Icontrol, the home security and automation vendor that works with ADT and several major U.S. MSOs, is branching into the independent dealer market with the debut of a platform called Icontrol One.
Icontrol, which also sells products at retail following its acquisition last year of Blacksumac, is rolling the newly tailored platform as it looks to strike up partnerships with a market segment that is about 14,000 dealers strong, said Greg Roberts, Icontrol's VP of marketing, noting that about 55% of the home security market is represented by that group.
He said there’s strong demand from dealers that already offer home security services, but are looking for interactive platforms that they can sell and use to retrofit their existing platforms.
Dealers, he said, will be tasked with upgrading about 4 million to 5 million customers that rely on systems outfitted with 2G cellular technology that will be phased out over the next couple of years. To help dealers brace for that, Icontrol is offering a radio upgrade module (pictured above) that outfits older security panels with a 3G communicator, while also adding Z-wave and WiFi.
“That module will be able to be replace 2G models in all leading home security panels that are in residential today. That’s a significant advantage for a dealer,” Roberts said.
Aside from the upgrade, Icontrol will also offer dealers several product packages and a software-as-a-service model that runs on its platform, which uses a customized version of the Android OS.
Icontrol is demonstrating the new dealer-facing platform at the ISC West conference in Las Vegas in mid-April, followed by an expected commercial launch this summer.
On the cable front, customers include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Bright House Networks, and Comporium, which licenses the platform to tier 2/3 operators.
