Applications

Is Your Front Door Closed?

This value-added service, the company says, allows users to check on the safety and comfort of their "life assets" while they're not at home, a service that will always be worth more than its price.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [December 4, 2006]

Although we did not meet up with him at ISPCON, we're on the phone now with someone who's offering ISPs a new value-added service. Reza Raji, co-founder, president, and CEO of Palo Alto, Calif.-based iControl, was working for a manufacturer but felt a familiar frustration. The company was building devices that were the perfect building blocks for an ideal value-added service, he says, but nobody was willing to build the interface that would turn the product into a service.

"The challenge was to get service providers and appliance makers interested into making this a service," he says. "The challenge for them was that they did not know how to do it. The service providers were good at delivering broadband, and the appliance makers were good at cutting manufacturing costs, but nobody know how to deliver an internet-enabled service. So my idea was to enable a turnkey service, and that's what iControl is."

The company connects IP-enabled devices in a home, such as webcams, motion detectors, lighting control devices, alarms, and thermostats, to an easy to use backend with a slick, browser-based GUI (shown below). This backend and GUI, we feel, is what distinguishes the company.

The value of the service is intuitively obvious. "The iControl service allows people to connect to what the love the most and spend the most money on: their family and their home," Raji says.

He says it's like another form of content. In addition to checking stock quotes and news and sports scores, users can now check on what's most important to them. It's not about having your house clean itself while your away; it's simpler things that can be done now, like having your front door e-mail you if you forget to close it—or if someone else opens it while you're away.

He adds that established competitors have systems that require a professional, trained installer, and can cost tens of thousands of dollars. iControl has a better price and simply conncets to the internet.

Price
It's priced like a service. The company sells three Starter Kits consisting of a central iControl box and a number of sensors. Standard costs $399.95, Advanced costs $499.95, and Premium costs $649.95. Products are purchased directly from the iControl website. The company also retails its service at $14.95, or $149.95 for a one year contract, but will wholesale it to ISPs at $9.95 per month. "We give you, the ISP, some flexibility as to how much you want to charge or how much you want to subsidize the service," Raji says.

ISPs do not get a share of device sales. Some would, we're guessing, prefer to lease the equipment to customers, retain ownership, and charge a higher monthly fee, as Dave Brown of EmergeCore recommends.

The iControl box communicates with other devices using 900 MHz wireless. The box uses the Z-Wave standard invented by Fremont, Calif.-based Zensys to communicate with devices.

The company was founded two years ago, and the service has been in beta for 18 months. Raji says that users often buy a starter pack and then buy additional devices as they start to get to know the service.

He emphasizes that the service is reliable precisely because it is technology that's available now. "We're not trying to build a Jetsons home. It's not the fridge ordering groceries for you or the sprinkler doing things for you. It's knowing if and when your child came home from school. We've gotten used to not having this information, but we've always wanted it."

Marketing
The company's tagline is simple and effective: iControl: Now You Know.

Marketing is well done too. The company has a quick flash-based demo video on its website. Its Corporate Fact Sheet [.pdf] reads like a manifesto or mission statement, but is succinct.

Raji says the service will deliver what every good service should deliver to service providers: additional revenue, service differentiation, customer stickiness. We've been promised this before but we believe it in this case.

Competition
Of course, it's not the only game in town. It's worth looking at ZigBee and other competing offerings. What iControl offers that we find unique is the web-based interface.

Raji claims that he's not wedded to Z-Wave (although when we spoke he had just met with ZenSys). "We're web-based. We're protocol agnostic," he says.

The company's working with Z-Wave because products are available now. "If ZigBee becomes a standard, and we can get mass market products, we'll support it too."

ISPs will be concerned that the company sells direct as well as through channels, and that ISPs do not get a piece of the equipment sales, but if you're a local ISP and you need to differentiate yourself, you must look at this service, especially if you already have RF skills or home networking support staff.

— End