Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) has found that in order to downplay the declines it and other MSOs are seeing in their bread and butter video service base, it needs to turn to new services like home automation. So, to provide the brains behind the brawn of its IntelligentHome home security and home management system, TWC has brought in software provider iControl.
"There are a number of things driving this deployment," said Bob Hagerty, CEO of iControl in an interview with FierceTelecom. "Most of the cable operators have the three legs: broadband, entertainment and voice, and this becomes the fourth leg to their stool or revenue stream. It also makes customers more sticky because once everyone is connected it's another compelling solution coming over their broadband connection."
The cable MSO currently offers the IntelligentHome home security and home management system in its Rochester, N.Y. market and in its Southern California and Charlotte, N.C. regions. Over the next few months, it plans to extend the home services into other markets.
With the IntelligentHome service, Time Warner Cable is offering its consumers a host of new capabilities including remote management of home security, emergency response, camera monitoring and even energy management.
Consumers will be able to remotely access these services via PCs as well as smartphones and tablet computers.
Although there a number of players in the home automation market, Hagerty said what sets iControl's solution apart is that it is more comprehensive that oversees all safety elements for the consumer.
"A key differentiator is this is a five diamond rated monitoring that is a real life safety secure system," Hagerty said. "It does fire, it does carbon monoxide monitoring, and home security in addition to providing home monitoring."
TWC is not the only service provider that's leveraging iControl's software. The company has garnered deals with not only security companies like ADT and Tyco, but also traditional cable and telecom providers, including Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Rogers (NYSE: RCI) and Swisscom.
While he could not reveal any new customers, Hagerty did confirm that it has at least one new customer they expect to announce in Q1 this year.
For more:
- see the release
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