News

Smarthome INSTEON Alliance Passes 300-Member Mark (4/11/2005)

In Just Five Months, the INSTEON Alliance has Attracted More Than 300 Active Members and Established Itself as the Force in the Market

Smarthome(TM), the authority in electronic home improvement and automation, today announced that its INSTEON Alliance, established in May 2005, has passed the 300-member mark. INSTEON Alliance members, who range from grass roots developers to design engineers at Fortune 500 companies, develop best-in-class home control networking products using the INSTEON technology protocol.

The INSTEON Alliance community includes the top names in technology, such as Somfy, First Alert, Maya, Integration Associates, Elk, Visonic, Universal Electronics, Exceptional Innovation and others.

Addressing everything from lighting systems and security, to home entertainment, window treatments and faucets, Alliance members are embedding INSTEON's powerful dual-band (powerline and radio frequency) communications technology into their products, ensuring many core home systems are networked and working together. Both the technology and the Alliance guarantee that all INSTEON-enabled products are interoperable and easy to use -- for both developers and end-user homeowners.

"Our customer-centric approach and extensive knowledge of the market contributed to the design elements that has made INSTEON a force in the market and lead to its remarkable adoption and rapidly growing INSTEON Alliance membership," said Rajeev Kapur, Smarthome's vice president, sales and marketing. "The flexibility, cost efficiencies and robust dual-band nature of the INSTEON technology platform are meeting the needs of an enthusiastic and growing INSTEON developer community."

Three levels of INSTEON Alliance membership are available: level one membership (for the developers kit -- $99), level two membership ($250) and level three membership ($2,000). Level two and three memberships are able to influence the direction, development and marketing of INSTEON.

"Smarthome made it so easy to join the Alliance and start using the INSTEON protocol that we were able to jump-start our participation in this rapidly growing market and quickly initiate the development of new INSTEON-enabled products," said Eric Eichensehr, CTO/Partner, Exceptional Innovation, LLC. "Compared to other home control networking technologies in the market INSTEON had the lowest cost of entry to initiate the development cycle; that, combined with the flexibility and depth of the technology, made it an obvious choice."

Membership in the Alliance provides insights into the INSTEON community, along with maximum industry exposure of member companies and their products. Alliance members are invited to participate in members-only forums and events throughout the year. INSTEON websites, press releases and trade show pavilions will also provide new avenues of promotion for Alliance members. Members will have the opportunity to leverage an extensive retail channel, working with Smarthome to place Alliance members' INSTEON products on INSTEON.net, Smarthome.com, Amazon.com and Home Depot.com or in the Smarthome catalog.

Smarthome will be showcasing its products at EHX Nov 9-11, 2005, and at CES Jan 5-8, 2006. The INSTEON Alliance will be offering a series of training seminars and demonstrations (online and live) in the months ahead, as well as launching its inaugural developer's conference in the spring of 2006.

www.insteon.net