With its key rivals, Amazon and Google, already well established in the business of home automation, Roku is hiring a “senior business development manager of home technologies.”

In a LinkedIn job posting, Roku concedes that while its well positioned in the “future of television” and TV advertising, its continued success “relies on investing in IoT-driven technologies for the home.”

In the new position, Roku says, the hire “will be responsible for vetting new partners & developing partnerships to connect Roku with home ecosystems more deeply. In this role, you’ll work with cross-functional teams within Roku. You will work closely with product, engineering, legal, marketing, and finance teams to drive Roku’s business goals.” (Hat tip to Protocol for first spotting this LinkedIn posting.)

Roku hasn’t publicly commented on its intentions to enter the home automation market. 

Hardware sales represented less than 19% of Roku’s revenue in the first quarter, with the OTT company’s ad sales exploding another 101% to $466.5 million. And notably, due to the global semiconductor shortage, Roku told investors that it expects to lose money making and selling streaming sticks, dongles and players, and licensing its OS out to OEM smart TV makers, through the rest of 2021.

Still, proliferating the Roku UI is an existential part of Roku’s success, with active accounts swelling to 53.6 million and streaming hours on platform rising to 18.3 billion in Q1. 

The business of connecting streaming devices to home automation appliances including doorbells, thermostats, baby monitors and cameras is a competitive one, and Roku doesn’t appear poised to make a ton of money in it anytime soon. 

However, both Google and Amazon have integrated their respective OTT operating systems within their broader home automation environments. 

Google, for example, supports things like Netflix playback on its Google Assistant-enabled Google Nest Hub, a home automation device. Meanwhile, it’s steadily evolving Android TV and Google TV to work with devices like IoT cameras.

Amazon has deployed a similar strategy, with Amazon Fire TV integrated into Alexa Voice-powered devices like Echo. 

As Protocol also noted, two years ago, Roku also purchased the intellectual property of San Francisco startup Blackfire Research, which specialized in the wireless connection of devices, allowing users “to seamlessly share anything to anything.”

Dish Network has announced OnTech Smart Services, a new direct-to-consumer unit specializing in consulting consumers on, and installing, home automation and security products.

Dish is launching the service in 11 cities: Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and St. Louis.

OnTech will help consumers with installation, set-up and education for smart home brands including Google Nest, Ring, Linksys, Roku, Yale, Polk Audio and Klipsch Audio.

Comcast has steadily built up its home automation and security business over the last five years, and Dish notes that its effort here dates back to an in-house unit in 2011 called Dish Smart Home Services. But other U.S. telecom companies are now only dipping their toes into the water.

It’s unclear as to exactly how Dish is conducting this launch, and whether it has enlisted an integration partner. Notably, Naveen Somasekhar Aradhya, director of software engineering for the new Dish unit, described in social media a “marathon” two-and-a-half-month effort to get the new group off the ground.

“OnTech connects a growing group of consumers who want the convenience of a smart home, but don’t have the time or know-how to get the most out of the latest devices,” said Nick Rossetti, senior VP of OnTech Smart Services, in a release. “Our goal is to connect people with things to make life easier and technology more accessible.”

Charter Communications Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said the No. 2 U.S. cable company will deploy home management services in Austin, Texas in the fall and will subsequently roll them out across its national footprint.

“My sense is that over the next few years, it will roll everywhere,” said Rutledge, speaking Tuesday at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet and Telecom Conference in Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s not really a question of are we going to do it, but a question of getting it right, getting all the control apparatus right and security.

“There are 300 million devices connected to our 28 million broadband customers,” Rutledge added. “We have a tremendous connections business, and we have the opportunity to provide features in that connectivity business that do not exist today, that includes privacy, security, control over all the devices in your home—the ability to look through your network and see what the signal levels are throughout your dwelling.”

Rutledge didn’t offer a lot of details on the home WiFi management plans of Charter, which has sat on the sidelines the last five years as Comcast has steadily built out its Xfinity Home business. 

Charter has reportedly been in talks with a number of name brand home automation companies.

Comcast says newly integrated features for its security cameras can help subscribers thwart a growing holiday season problem—packages from online retailers like Amazon that are stolen before they can get into the door of the buyer.

The operator said the new AI-based technology offers the ability for its cameras to filter motion-triggered activity by people or vehicles, zooming in on relevant activity and bookmarking it for later viewing

To highlight the need for its security product, Comcast commissioned a study by Wakefield Research that found that one in four people have reported a e-commerce package being stolen in transit. The figure rises to one in three for millennial age consumers, who use internet shopping services more and tend to populate multihousing situations more.

“Home security cameras, when integrated with our other Xfinity services, offer great peace of mind so our customers can check-in on their home from anywhere, anytime,” said Eric Schaefer, general manager and senior VP of Xfinity Services, in a statement. “We make it easy, for instance, for a parent to check their home camera in real time to make sure their child got off the bus or check to see if a package has arrived.”

Yale Assure Locks have joined the list of products that can operate and be voice controlled within the Xfinity Home ecosystem.

The locks can be controlled from virtually any location using Comcast’s Xfinty Home mobile app. Users can remotely lock and unlock doors, check lock status and create rules such as to receive lock status notification at a given time, say when the kids get home from school.

The locks can also respond to voice commands via the Xfinity Voice Remote from within the home. Example: “Lock the door.”

Related: Comcast Integrates Tile's Trackers with Xfinity Home and X1

Comcast said it now has 1.2 million users of its home automation services.

The Yale Assure Lock line includes a series of smart locks that offer a choice of keyed and tee-free entry. In order to work with Xfinity Home, the locks need to be purchased with a Yale Zigbee Network Module, which retails for around $50. Yale sells four Assure locks that are compatible with the network module.

“Smart door locks can be a meaningful home security addition, especially when combined with other IoT devices like cameras,” said Patti Loyack, VP of IP services and home automation for Comcast Cable, in a statement. “Xfinity’s platform gives consumers the ability to manage and control all of their smart devices in one unified experience and we’re excited to give our customers even more choice by integrating the Assure Lock line from Yale.”

Cox Communications said this week it embarked on the national rollout of a home automation as-a-service offering for its Homelife product that complements a larger offering that also includes home security services.  

The wider rollout, which will reach all Cox markets in the coming months, follows trials of home automation-only services in Tulsa, San Diego and Rhode Island.  

“We see two markets forming, a well-established and growing home security market and an emerging market who aspires to smart home living but who may not want 24/7 monitored security,” Kristine Faulkner, SVP, Cox Homelife, said in a statement. “Offering more choices in the Cox Homelife portfolio enables us to expand our reach beyond the homes that are buying home security today and establishes an umbrella for future expansion into every home.”  

Cox Homelife Automation, which will start at $19.99 per month according to FierceCable, is designed to control a range of smart home devices, including indoor/outdoor Homelife HD cameras, custom alerts and notifications, connected lights, and door locks and thermostats. Cox is backing that up with pro installs and 24/7 phone support.  

Comcast, which last year acquired a part of Icontrol that Cox has been using for its smart home services, has also been pushing hard on smart home automation that will cover its range of residential services. Cox’s new Contour-branded pay TV platform is also underpinned by an X1 syndication deal with Comcast.  

RELATED: Comcast Scales Home Automation Services to 15M Subs  

Comcast is expanding the utility of xFi, its home WiFi management platform, with a feature that enables real-time updates that are focused on security.

When enabled, those WiFi-related, push notifications are delivered to the customer’s smartphones and TVs when certain events on the home WiFi network occur, including:

-When new devices are connected to the network. Customers can also go into the xFi app on smartphones or on the web to assign those new devices to a member of the household.

-When a WiFi name or password has been changed, important in part because customers will need to reconnect WiFi devices when those credentials have been changed by an authorized user.

-When security settings are changed.

-If the home WiFi’s network name has been hidden or unhidden. xFi has an option that lets customers hide their WiFi network’s name, an option that comes in especially handy in densely populated areas.

xFi customers are also told if their internet service and gateway has been activated for the first time, and if the home network’s IP address has been changed, Eric Schaefer, SVP and GM, data and mobility services at Comcast, explained in a blog post about the new features.

Comcast launched xFi in May 2017, and it’s now available to more than 15 million customers (via Comcast’s xFi Wireless Gateway -- formerly known as the XB3-- and the xFi Advanced Wireless gateway, a new DOCSIS 3.1-based device formerly referred to as the XB6.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

Last August, Comcast rolled out another set of new features for its cloud-based xFi service, including “timed pause,” enhanced parental controls, and some initial notification center elements.

Las Vegas – Adding more scale to its smart home scope, Comcast said it has extended home automation services to more than 15 million customers, and is working to enable that capability across multiple services, including X1 (TV and the X1 voice remote), xFi (WiFi), Xfinity Home and Xfinity Mobile. 

Read More: Complete coverage of #CES2018

By way of example, that move toward automation across services will enable a customer to say “Good night” into their X1 voice remote to automatically lock the home’s doors, turn off the lights, adjust thermostats and arm their home security system. 

That drive toward unified automation across those services stems strongly from Comcast’s adoption of a cloud-based Internet of Things platform from Stringify, which Comcast acquired in September 2017. That tie-in will eventually span across Comcast's product line, but for now that work is centered on Comcast's xFi Wireless Gateway (formerly known as the XB3) and the xFI Advanced Wireless gateway, a new DOCSIS 3.1-based device that used to be called the XB6. 

RELATED: Comcast Buys Stringify

“We are playing in the intersection of digital and physical coming together,” Sridhar Solur, SVP of product development for Xfinity Home and IoT, said in an interview ahead of this week’s CES in Las Vegas.

He noted that the push for scale will enable Comcast to support and integrate a massively greater number of third-party partners across its suite of products.

The acquisition of Stringify and its technology and talent has been “instrumental” in helping Comcast bring in more digital and physical parnters together and enable automation across all of them, he said.

"From there, we are moving to a world of open interconnectivity,” Solur said, adding that it will enable Comcast to push well beyond a relatively small curated set of partners for Xfinity Home (which has about 1 million subscribers) to a much broader and diversified approach that spans across multiple Comcast services as well as many more partners from the smart home sector. 

Stringify’s platform, already powering automation service for more than 500 IoT products and digital services, will soon be integrated into Xfinity’s lineup of products and services.

Comcast said that work will enable it to create a large number of rules and controls for smart home products from companies that include August, Carrier, Chamberlain, GE, Honeywell, Kwikset, Liftmaster, LIFT, Lutron, Nest, Netgear, Arlo, Philips Hue, Danalock, Sengled, SkyBell, Tile, Yale, and Zen Ecosystems, among others.

Comcast said that work will also help it to extend its partner ecosystem to other product categories such as wearables, automotive, voice assistants, and social media platforms.

“We have integrated automation as a platform…that’s what Stringify brought to the table,” Solur said.

It will also set the table to drive the concept of presence into automation, enabling the creation of rules and automation flows not just for the home, but to each individual who lives in the home, he explained.

Update: Comcast shed a bit more light on its smart home automation initiative here Wednesday morning at a press conference, noting that it will tie into a broadened “Works with Xfinity” program.

“This is where we will democratize automation and make it available to the broadest number of customers,” starting with xFi and Comcast’s latest line of gateways, Chris Satchell, Comcast’s EVP and chief product officer, said.

 “We’re going to work with any company that wants to approach us,” he added, noting that partners can decide whether to go for a shallow or deep integration. “We want to interoperate with everybody.”

One example highlighted is Comcast’s work with Tile, a company that has developed a system that tracks a person’s belongings. In addition to hardware based devices that track items like keys, Tile is also moving ahead with software-based integrations of its tracking system. Comcast will be integrating Tile with its service platforms.

Satchell suggested that these integrations are part of what’s “missing” from IoT today, as device makers usually leave it up to the consumer to figure out how to connect devices and make them work with others. “We’re going to take that stress away from the customer,” Satchell said.

Moving forward, Comcast will enable customers to create “scenes” that automate how those IoT devices work together. A “leave mode,” for example, can be made to automatically lock the home’s doors, turn down the lights and adjust the thermostat.

Satchell also offered an update on usage of xFi, the home WiFi management system that Comcast introduced in May.

About 4 million customers are using the xFi app and web site to manage their home WiFi, he said. “We’re rapidly increasing towards that 15 million addressable total number of households.”

He also shed some light on some new xFi features in the works.

Stream Check will add intelligence that tells the customer if they are getting the right streaming rate based on the capability of the end device and the speed of the connection. If it’s not getting the right speed, the system will offer tips on how to resolve it and run a retest. Stream Check will also tell the user if the connection is optimized and capable of getting SD, HD or even 4K video.

Away Mode will ensure that unknown devices can’t connect to the home WiFi network when the customer is away – on vacation, for example. It will also send the user a notification if an unknown device is trying to gain access.

Secure Connect Mode will enable users to authorize and monitor access of others that request to join the home network, and to deny access or set a time limit for access.

From a broad sense, Comcast’s work in all of these areas “is about how we see this transitioning more and more toward our portfolio being an experience,” Matt Strauss, EVP of Xfinity Services, said. “Where today we sell based on price, over time our ambition is to sell on experience…The more products and services you take from us, the better that experience." 

Alarm.com traditionally has focused its business on working with thousands of independent home security dealers, but the company plans to move more aggressively with a strategy centered on partnerships with cable operators and other ISPs now that it has sealed up a deal for a piece of Icontrol.

RELATED: Comcast Closes Icontrol Deal

“We think we’ll be a very relevant party for the MSO channel and the telecom channel,” Dan Kerzner, Alarm.com’s chief product officer, said.

Comcast acquired Icontrol’s ZigBee-based “Converge” platform, already used for Xfinity Home and for some smart home and security services used by several other cable operators. Alarm.com bought Icontrol’s Z-wave-facing Connect platform, which is used by home security giant ADT and a wide range of dealers. Alarm.com also bought Piper, the Ottawa, Canada-based piece of Icontrol that makes and sells a retail do-it-yourself smart home platform.

RELATED: Comcast, Alarm.com Divvy Up Icontrol Networks

Alarm.com, which works with about 6,000 dealers, had about 2.6 million properties using its service/platform at the end of 2015, and ADT’s web site currently says it has 6.5 million total customers.  Alarm.com plans to announced a revised, combined number when it reports quarterly results on Wednesday (March 15).

Alarm.com isn’t new to the MSO/ISP sector, as it does count Suddenlink (now part of Altice USA) among its known cable operator partners, but does plan to apply more resources to that market now that it has the Icontrol deal wrapped up.

RELATED: Alarm.com at Home With Suddenlink

“We're in active discussions with a variety of them [cable operators],” Kerzner said.

He and Alarm.com will have plenty of competition.

AT&T and Verizon already have their own home security and home automation products. Comcast, meanwhile, has already signaled that it will offer wholesale services to new customers in the U.S. and abroad. 

Cox Communications, Rogers Communications, and the systems formerly with Time Warner Cable and Bright House already base their respective smart home offerings on the piece of Icontrol that Comcast acquired. Among them, Rogers has already announced that, in addition to licensing X1 for a new IPTV service, it will also adopt Comcast’s new “Digital Home” product. Cox is also licensing X1 for its new Contour video service.

RELATED: Rogers Tightens Technology Ties to Comcast

Charter has not announced a formal going-forward product plan with respect to home security and home automation. Charter is still supporting TWC and Bright House customers that use the legacy platform, but said last June that it was assessing that part of its business.

The overall market is small but growing. The penetration of smart home systems will reach 3% of global households by 2018, and 7% by 2025, according to a recent forecast from IHS Markit, which also sees professionally monitored smart homes exceeding non-connected, traditionally monitored security systems in 2023.

Kerzner said Alarm.com’s acquisition will enable it to scale its platform and the R&D behind it, as it will combine development teams in Virginia, Denver, Florida and Boston, along with a presence in Silicon Valley.

According to this SEC filing, Alarm.com’s total cash consideration for its piece of Icontrol was $148.5 million.

The filing also disclosed that Alarm.com and Honeywell International had entered an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed against Alarm.com last month that tried to block the proposed deal, alleging that it violated antitrust law because the combined company would hold a 70% share of the “market for the provision of  Remote Services for dealer installed security systems.”  Terms of the settlement, which took effect after the closing of the Icontrol deal, were not disclosed. 

Comcast has completed its purchase of Internet of Things company Icontrol Networks, a move the company said will enhance its Xfinity Home security and automation business.

RELATED Comcast, Alarm.com Divvy Up Icontrol Networks

Comcast said it would acquire the Converge business of Icontrol in August , with Alarm.com agreeing to purchase Icontrol’s Silicon Valley and Ottawa business units, for about $140 million. Comcast and Icontrol did not reveal the financial terms of their agreement, but the deal makes sense especially since Converge built the platform that powers Xfinity Home.

RELATED: Why Comcast Is Buying Icontrol

In a blog post Wednesday, SVP and general manager of Comcast’s Xfinity Home Daniel Herscovici wrote that the purchase of the Converge unit gives Comcast “full control over our research and development roadmap,” which will allow the company to invest more strategically in the future.

He added that with the buy Comcast will develop an "IoT Center of Excellence" in Austin, Texas, Icontrol’s home base.

“This will be a key hub where our engineers and developers will design innovations to support our various IoT businesses,” Herscovici wrote, adding that engineers in Austin will work closely with teams in Philadelphia, Silicon Valley, and other locations.

Finally, he said the purchase opens up a new line of business for Xfinity Home.

“We will also be able to offer wholesale services to new customers, either domestic or international,” Herscovici wrote. “We have plans to make a more formal announcement about this new line of business soon.”

RELATED: Rogers Tightens Technology Ties to Comcast 

Food Network said it’s the first culinary network to launch a “skill” on Alexa-powered devices, such as the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap and Amazon Fire TV, enabling users to ask for and receive info about network shows, the network's schedule, and recipes that are featured on-air.

Users can add this element by asking, “Alexa, enable the Food Network skill.”

Once set up, Alexa will recognize several voice-delivered questions such as, “Alexa, what’s on Food Network right now?” and “Alexa, send me the recipe I saw on The Pioneer Woman yesterday.”

Food Network is adding the feature as consumers continue to gravitate to smart home platforms, including those that rely on voice to navigate and obtain information. 

“Voice is emerging as a way for consumers to connect and interact with brands in a way that provides value in their lives, and this launch is a first step toward more utility-based services down the road as we integrate with Alexa,” Liesel Kipp, vice president of product management for Food network parent company Scripps Networks Interactive.

“As the consumer experience evolves, it’s important that we super-serve our Food Network fans, meeting them anytime, anywhere they wish to engage with our brand as we continue to be the leader in food information, inspiration and entertainment,” added Henry Ahn, Scripps Networks’ president of content distribution and marketing.

Sage By Hughes, EchoStar’s short-lived do-it-your-self home security and automation service, will officially shut down on Friday, Sept. 30.

EchoStar posted this statement on the Sage By Hughes site:

EchoStar has made the difficult decision to discontinue the SAGE by Hughes product and service offering.This shutdown is effective as of 11:59 p.m. on Friday, September 30th. All of our current customers have been notified.

Although we decided to discontinue SAGE, we believe its product development shed light on distinct market opportunities within the security and home automation space that will benefit the industry as a whole in the long run.

We are grateful for our customer’s business and support.For more information on this matter, you can contactmediarelations@echostar.com.

According to Digital Trends, Sage has sent emails to customers telling them they are in line for refunds for Sage system equipment and services they may have purchased. Customers don’t need to return the equipment to receive a refund, but continued use of Sage products are no longer covered by any warranty previously offered.

EchoStar, which launched Sage by Hughes in March, announced the plan to drop the product last month amid difficulty gaining traction in a competitive market alongside a decision to focus on other parts of EchoStar’s business.

At the time, EchoStar, the set-top and technology spin-off of Dish Network, also disclosed that long-time president Mark Jackson was leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Stepping into that role is Vivek Khemka, who was recently promoted to CTO at Dish Network. Khemka is retaining the CTO role and is now an employee of both companies.

If it wasn’t clear before, Comcast’s deal to acquire a big chunk of Icontrol Networks delivered a powerful message to the home-security and automation sector: The cable industry is through with experimenting and ready to start disrupting.

Cable operators and other multichannel video-programming distributors (MVPDs) are relatively new to the smart home market and, so far, have only managed to make a small dent against a diverse group of incumbent providers.

But it’s increasingly evident that Comcast, along with companies such as AT&T, Verizon Communications and Cox Communications, now see home security and automation as an important growth engine. After all, video-subscriber growth remains a challenge for the whole MVPD sector, and even broadband Internet growth will eventually flatten out.

Related:Why Comcast Is Buying Icontrol

Comcast, which launched Xfinity Home in 2010, has said it has more than 500,000 customers for that product, a number that it hasn’t updated in more than a year. It sees nothing but opportunity ahead.

“We are at the start of a massive upgrade cycle,” Dan Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home, said, likening this period to the mobile market’s rapid shift from flip phones to smartphones.

About 70% of consumers are on “older, antiquated home-security systems” that simply sound alarms and call the police, and that don’t support the connected smart-home elements people now desire, Herscovici said.

Cox, whose Homelife service relies on the Icontrol platform that Comcast is acquiring, hasn’t disclosed subscriber numbers. “But I’d say [home security and automation] is material in terms of growth,” Kristine Faulkner, Cox general manager and vice president of home security and smart home, said.

Sixty percent of Cox’s new smart home subscribers have never had a monitored security service, she said. “We’re having a tremendous year in this category of the business.”

FRAGMENTED MARKET

The home security and automation market is expanding, but it comprises a massive array of large and small rivals.

Related:Charter: We’ll Continue to Support TWC Home Security Subs

The market leader is ADT, with more than 6 million subscribers. It’s fighting for share with more than 100 regional players and thousands of local dealers.

“It’s a pretty fragmented industry,” Tom Kerber, director of research for home controls and energy at Parks Research, said. “It’s still in the early-adopter stage, but that’s about to change.”

For it to get to the next level, consumers must get more familiar with smart home systems, he said, citing a survey in which 14% of respondents were aware of general smart-home market terms.

Despite those low numbers, the door is wide open for cable operators and other MVPDs and ISPs with direct consumer relationships to step in, educate the masses and pitch home security and smart-home products, he said.

“The product doesn’t sell itself; it has to be sold,” Kerber said. “All of the telecoms have superior capabilities in terms of consumer outreach, a customer base and marketing horsepower. But at this stage in the market, those [factors] are not what it takes to win.”

Success will also require service providers to embrace a consultative selling model, he said.

Cox’s Faulkner agreed that home security and automation are complex services that require a “fair degree” of customer education. “If you do that right, it works really well,” she said. “If you’re missing components, that’s going to hurt you.”

Cable operators also have a potential cost advantage because they can build smart-home services into their customer-acquisition costs, which, in turn, could allow them to undercut their competitors.

MVPDs have used these advantages to take about 5% of the market during their brief pursuit. “As familiarity grows and awareness grows, those major strengths will play a bigger role,” Kerber predicted.

And pay TV providers are trying to play to those strengths as they formulate and evolve their smart home and home security strategies.

Comcast is taking a hybrid build-buy approach with Xfinity Home as it prepares to pair a homegrown platform with the one it is acquiring from Icontrol.

The No. 1 U.S. MSO is buying Icontrol’s “Converge” platform, the element of Xfinity Home that uses ZigBee to underpin its fundamental security “state machine” (i.e., the engines, rules and requirements for that security component). Alarm.com is purchasing Icontrol’s Connect platform, a Z-wave-based service that counts ADT as its biggest customer.

Comcast’s in-house platform supports the MSO’s own smart home products and, through its “Works With Xfinity Home Program,” also links up with a curated mix of third-party retail devices from companies such as Google unit Nest (smart thermostats), Chamberlain (garage door controllers), August (door locks) and Lutron (wireless light controllers and dimmers).

By combining its in-home systems with Icontrol, Comcast hopes to establish a unified user experience that can rely on one app to handle all of Xfinity Home’s security and automation elements. “Building everything yourself doesn’t always make a lot of sense,” Herscovici said.

In addition to accelerating its own roadmap for Xfinity, buying Icontrol also turns Comcast into a vendor of sorts. A handful of other MSOs also use Icontrol’s Converge product for home security and automation, including Cox, Rogers Communications and Charter Communications (through its acquisitions of Icontrol partners Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks).

Comcast is “excited” about the prospect of being in the wholesale home security and automation business, Herscovici said. “Our hope is to grow both businesses.”

Faulkner said she views the Comcast-Icontrol deal as a positive for Cox, which is already licensing Comcast’s X1 platform for the next generation of its Contour multiscreen video product.

“Comcast will bring a good customer focus and mentality, and it will bring scale and investment,” she said.

AT&T, which sells a Digital Life-branded smart home and security product, is taking a similar approach. In 2010, it acquired home-automation platform developer Xanboo, whose technology now forms the foundation of a service that supports AT&T’s home security and automation products, as well as those of third parties such as Nest and Lutron.

The telco made the decision early on to bring that capability (and control) in house, which accelerated its ability to integrate it with its customer billing systems and sales channels. It also underpins a solution that AT&T is licensing to other telcos, starting with U.K.-based provider O2.

AT&T is now making progress toward integrating Digital Life with DirecTV. Before AT&T acquired the satellite-TV provider last year, DirecTV offered its own home security/automation platform under the LifeShield brand. Digital Life apps are now present on DirecTV’s Genie set-tops.

“We have brought those organizations together,” said Stephen Vincent, executive director of business development for AT&T Digital Life, noting that AT&T has deployed the product to about 86 U.S. markets.

Vincent also said he believes that service providers are positioned to propel the next phase of the smart home market.

“We’re starting to sense a bit of frustration from customers about all of these disparate experiences that are out there,” he said. To help customers link retail products with the Digital Life’s platform, AT&T has built a system that lets them self-connect compatible smart home products from companies such as Nest.

EchoStar, the technology spinoff of satellite-TV provider Dish Network, is taking a much different approach with Sage by Hughes, a do-it-yourself platform launched in early March. Rather than selling home security and automation products alongside Dish’s pay TV offerings, Sage is currently focused on retail distribution.

Sage is targeting a sizable consumer base that hasn’t sprung for such products, but the company has not disclosed any sales figures.

“The market data says about 20% of all households have a home-security system, so there’s 80%-plus, in our opinion, that don’t have a system,” EchoStar CEO Mike Dugan said on the company’s Q1 earnings call.

Early on EchoStar is sidestepping distribution through major “big box” retail chains and instead pitching the product through a mix of digital marketing and its network of independent satellite retailers.

“We are tapping that market, which really helped [Dish chairman] Charlie [Ergen] get started in the early days with Dish, and he did that instead of big box [stores],” Dugan said. “So we’re certainly taking that page from his playbook.”

At this stage, larger MVPDs such as Comcast, Cox, AT&T and Verizon have been leading the way with home security and home automation products.

“I think the industry learned early that you have to make a very significant, basic commitment to launching these solutions,” Greg Roberts, vice president of marketing at Icontrol, said. “There’s a significant amount of technical support and sales support that is very intense and very incremental to their business. It makes sense for those not offering to take a back seat and to watch what is going on.”

Suddenlink Communications has been amomg the exceptions among midsized MVPDs, as it launched a product in partnership with Alarm.com before it was acquired by Altice USA. Altice, which wrapped up its acquisition of Cablevision Systems in June, has not announced a home security and automation strategy for its U.S. operations.

WideOpenWest, meanwhile, plans to launch a market trial later this year with an unnamed partner. If all goes well, it could launch a commercial home security and automation product in the first half of 2017.

“We want to be the enabler” of those services, Cash Hagen, WOW’s chief technology officer, said. “They [consumers] are going to look to a partner or a service provider such as us to bring that to them.”

Charter is still a wild card among major U.S. cable operators. It will continue to support home-security and home-automation customers who came on board through the Bright House and TWC acquisitions, but has halted new sales.

“Intelligent Home is a new business for Charter and we are in the process of assessing it,” the company said in a statement. “While we assess the program, we are reducing the focus on sales.”

INTRAOPERABILITY CHALLENGE

Though Comcast, AT&T and others are integrating their platforms with some third-party products, a major challenge in the years ahead will involve the support of new and emerging connectivity and control protocols.

One company hoping to help with that is Zonoff. The Malvern, Pa.- based IoT startup is pitching an agnostic approach that teams middleware and a cloud-based management platform that allows for the use of multiple devices relying on a wide variety of protocols.

“There’s myth around interoperability,” Kevin Garton, Zonoff’s chief marketing officer, said. “We believe that what we have is intraoperability.”

Zonoff has said its approach already works with several protocols, including Bluetooth, WiFi, Z-Wave, ZigBee and Lutron’s Clear Connect technology. “In theory, we could do more,” Garton said.

He said Zonoff is in discussions with Universal Electronics, the remote- control giant that entered the home security and automation market last year through the acquisition of Ecolink Intelligent Technology, which uses a proprietary protocol.

Zonoff launched a white-label IoT platform for service providers in January, but hasn’t announced any cable deals. “We have several things in the works,” said Garton, who thinks Zonoff could add value to MSOs by incorporating its software in smart-home hubs or cable boxes.

Comcast says its move to acquire of a big piece of Icontrol will enable the MSO’s Xfinity Home division innovate faster, gain access to a talented group of engineers, and open up wholesale opportunities as other operators look to expand their home security and automation businesses, or enter that marketplace.

“We’re focused heavily on the connected home security market and disrupting that market,” Dan Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home, said Thursday, soon after Comcast and Icontrol announced the deal.

He said that disruption is about “creating innovative user experiences and capabilities supporting or evolving what people might consider traditional home security.”

He noted that the overall market is growing at 2% to 3.5% (Comcast has more than 500,000 Xfinity Home customers), but that there’s a big opportunity in front of Comcast as some customers upgrade their systems while others are ripe to switch providers or are looking to take a smart home service for the first time.

“The opportunity in front of us is that there's 25 to 30 million households that have a monitored home security system, and of those, 70% are on an older, antiquated home security system,” Herscovici said. “We think that the solution we’re creating and the one that Icontrol unlocks, will allow us to give  consumers an amazing new set of features that will do two things… convince traditional home security subs to switch and convince people to jump in we provide  a lot more value.”

Comcast is buying Icontrol’s “Converge” platform, the piece of Xfinity Home that provides the service’s fundamental security “state machine,” which supports the engines, rules and requirements for that component.

Icontrol’s ZigBee-based Converge platform (Alarm.com is buying Icontrol’s Connect platform, which leans on Z-wave, is more focused on dealer installs, and counts ADT as its biggest customer) has already been working in concert with home-grown Comcast’s platform that supports a broader set of smart  home products, including those developed by Comcast as well as third-party devices from partners such as Nest, Chamberlain (garage door controllers), August (door locks) and Lutron (wireless light controllers and dimmers).

When put together, those platforms provide Comcast with a unified user experience and one app to control all of security and automation elements, but Comcast felt that buying the Icontrol piece will enable it to go faster and deepen that integration.

Icontrol, Herscovici said, “does a lot of things really, really well…Building everything yourself doesn’t always make a lot of sense…especially when you have a talented group of engineers that have been thinking about this for ten-plus years.”

Beyond Comcast’s own Xfinity Home product, Herscovici said the company is also excited about the wholesale/white-label business that the Icontrol acquisition will open up.

“Our hope is to grow both businesses,” he said. “They should be generally complementary, but we are prepared to support unique requirements of each of our customers just like any platform provider would do.”

Cox Communications, Rogers Communications and two MSOs just acquired by Charter -- Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks – have been using Icontrol for both security and their larger home automation platforms. Charter said it is still mulling how home security and automation services will fit into its longer-term strategy.

Of that group, Cox is already syndicating/licensing Comcast’s X1 platform for its next-gen Contour video platform.

In a move that shakes up the home security and automation market, Comcast and Alarm.com said they have struck agreements to buy different pieces of Icontrol.

Comcast is in line to buy the Austin division that built the platform powering the MSO’s Xfinity Home service, and Alarm.com set to acquire Icontrol’s Silicon Valley and Ottawa business units, which together include a platform used today by ADT and Icontrol’s retail-focused, do-it-yourself Piper product line. Alarm.com is paying $140 million to acquire its portion of the Icontrol assets. Comcast and Icontrol did not reveal the financial terms of their agreement. 

The announcement comes about two weeks after Stacey Higginbotham reported that Icontrol was in talks to sell its assets to Comcast and Alarm.com.

Comcast, which continues to expand on its own Works with Xfinity Home initiative for third-party connected-home products such as the Nest Learning Thermostat, has been using Icontrol’s platform since it launched its home security and automation service in 2010.

“The main business we are acquiring is Icontrol’s 'Converge' software platform,” Dan Herscovici, SVP and GM of Xfinity Home, explained in this blog post about the deal. “That platform powers the Xfinity Home touch-screen panel and back-end servers, allowing them to communicate with and manage security sensors in the home, as well as supporting home-automation devices like cameras and thermostats."

In addition to Comcast, Icontrol’s platform is also being used to power similar services from  Cox Communications, Rogers Communications, and Bell Aliant. Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, recently acquired by Charter Communications, have also relied on Icontrol for their respective smart home services. Charter confirmed last week that it is reducing its focus on sales of those products as it assesses that line of business, but that it will continue to support existing customers.

“We look forward to continuing to serve customers using the Converge software platform and to growing Icontrol’s wholesale business by accelerating the development of new services and features,” Herscovici noted, adding that Comcast will continue to invest it Icontrol’s technology for Xfinity Home subs as well as “enterprise-level” Converge customers.

He added that Icontrol employees in Austin who are joining Comcast will underpin a new Comcast “engineering center of excellence”  there, and work closely with Comcast’s engineers in Philadelphia and Silicon Valley.

Meanwhile, Alarm.com, which counts Suddenlink (now part of Altice) among its customers, will snap up Icontrol’s Connect and Piper business units for $140 million, and expects to close it before the end of 2016. Connect provides security and home automation services for provides that include market-leader ADT, which has about 1.6 million subscribers. Piper, the Ottawa-based unit, makes and sells video and home automation hubs that was spawned by Icontrol’s 2014 acquisition of Blacksumac.

"This acquisition will enhance our research and development scale so that we can continue to deliver long-term value to our partners through innovative technology," Steve Trundle, president and CEO of Alarm.com, said in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming the Icontrol team and to building upon the solid relationships within their customer base." 

Raymond James acted as the financial advisor to Alarm.com on the deal. 

Charter Communications said it will continue to support  home security and home automaton services for customers who came on board via its merger with Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, but noted that it’s reducing its focus on sales of that product as it assesses that line of business. 

DSL Reports reported Thursday that an industry source indicated that Charter, which inherited the TWC and BHN smart home offering via the merger, might shut down that service. Charter, however, stressed that existing customers will continue to be supported.

“Existing Intelligent Home customers are being fully supported and will continue to be fully supported,” a Charter official said in a statement. “Intelligent Home is a new business for Charter and we are in the process of assessing it. While we assess the program we are reducing the focus on sales.”

The TWC and BHN home security and automation offering is powered by Icontrol, a company that works with several other cable operators, including Cox Communications, Comcast and Rogers Communications, and is reportedly in talks to sell its various assets and products  to Comcast and Alarm.com.  

Nest employees are probably breathing a sigh of relief after reportedly receiving word from new CEO (and long-time cable industry vet) Marwan Fawaz that the Google-owned smart home unit is not on the block.

“My only agenda for Nest is to scale and grow with innovative products. Nest is not for sale, and scaling and innovation aren’t mutually exclusive,” Fawaz told Nest employees in a memo obtained by The Verge, which noted that an Alphabet source also told the online pub that “Nest is categorically not for sale.”

So, there.

But it’s easy to see why some might think that Fawaz’s appointment could lead to a sale (I’d be lying if I said that thought didn’t enter my head, too).

After all, Fawaz’s big focus after taking the helm of Motorola Home in June 2012 was to find a buyer. And he succeeded -- Arris acquired Motorola Home from Google in 2013 for $2.35 billion, the high end of the expected range.

Per the memo obtained by The Verge, Fawaz also noted that there’s no change in Nest’s strategy and direction, as the plan is to focus on the product roadmap, which included a reference to a new product that was redacted from the copy shared with The Verge.

So, what is Fawaz’s plan? Nest turned down our first request to speak to him, telling us he’s unavailable for the time being, so we’ll have to keep at it.

In the meantime, I’m not surprised that, unlike the situation at Motorola Home, Fawaz is not joining Nest to sell it off. Google paid handsomely for Nest and the smart home and larger Internet of Things are all part of the plan. Plus, Nest has lots of brand equity.

Though retail will probably remain part of Nest’s focus, Fawaz’s value to the company also includes his deep ties into the cable MSOs and other types of service providers, including many that have smart home products and direct relationships with millions of customers that Nest, as a partner, could benefit from. Those deals could perhaps offer the path with least resistance to the kind of growth and scale that Nest desires. 

And Nest has already started down that path. Nest’s Learning Thermostat now works with Xfinity Home, Comcast’s smart home platform, as well as with Icontrol’s “PEQ” retail product also works with Nest's smart thermostat. Icontrol also works with Bright House Networks, Time Warner Cable (now part of Charter Communications) and Cox Communications, but has not yet detailed if its Nest integration will be extended to the platform in use by those service provider partners.

Additionally, Sage, the DIY retail smart home/security service from EchoStar Technologies (the technology-focused corporate cousin of Dish Network), currently supports Nest products, including security cameras, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and the Learning Thermostat.  Sage remains a retail play, but I also won’t be surprised if it also becomes a platform that will eventually be integrated with  and sold by Dish.

Comcast is pushing ahead on a plan to take Xfinity Home, its home security and automation platform, to the next level in part by broadening a curated mix of devices that work with the platform while also adding elements that drive more value into the service and reduce service friction. 

“First and foremost, we have over the past year and a half focused heavily on disrupting the home security market,” Dan Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home, said in an interview soon after he keynoted the Parks Associates Connections conference in San Francisco on Tuesday (May 24).

But Comcast is now pushing well beyond connected home security and is now shooting to "reinvent the way consumers think about home security, to redefine what their expectation is from their home security system," he said. 

That means extending to other areas of the connected home, such as security cameras, door locks, garage door openers, doorbells and enabling them all on a common platform that simplifies the process for the consumer.

In that area, Comcast has been building its own smart home products while also extending a bridge to third-party products via its Works With Xfinity Home Program. About a dozen partners are on board, with four – Nest (smart thermostats), Chamberlain (garage door controllers), Lutron (smart lighting), and August (smart locks) – already integrated.

And Herscovici was clear that the program will provide customers with a “curated” blend of what it deems as best-of-breed third-party devices. The program uses APIs for integration, but products also must pass core functionality tests to determine if they are among the top options in their market and if they can be trusted to provide the necessary levels of security and reliability. Based on that process, the idea is to offer two to three options in different categories that offer a range of pricing and functionality.

During his keynote, Herscovici said Comcast is working to help drive the penetration of smart home services to “20%, 30% or 40%” of homes and to focus on four areas – life safety (security), peace of mind (access control), saving money (reducing energy use), and lifestyle (such as lighting and shade control).

As part of its game plan, Comcast also hopes to pump adoption by removing some of the friction by redefining what a platform means to customers and to rethink how it uses devices that are already in the home, such as routers and gateways, to “unlock and connect” various connected smart home products.

Comcast announced last year that it has more than 500,000 Xfinity Home customers, but has not yet updated that figure. “We are very happy with the growth of our home security product,” Herscovici

At the Parks Associates event, he said 75% of Xfinity Home net adds over the past 12 months were new to the category, and that about 80% that do have home security are using legacy systems.

“We are at the start of a massive upgrade cycle,” he said, likening it to a shift from flip-phones to smartphones. The question, he posed, is  who will win that “jump ball?”

There will be plenty of companies leaping for it. Comcast is trying to expand its share amid surging competition in the smart home and home security market. In addition to facing competition from AT&T, Verizon, ADT as well as a new retail-focused, DIY product from EchoStar called Sage, Comcast must also deal with new products and services from Google and Amazon.

As for Google and Amazon, Herscovici said Comcast views them as “frenemies,” referencing Xfinity Home’s integration with the Nest smart thermostat, and the potential to link Comcast’s service with Amazon Echo.

Working with Amazon’s platform is a theoretical at this point, but “there’s no reason why that voice interface [from Amazon Echo] couldn’t also interact with Xfinity Home,” he said in an interview. “It’s not something outside the realm of possibility. The point is we're open to best in class experiences. We're open to seeing things through the eye of the consumer and having the consumer drive what they want to be part of the ecosystem.”

Voice control appears to be a potentially valuable addition to that ecosystem. Comcast currently offers voice navigation on its X1 video service with its XR11 remote and has been noodling on ways to extend that functionality to Xfinity Home.

“We have working prototypes that allow you to arm and disarm [Xfinity Home] with your voice and turn the lights on… with the XR11 remote,” Herscovici said. “So stay tuned for news on that.”

And, as is the case for its video service, don’t expect Comcast to look outside the MSO’s  traditional service area for growth opportunities for Xfinity Home.

“We think there’s a lot of untapped potential in the footprint we serve today,” he said. 

Sage by Hughes, a home security and automation platform launched by EchoStar Technologies in March, said it has extended support to Google’s Nest products, including security cameras, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and the Nest Learning Thermostat.

The integration expands the component options for Sage, which lets users control the system through apps for Android and iOS mobile devices and the television via the HDMI-connected Sage Hub.

Sage said its system allows for self-installs of those Nest products and the ability to set customized rules that, for example, turn on the lights when the Nest Cam detects motion inside the home.

“The ability to communicate with Nest products gives SAGE customers more options to customize their home to meet their security and smart home needs,” Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Nest by becoming an official reseller of its products through our SAGE store.”

EchoStar is selling Sage by Hughes on the web. Its Starter Kit runs $199.99, while larger bundles and product combinations cost a bit more – the Automation Kit runs $229.99, and the Security Kit costs $349.99.  EchoStar is also selling add-on devices and accessories, including the Nest products, on an a la carte basis

Sage joins other smart home platforms that support Nest products. Comcast’s Xfinity Home service, for example, has extended support to the Nest thermostat, as does Icontrol, a company that has partnered up with several cable operators, including Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks.

Comcast Cable has hired former Hewlett Packard exec Sridhar Solur to the post of SVP, product development for Xfinity Home and Internet of Things  (IoT).

In that role, Solur will lead product development for the Xfinity Home business, which includes devices and services in the IoT, home automation, and home security categories. He is also coming on board as the MSO continues development on its own line of smart home products and integrates third-party products via “Works with Xfinity Home” initiative.

Xfinity Home, which provides security and home automation services and recently added 24/7 video recording capabilities, has more than 500,000 subs.

At HP, Solur was the founder and GM of the company’s wearables and IoT business, as well as the founder and World Wide director of HP’s cloud and mobile printing business (HP ePrint).

Solur reports to Chris Satchell, the former Nike and Microsoft exec who joined Comcast Cable last year as EVP and chief product officer, as part of the MSO’s Product Leadership Team. Solur will also work closely with Daniel Herscovici, SVP and GM of Xfinity Home, and Fraser Stirling, Comcast’s SVP, product & hardware management, the operator said.

"Home automation, IoT, and home security are increasingly important product categories for Comcast,” Satchell said, in a statement. “Sridhar’s extensive experience in the fast-evolving, high-growth business of connected devices will be a strong addition to the Comcast team. We look forward to leveraging his knowledge and vision as we explore emerging technologies to ultimately create the best experience for our customers."

"Sri will add a valuable perspective to our product development work and be a terrific partner as we continue to grow our home security and automation business,” added Herscovici. 

Following a lengthy development phase, EchoStar Technologies has launched a do-it-yourself home security and automation platform that will provide access via the TV as well as mobile apps.

EchoStar, which had once targeted a Q2 2015 retail launch, this week introduced Sage by Hughes, a smart home platform that can be controlled via the TV or through apps for iOS and Android mobile devices.

A key element of the platform, called the Sage Hub, can connect through any video source (via HDMI) to the TV.

Early on, EchoStar is selling Sage by Hughes on the web. The Starter Kit runs $199.99, while larger bundles and product combinations cost a bit more – the Automation Kit runs $229.99, while the Security Kit fetches ($349.99).  EchoStar is also selling add-on devices and accessories on an a la carte basis, including indoor and outdoor cameras, connected thermostats ($130.99), door and window sensors, motion sensors, Sage light switches ($39.99 each), Sage remote ($19.99), a Sage yard sign with post ($16.99), and a weatherproof, flat Ethernet cable ($5.25)

The Sage by Hughes system comes with a free Essential Service package; customers can upgrade to a Premium Service package that includes cloud video storage and the MyLocal911 feature for a monthly fee starting at $9.00.

EchoStar, which has corporate ties to Dish Network, is entering the mix as home security and automation becomes part of the product mix at a growing number of MVPDs, including Rogers Communications, Cox Communications, Suddenlink Communications, Time Warner Cable and Comcast, which has built its own platform and has more than 500,000 Xfinity Home subscribers.

In tandem with the product launch, EchoStar is rolling out Sage’s marketing campaign, with the “Easy is Awesome” tagline. Here’s a video sampling:

"Recent reports indicate that roughly 80 percent of households don't own a home security or automation system, with major reasons being cost and complexity," said Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies, in a statement. "We built a comprehensive solution to address that market need, with quick emergency responsiveness, super-easy installation and a unique TV interface experience where it makes the most sense―from the center of the home.”

Adding some video muscle to its smart home and security platform, Comcast said it has launched 24/7 video recording capabilities to its Xfinity Home service in several of the MSO’s major markets.

Comcast, which has more than 500,000 Xfinity Home subs, said the new cloud-powered security and monitoring feature will enable customers to review past footage for up to 10 days via the Xfinity Home app or a computer Web browser. Those customers can also tap into the platform to download and share video clips of up to 1 minute in length with family, friends or law enforcement, and locate “key moments” by scrolling through a list of video clips captured when Xfinity Home cameras detect motion.

A video analytics capability also reduces false motion events, such as falling leaves or lighting changes, Comcast said.

Comcast has introduced 24/7 video recording in most of its major markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and expects to make it available to all Xfinity Home subs in the next few months.  Xfinity Home customers already have the ability to view live video and schedule the platform to record 15 second video clips or take photos to save or share.

The 24/7 offering is included the Xfinity Home - Automation package, and it can be turned on in the camera settings via the Xfinity Home app or web portal. Customers on the Xfinity Home – Secure tier can add the feature for $9.95 per month per camera. Customers may have to upgrade their camera to enable 24/7 video recording, the MSO said.

“As home security and automation technology evolves, people want simple solutions that are easy to use and give them peace of mind,” said Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager, Xfinity Home, in a statement. “Continuous video recording has consistently been the most requested feature by customers, and the use cases span a wide range of interests from keeping an eye on an elderly parent or waiting for a package to checking in on your pet or watching your home while you’re away.” 

Time Warner Cable said it has enhanced its IntelligentHome security/home automation product with an option that lets customers to capture and playback continuously recorded video from their security cameras. 

That option, called 24/7 Playback, can be added for another $5 per month per camera, TWC said, noting that the feature lets customers go back and review what happened in and near the home while away at work or on vacation.

Customers can currently view recorded Playback video via a secure Website, but TWC said it expects to extend that capability to its free mobile app.

"The ability to view video clips and pictures captured on our home security cameras has always been one of the most popular features of IntelligentHome, and 24/7 Playback takes home monitoring to the next level," said Adam Mayer, VP of Time Warner Cable IntelligentHome, in a statement. "Now, the system can capture every second of every day for up to ten days, so if something doesn't look right at home, the customer can go back and view the uninterrupted recording to see what happened."

Universal Electronics, one of the pay-TV industry’s top suppliers of remote controls and home systems, is diving deeper into the smart home market through an acquisition of Ecolink Intelligent Technology.

UEI said it’s acquiring Ecolink’s assets for approximately $12.4 million in cash, plus incentive-based cash consideration to be paid over the next five years.

UEI said Ecolink’s acquired assets include over 25 issued and pending patents, and other related intellectual property and assets used in its smart home, wireless security and home automation business. 

UEI intends to operate the acquired business as a wholly-owned subsidiary and market the home security and automation products and services under Ecolink brands and trademarks. UEI said the deal will enable it to extend its reach into traditional home security and consumer/do-it-yourself channels that are now served by Ecolink's products and solutions. 

“We are very excited to bring the Ecolink team under the UEI umbrella,” Paul Arling, UEI’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “The team at Ecolink has some of the industry’s leading experts in the wireless sensor market and a track record of bringing creative, innovative and high performing products to market. Ecolink’s expertise in wireless security and home automation technology will bring a new level of compatibility to the industry to enable sensors throughout the home to work together seamlessly.”

Parks Associates estimates that cable and telco providers have gained a 14% share of professionally-monitored security systems in U.S. broadband households. 

Comcast’s flurry of technology and service announcements this week at INTX also included what’s on the horizon for Xfinity Home, the MSO’s home security and automation platform.

Xfinity Home is about to get a big facelift in the form of a new software platform that will run a variety next-gen products developed by Comcast alongside integrations with a batch of third-party devices, including Nest, the popular smart thermostat that’s now part of the Google empire.

Amplifying a broader strategy that’s well underway in which Comcast is developing and designing its own consumer products such as set-top boxes, gateways and remote controls, the MSO showed off a suite of internally developed Xfinity Home products, including smart thermostats, indoor/outdoor cameras with night vision, sensors, and a revamped touchscreen controller (see picture above). Some of those products will feature the same low-power E Ink Corp. technology used in Amazon’s latest line of Kindle e-readers.

Comcast has not announced when it will launch the new products, but they will be made to support a range of wireless connectivity protocols, including WiFi, Zigbee and Bluetooth, according to an exec who was demoing the products.

Comcast also announced that it will open up Xfinity Home to a broad set of device partners, noting that the MSO later this year will release a software development kit (SDK) and a “Works with Xfinity Home” certification program.

This week, the company announced several partners, including August, a maker of smart locks and car adapters (Comcast Ventures is an investor); Cuff (smart jewelry); Leeo (maker of a connected nighlight); Lutron (dimmers, remote controls and battery-powered shade); Rachio (sprinkler controllers); Automatic Labs (car adapters); SkyBell (video doorbells); and Whistle (pet monitors).

Comcast is  separately developing an integration with Nest Labs through the Works with Nest program.

“We want to help people unlock the potential of their smart home,” Dan Herscovici, SVP and GM of Xfinity Home, said, in a statement. “Whether it’s through the television, an app or a voice command, we’re giving customers one easy-to-use experience to control all their favorite devices, seamlessly on the same platform.”

A Comcast official said the MSO’s relationship with Icontrol, its original Xfinity Home technology partner, is unchanged.

However, the coming SDK, an exec at the Comcast booth explained, will established a broader, “super set” platform that will encompass Icontrol, Comcast’s new internally-developed products, and its grander third-party integration initiative.

Comcast’s Xfinity Home is evolving as the platform starts to scale up. Speaking on the company’s first quarter conference call on Monday (May 4), Comcast Cable president and CEO Neil Smit said Xfinity Home has more than 500,000 customers.

“That business is really starting to catch on,” Smit said.

Comcast has added its first third-party lock to its Xfinity Home platform – the Kwikset SmartCode 914 – which customers can access remotely via the Xfinity Home app for iOS or Android mobile devices or from a Web browser.

The Smartcode 914, being sold online by Comcast through Best Buy for $219.99, features keyless entry and a backlit keypad, supports up to 30 user codes (and a master code), and 128-bit encryption. Time Warner Cable recently began to support a range of new smart home devices, including the Kwikset SmartCode door lock, via BestBuy.com, as well. Comcast and TWC, like several other MSOs, are using Icontrol to power their respective home security/automation products.

“Now our customers can get in and out of their house without carrying keys,” Dan Herscovici, SVP and GM of Xfinity Home, explained in this blog post about the smart lock addition. “They’re also great for those rare (or not so rare) times when you leave your keys at the office or lock yourself out of the house. And you can also use the app for remote locking and unlocking, to let relatives, neighbors, friends, or the dog-walker into the house when you’re not there.”

Comcast’s Xfinity Home service also supports a range of remotely-accessible devices, including thermostats, lights and cameras. Comcast recently integrated Xfinity Home with X1, its IP-capable, next-gen video platform.

Notably, Comcast Ventures, the V.C. arm of the company, participated in a $38 million Series B round for August, a maker of smart locks founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Jason Johnson and designer Yves Béhar. Comcast, however, has not announced any plans to add August to its Xfinity Home lineup.

Comcast doesn’t break out how customers subscribe to the Xfinity Home service, but the category is considered a key growth driver for Comcast, other MSOs, telcos and satellite TV providers. 

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. 

SAGE, a do-it-yourself home automation platform from EchoStar  Corp., will launch sometime next year, a company official confirmed Friday.

EchoStar isn't ready to reveal pricing and specific rollout details, but it’s expected that corporate cousin Dish Network will play a significant role in the distribution and marketing of the new product.

EchoStar, Charlie Ergen’s set-top and technology spin-off, teased the new SAGE service at the recent IBC confab in Amsterdam, and has posted a feature sheet that offers some details about the product, which will become just the latest to join an increasingly heated marketplace. 

The initial version of SAGE, billed as a do-it-yourself product that doesn’t require install technicians, will run off of a small (7x6” x 6.6” x 1.7”) device outfitted with an HDMI connection, two USB 2.0 ports and a remote control that provides  access to all SAGE functions via the set-top box interface.  The service, which will work with “SAGE-approved” devices such as cameras, sensors, and light switches, will allow users to manage and monitor their homes via iOS and Android apps that rely on EchoStar’s Sling video place-shifting architecture.

According to EchoStar, SAGE will be supported through the standalone device, but can also be integrated into set-top boxes.

The Rethink Technology Research newsletter was briefed about SAGE at IBC, and reported that several products, including a Honeywell thermostat, a Yale smart lock and a D-Link-made security camera were operating in tandem with the main SAGE box, which is outfitted with ZigBee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Low energy and WiFi radios.

As the ZatzNotFunny blog points out, EchoStar has also sent in a wireless doorbell sensor, light switch module, and a home automation dongle for FCC review.

Any connection to Dish and its base of 14 million video subscribers will obviously be helpful to EchoStar as it enters a market that is now rife with home security and automation products from CE companies and service providers,  including Apple, Comcast, Verizon Communications, Google, Samsung, AT&T, Cox Communications, and SmartHome Ventures, a startup that recently launched a product under the “PĒQ” banner.