News

Internet Home Alliance Launches Home Integrator Initiative (12/11/2004)

Industry-Wide Effort Seeks to Build Awareness for Home Integrators and Drive Consumer Adoption of Digital Home Products

Internet Home Alliance, a cross-industry network of leading companies advancing the home technology market, announced today the launch of the Home Integrator Initiative, an industry-wide effort to promote greater industry and consumer awareness of the need for -- and availability of -- qualified home technology integrators. Home technology integrators are trained and certified technology professionals who install connected home products and services.

Developed to address the growing interest in digital home solutions, as well as the consumer and industry confusion that exists around the integration of home technology products and services, the goal of the Home Integrator Initiative is to bring key industry players together to adopt common goals and messages around the home integrator channel and promote consumer awareness of integrators as a key resource in their adoption of connected home products and solutions.

Members of the Home Integrator Initiative include Cisco; Cisco Learning Institute; CNET; Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA); CompUSA; Consumer Electronics Association (CEA); Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA); Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA); Cybermanor; Electronics Systems Industry Consortium (ESIC); EH Publishing; Heneveld Dynamic Consulting; Hewlett-Packard; Home Director; Internet Home Alliance; Microsoft; On-Q Home; Pikes Peak Community College; Rich Green Ink and Sears.

"To advance the home technology market, as an industry, we must work together more effectively to communicate clearly and consistently how consumers can adopt and install connected home solutions easily and successfully," said Kristine Stewart, President, Internet Home Alliance, and Director, Solution Partners, Worldwide Commercial Segment Marketing, Cisco Systems Inc. ""While huge strides have been made to bring clarity to the home integrator channel, much confusion still exists around certification, training and how best to reach out to consumers who are in need of these highly skilled professionals. Our collective goal with this Initiative is to build awareness of, and an understanding for, the important role home integrators play in the market."

The Initiative includes several significant efforts. The first, available now, is an industry white paper, "Net Gain: Advancing the Market for Home Technology Integrators," developed by the committee, which articulates the landscape for home integrators and provides recommendations to the industry about how to work together more effectively to promote home integrators in a clear and consistent manner. All members of the Initiative have expressed a commitment to adopting the recommendations included in the document.

www.internethomealliance.com