In a move that will shore up its own lineup of smart home products, Amazon has put up more than $1 billion to acquire Ring, a maker of connected video doorbells, cameras and security systems, Reuters reported.  

The addition of Ring’s product set will expand Amazon's business focused on Alexa-powered smart speakers, and enable the company to heat up competition with Google, which has its own A.I.-driven assistant and lineup of smart speakers and recently integrated Nest into the Google hardware team.

That retail competition also extends to Apple and its new HomePod smart speaker, and Netgear, which is spinning out Arlo, a unit that makes connected security cameras.

“Ring’s home security products and services have delighted customers since day one. We’re excited to work with this talented team and help them in their mission to keep homes safe and secure,” Amazon said in its statement to Reuters, without confirming the price it paid for Santa Monica-based Ring.

Founded in 2012, Ring has raised about $209.2 million, according to Crunchbase.

Adding another third-party to the Xfinity Home product mix, Comcast said it has secured a partnership with Philips Lighting.

The agreement enables Xfinity Home subs to manage and control their Philips Hue connected lighting system via the Xfinity Home mobile app. Those customers can also create rules, or automated commands, that sync their lights with Xfinity Home’s security and smart home capabilities. For example, they can create a rule that turns the lights on or off when they arm their security system, or turn the lights on when away at night to make the home appear occupied.

Comcast is also working to let Xfinity Home customers control their Philips Hue connected lighting system using the X1 voice remote.

Philips Hue products join other third-party products that have been integrated via the Works with Xfinity Home initiative.  Others include Jasco and Sengled (lighting), August (smart locks), Chamberlain (garage controllers), Lutron (wireless controllers and dimmers), and Nest (thermostats).

RELATED: Comcast’s Xfinity Home Lights Up More Device Partners

Comcast, which recently closed an acquisition of a big piece of Icontrol, announced in April that it signed on nearly 1 million Xfinity Home subscribers.

RELATED: Comcast Closes Icontrol Deal

“Our partnership with Philips Lighting advances our commitment to bring our customers best-in-class devices they can trust and easily manage on one, integrated platform – the Xfinity Home platform,” Daniel Herscovici, SVP and GM of Xfinity Home, said in a statement. “With the Philips Hue family of products, our customers can customize their lighting according to their own needs and daily routines. They can also set up simple automated commands, such as turning on the hallway lights when they enter the home and disarm the system.” 

Smart home and home security specialist Alarm.com said it had 5 million residential and business subscribers as of March 15, a revised figure that includes Alarm.com’s recent acquisition of Icontrol’s Connect and Piper businesses.

The deal, which closed March 8, also expands Alarm.com’s relationship with ADT, whose Pulse service is based on the Z-wave-based Connect platform. Comcast acquired the Icontrol’s ZigBee-based Converged platform. 

RELATED: Comcast, Alarm.com Divvy Up Icontrol Networks

Alarm.com will serve as “the exclusive provider of services for ADT's professionally installed residential interactive security automation and video offerings for a period of up to five years, subject to certain performance conditions and carve outs,” Steve Trundle, Alarm.com’s CEO, said Wednesday on the company’s Q4 earnings call.

RELATED: Alarm.com to Ratchet Up Pursuit of ISP, Cable Market 

He said Alarm.com has already begun to integrate Icontrol into its own operations.

Trundle also spent some time explaining how the Connect business model differs from Alarm.com’s legacy business. Connect software, he said, is deployed and operated by the service provider in their own network operations center, meaning that they are on the hook to buy their own server capacity and cellular connectivity, and to manage the deployment with their own network operations personal. Connect charges a monthly per subscriber fee for its software, as Alarm.com does. However, Alarm.com’s historic turnkey business, largely focused on thousands of channel partners, includes all of those aforementioned services in its fee.

Going forward, Alarm.com will take direction from customers if they want to put more emphasis on Alarm.com’s legacy platform or put more of it into the Connect product.

Trundle said Alarm.com is "open minded” about the Piper retail/DIY smart home business. DIY has been a “good business for us,” he said. “We are probably not as conditioned to believe that retail DIY is a great place for us to be. So we're going to look at that carefully and look at the capabilities of the product on the Piper side and see if there's a fit for that product that's more synergistic with our traditional channel strategy.”

Alarm.com posted total revenues of $69.8 million, up 23% versus the year-ago quarter. SaaS and license revenue grew 21%, to $46.9 million.

For 2017, Alarm.com expects revenues of $322 million to $325 million.

Expanding on its curated smart home integration program for third-party products, Comcast said it will soon add support for two lighting partners – Jasco and Sengled – to its Xfinity Home platform.

Comcast, which helps outside vendors hook in via its Works With Xfinity Home initiative, said its smart home/security customers will be able to manage GE-branded plug-in and in-wall smart switches from Jasco and Sengled’s Element Touch connected LED lightbulbs via the Xfinity Home app.

RELATED: Home Smart Home (subscription required) 

Xfinity Home customers who also have Comcast’s X1 video service will also be able to bring up the smart home user interface on their TVs by saying, “Xfinity Home lights,” into the X1 voice remote.

Citing data from a study (PDF) from Icontrol Networks (Comcast announced a deal to acquire a large piece of Icontrol in June), more than a third of consumers said they are likely to buy connected lighting in the next 12 months.

RELATED: Why Comcast is Buying Icontrol

Jasco and Sengled are the latest third-party companies to be integrated with Xfinity Home. Others include August (smart locks), Chamberlain (garage controllers), Lutron (wireless controllers and dimmers), as well as Nest Learning Thermostats.

“By adding Jasco and Sengled to our growing list of curated smart home devices that we integrate with Xfinity Home, our customers will be able to create unique experiences that connect the devices that are important to them such as streaming security cameras, door locks, thermostats, and lights,” Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president and general manager of Xfinity Home, said in a statement. “We can integrate all of these devices into a unified experience on one easy-to-use platform.”

Comcast also builds its own products for Xfinity Home, including the recently introduced “xCam,” a WiFi-connected, HD indoor/outdoor camera.

Comcast said Xfinity Home subs can also set and manage rules/automated commands that trigger certain functions – for example, they can set a rule that turns on a light every day at sunset or every time the front door is opened.

Comcast revealed last summer that it has more than 500,000 Xfinity Home subs, but has not issued an updated sub figure since. In its Q3 earnings report, Comcast said that 55% of Xfinity Home subs were new to the company. At the end of that period, nearly 60% of Xfinity Home customers bundle four services – Internet, TV, phone and home security, and nearly all sign up for at least three products from the MSO.

RELATED: Comcast Pursues Bigger Piece of  Smart Home Market

Comcast is competing in the market against the likes of Alarm.com (which is also acquiring a piece of Icontrol), ADT and other service providers such as AT&T and  Verizon. EchoStar exited the smart home and home security game in September when it shut down Sage By Hughes, a do-it-yourself platform.