Control4 Corporation has announced the acquisition of the intellectual property and key operating assets of Texas-based remote management specialist Ihiji.
In information released by Control4, the manufacturer outlines that by combining two network and device management solutions — BakPak from Control4 and Invision from Ihiji — into one unified service platform it will provide integrators with powerful device monitoring and management capability to “efficiently and proactively" support their customers.
“Connected home opportunities are emerging globally, and their individual performance, reliability, and resilience are foundational to all successful installations. By combining Control4’s BakPak, with its strong network management capabilities, and Ihiji’s Invision, with its device monitoring and management capabilities, Control4 can provide a set of unified cloud-based services to our dealers to securely and efficiently monitor end-customer systems,” commented Martin Plaehn, CEO of Control4.
He added: “Dealers will receive alerts when performance concerns are detected; they can then remotely identify the root cause and initiate resolution actions, all without being on-premise. This will improve homeowner satisfaction through prompt and preemptive service, in a time-saving and cost-effective manner.”
“The joint team is already developing the unified cloud-based service platform which will be made available in phases to all Control4 and Ihiji dealers and their end-customers later in the year.”
The joint team is already developing the unified cloud-based service platform which will be made available in phases to all Control4 and Ihiji dealers and their end-customers later in the year. The shared goal is to operate a single integrated monitoring and services experience that provides all dealers with complete visibility and control at the network level, which would include over 2,000 third-party products, as well as all Control4 and Pakedge smart home equipment.
Today, Ihiji works with manufacturers including: Crestron, Dell, Denon, D-Link, Luxul, Marantz, Netgear, Onkyo, Pakedge, Russound, Savant, Sky, Sony, Yamaha, and others, and those integrations will continue to be central to the new unified management platform.
The new solution will also deliver a comprehensive view of every home and customer to enable dealers to monitor, assess, remediate, and track performance concerns associated with their customers’ homes.
Today, Control4 will begin selling the previously named Ihiji APP-750 network appliance under its new moniker, the Pakedge NX-1, priced at $650 MSRP in the US. Control4 also announces the elimination of all subscription fees associated with the Ihiji Invision management service, making it easier and more financially viable for dealers to provide remote management services to their customers.
“Control4 also announces the elimination of all subscription fees associated with the Ihiji Invision management service, making it easier and more financially viable for dealers to provide remote management.”
“Ihiji and Control4 share the conviction that network and device management capabilities are pivotal to every professional integrator in order to best serve their connected home customers,” said Stuart Rench, CEO at Ihiji. “By combining with Control4, we can accelerate our plans to deliver more robust capabilities to further drive dealers’ success.”
The Ihiji product development and support teams are now part of Control4 and are working within the company’s networking group to continue supporting existing Ihiji dealers, and to deliver the unified management platform later this year. All Ihiji dealers using Invision will continue to be supported and are encouraged to continue utilising and installing Invision in new installations.
Later this year, progress releases towards the new unified and integrated service platform will be made available to all Ihiji, Control4, and Pakedge dealers and their installed customers through a software update process for supported service appliance devices: APP-750, NX-1, NK-1, RK-1 and WR-1.
Control4 acquired certain intellectual property, development and support teams, and inventory of Ihiji on December 22, 2017.
The acquisition enhances the network and device management platform of Control4, but is not expected to contribute material direct revenue in 2018. In addition, the company anticipates that the direct operating costs associated with the Ihiji acquisition, (consisting primarily of personnel related expenses for development and support employees), will not be incremental to its forecasted 2018 financial plan.