interoperability and influencing all parts of the connected home experience. This session focuses on current developments in connected health and charts the next steps for a more holistic connected home experience.

SPEAKERS

Joe Liu, CEO, MivaTek / Home8

Kian Saneii, Chief Executive Officer, Independa, Inc

Tim Smokoff, Group Vice President, Health & Wellness, Nortek Security & Control

Krijn van der Raadt, Vice President of IT and Software Development, GreatCall

Gene Wang, CEO & Co-founder, People Power

Moderator: Harry Wang, Sr. Director, Research, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates

David Isbitski
Chief Evangelist Alexa and Echo
Amazon

Voice control is breaking into the smart home market in a big way. Using voice as a device and application interface enables customers to interact with smart home devices in a more intuitive way and indicates the beginning of the post-app era of consumer engagement. But what are the limits, if any, to a product that provides hands-free interface to the smart home, voice-controlled search, and now voice-controlled banking? This keynote session addresses what role voice control will play as the ecosystem of partners grows and use cases expand across traditionally separate verticals.

CE Innovations to Navigate VR and Personalize the Content Ecosystem - Grand Peninsula EF

The value of connected devices is often measured in their connections to content and their ability to mirror the desires of their users. Today’s CE must provide simple methods to add (and remove) multiple content streams while balancing a complex array of data to present a personalized experience. For the consumer, the division between device and content is already blurred, and innovations in virtual and augmented reality could finally erase the distinction. This panel examines current content strategies, the perspectives of consumers, content providers, and device manufacturers, and how upcoming innovations will impact the relationship between CE and content.

SPEAKERS

Noam Geri, VP Sales & Business Development, U.S., Giraffic

Paul T. Kim, Director, Content & Services, Samsung

Danny Vossen, Director Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Technicolor

Moderator: Barbara Kraus, Director, Research, Parks Associates

Smart Home: Making Products Interoperable and Easy to Use - Grand Peninsula ABC

Today’s smart home products have to not only offer important features but must be easy to install, integrate, and operate -- wirelessly and seamlessly. This panel offers success stories in product design and implementation and outlines factors critical to success in today’s high-value, high-volume product space.

SPEAKERS

Erik Davidson, Director of Product Management, CEL

Aditya Pendyala, Head of Growth, mnubo

Joe Wytanis, Sr. Director & Strategist, Connected Living, Consumer Technology Group, Flex

Moderator: Eddie Accomando, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Connected Cars: Innovation and New Consumer Experiences - Grand Peninsula EF

The connected car market has been running in parallel with the smart home markets, and both are poised for substantial expansion in 2016. Nearly two-thirds of current car owners want connected features in their next car, with a variety of connected activities driving this interest. Auto makers will increasingly form partnerships with connected home providers to capture consumer interest in this early market. This session examines the convergence of the connected car and the smart home and the use cases that appeal most to consumers.

SPEAKERS

Matt Bornski, Director and Chief Architect of Enterprise Services, Wink

Navin Ganeshan, Chief Product Officer, Zubie

David Jumpa, Chief Revenue Officer, Airbiquity, Inc.

Diomedes Kastanis, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson

Moderator: Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates

IoT and Smart Home Devices: Privacy and Security - Grand Peninsula ABC

Nearly 50% of U.S. broadband households have concerns about their privacy related to the use of connected devices. If not addressed, these concerns, often stoked by high-profile hacking incidents, could derail growth in the smart home and IoT. This session addresses the importance of tackling privacy concerns as the smart home enters the next stage of development. Panelists examine the biggest vulnerabilities, steps to implement protective solutions, and strategies to communicate these security measures to the consumer, including the role of the media.

SPEAKERS

Adrian Caceres, Co-Founder and CTO, Ayla Networks

Jim Hunter,  Chief Scientist and Technology Evangelist,  Greenwave Systems

Bruce Snell, Cybersecurity and Privacy Director, Intel Security

Moderator: Brad Russell, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Rob Comstock
Executive Vice President, Operations
Cablevision Systems Corporation

Risky Business: Piracy and Protecting Content in an OTT World - Grand Peninsula EF

OTT services continue to disrupt the traditional content distribution model, but while demand for content is strong, U.S. broadband households spend less than $1 per month buying and less than $1 per month renting digital video, indicating they are not yet inclined to pay for video on an asset-by-asset basis. Meanwhile, technologies that created the OTT video economy also increased the risk for piracy. This session examines DRM systems and the prevalence of credential swapping and piracy versus the value of a superior user experience.

SPEAKERS

Shane Keats, Director of Industry Marketing, Media and Entertainment, Akamai Technologies

Paul Moroney, SVP Advanced Technology, ARRIS

Petr Peterka, Chief Technology Officer, Verimatrix

Mitch Singer, President, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem

Robin Wilson, VP Business Development, NAGRA

Moderator: Glenn Hower, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Seamless Interoperability: IoT and Smart Home - Grand Peninsula ABC

Smart home monitoring and control systems are installed in just over 10% of U.S. broadband households and less than 2% of Western European broadband households. As more smart home devices proliferate in both markets, interoperability will be the key to creating smart home systems, rather than a disparate collection of devices. This session examines the vast number of products within the consumer IoT and how companies can stay competitive with differentiated products while still offering robust interoperability across all devices.

SPEAKERS

Avi Barel, Business Development Director, ULE Alliance

Mike Harris, CEO, Zonoff

Daniel Moneta, Chairman of the Marketing Working Group, ZigBee Alliance

Kevin Robinson, VP Marketing, Wi-Fi Alliance

Bill Scheffler, Director of NA Sales and Business Development, Sigma Designs/Z-Wave

Moderator: Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls & Energy, Parks Associates

Smart Home Devices: Changing Business Models - Grand Peninsula ABC

Connectivity to the cloud has created a new breed of IoT products and services that consumers can remotely monitor and control. These capabilities are strong drivers both to stimulate consumer demand and create new revenue opportunities. This panel examines the ongoing evolution of business models in security, controls, automation, and energy.

SPEAKERS

David Carter, Co-Founder and CEO, WiZR

Duane Paulson, Senior Vice President Product & Market Development, Nortek Security & Control

Brandon Ridenour, Chief Technology Officer, HomeAdvisor, Inc.

Nate Williams, Chief Revenue Officer, August Home Inc

Brett Worthington, VP of Global Business Development and General Manager for Americas, SmartThings

Moderator: Brad Russell, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Smartphone Apps and APIs: Lifeline for the Connected Consumer - Grand Peninsula EF

The smartphone is the fulcrum for nearly every activity in the connected lifestyle and smart home. This session examines the consumer relationship with the smartphone and how apps, APIs, and smart home and connected entertainment solutions are adjusting to its ubiquity. Speakers discuss the growing control functionality of the smartphone and its integration into every ecosystem in the IoT.

SPEAKERS

Kent Dickson, Co-founder and CEO, Yonomi

Kimmo Ruotoistenmäki, CEO and co-founder, Cozify

Matt Swatsky, Director of Product Management, Lutron

Justin Wong, VP Business Development, IFTTT Inc.

Moderator: Harry Wang, Sr. Director, Research, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates

Security Innovations: Expanding the Smart Home Experience - Grand Peninsula ABC

Safety and security are the foundation of value for the smart home. As the number of new players, new technologies, and alternative solutions enter the market, consumers have many new options to serve their safety and security needs as well as innovations that will expand the smart home experience. This panel examines product and service innovations driving growth in the security industry and the smart home.

SPEAKERS

Vincent Borel, Director of New Ventures, Logitech

R.K. Gopinath, Executive Director, Products - Smart & Connected Home, Cox Communications

Denis Noel, Lead Product Manager, IoT Security, NXP Semiconductors

Chris Rill, Co-founder and CTO, Canary

Larry Waxman, President & CEO, leakSMART

Ohad Zeira, Director, Consumer IoT, Verizon

Moderator: Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls & Energy, Parks Associates

Personalizing Connected Entertainment: Metrics and Big Data - Grand Peninsula EF

Products will be differentiated by their ability to anticipate users’ needs. The companies that first leverage big data to retain consumer profiles, share them across platforms, and ensure privacy and security will be the winners. This session examines the role of big data in premium TV services as well as current successes and future strategies in using advanced metrics to make connections with consumers, bridging the gaps between audience, content provider, and advertisers.

SPEAKERS

Eric Anderson, SVP and General Manager of Video Personalization, Gracenote

Mike Rich, Vice President, Emergent, comScore, Inc.

Tim Schaaff, Chief Product Officer, Intertrust

Tom Waters, Sr. Manager, Market Intelligence, Jabil

Moderator: Glenn Hower, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

Robert Parker
SVP of Engineering
SmartThings

SmartThings’ mission has always been to deliver the easiest way to turn a home into a smart home while building an open platform that enables innovation and collaboration across the industry. These two elements are key to driving mass adoption of the smart home, and SmartThings is working to deliver this on a global scale by enabling IoT technology everywhere from TVs to appliances to cars and more. Robert Parker, SmartThings’ SVP of Engineering, will discuss best practices and strategy around how to expand the smart home market, including ways to drive consumer usage once these solutions are in the home.

Matt Eyring

Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer

Vivint Smart Home

The best consumer experience is one that anticipates your everyday needs and delivers an elegant, integrated solution. This keynote addresses how breakthrough user interfaces and intelligence combine to create the best user experience for consumers to create the smart home of the future.

Support Strategies to Integrate Smart Devices in the IoT - Grand Peninsula ABC

Connectivity creates new challenges in smart home devices, from installation to ongoing updates. Many device owners report problems with setup, and over 40% would be willing to pay $10/month for a support service. These new needs, alongside the promise of new revenues, have pushed IoT and smart home providers into new and unfamiliar roles of support. This session examines strategies for these companies as they enter this new territory and areas that need support, including communication protocols, gateways, control platforms, applications, and operating systems. Panelists also discuss the challenges for smart home and IoT providers and identify areas for partnership and profit.

SPEAKERS

Peter Blanks, Vice President Technology, Asurion

Autumn Braswell, Chief Operating Officer, Enterprise Solutions Organization, LinQ, iQor

Emily Hossellman, Director of Marketing, Centercode

Moderator: Patrice Samuels, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

New CE Experiences in Voice, Gesture, and Control - Grand Peninsula EF

CE manufacturers are looking to expand the value of their products by providing new and unique ways to interact with them. Options such as gesture control and facial recognition open new value propositions in ease-of-use and content discovery. This session explores new form factors impacting the entertainment experience and alternate revenues emerging from innovative user interactions.

SPEAKERS

Kenn Harper, VP, Devices & Ecosystem, Nuance Communications

Peter Taylor, Vice President of Products, WeMo/Belkin

Ali M. Vassigh, Director of User Experience, EVA Automation

Moderator: Barbara Kraus, Director, Research, Parks Associates

Consumerization of Healthcare: Trends and Technology - Grand Peninsula EF

Healthcare is taking up a large part of the IoT, driven in large part by the demand for change in service delivery and quality, but many of the most at-risk consumers are still under-informed about new wellness options in the smart home. This session addresses the shift towards a consumer-centric model and new opportunities for healthcare technology companies, service providers, and smart home players. Speakers discuss new business models using connected devices to engage consumers and strategies to target key consumer segments with IoT solutions.

SPEAKERS

Chris Ely, Senior Manager, Industry Analysis, Consumer Technology Association

Kyle Kline, Telemedicine Product Marketing Manager, A&D Medical

Casey Pittock, President & CEO, Tunstall Americas

Lisa Uhrmacher, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Vodafone 

Moderator: Harry Wang, Sr. Director, Research, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates

IoT Channel Strategies: A New Consumer Experience - Grand Peninsula ABC

When purchasing smart home products, 65% of U.S. broadband households turn to the retail channel. Security dealers are also high on the list, with the benefit of a one-on-one sales model to communicate benefits and answer questions. As home systems, controls, and connected entertainment gain momentum, consumers will acquire products through multiple channels. This session explores the experience of buying connected home products and the implications for service providers, security providers, retailers, and DIY products.

SPEAKERS

Derrick Dicoi, Senior Director of Product Management for XFINITY Home, Comcast

V. Rory Jones, President and CEO, PlanetEcosystems

George Land, General Manager, Nexia, Ingersoll Rand

Kevin Meagher, SVP Business Development, ROC-Connect 

Dave Pedigo, Sr. Director of Learning & Emerging Technologies, CEDIA

Moderator: Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates

Michael Hawkey
Senior Vice President and General Manager, Discovery Business Group
Rovi

Michael Hawkey, senior vice president and general manager of the discovery business group at Rovi, explores the latest trends shaping entertainment discovery. Answering the simple question “What’s on?” has gotten increasingly complex with hundreds of channels, dozens of services, multiple screens, and a sea of apps to navigate. Consumer choice continues to increase with new skinny bundles, original content from streaming services, and premium channels selling direct to consumers. This keynote covers the evolution of discovery, takes a closer look at subscriber trends, and discusses the rising complexities of helping consumers find what they want to watch in today’s world.