ISC Phone Home

ISC West's latest specialized exhibit hits the show floor

• By Karina Sanchez
• Mar 02, 2007

REED Exhibitions has found a new love. Its heart is at the home—the smart home, that is. This year, in addition to the Urban Area Security Pavilion and IP Institute, ISC West is introducing its newest “show within a show”: SmartHome@ISC.

This new exhibit is designed to provide manufacturers access to a new and growing audience of ISC security professionals who are expanding their services into the custom electronics industry. Product categories that will be featured at SmartHome@ISC include home audio/video; home networking/communications and home automation controls, with early robust support from diverse, yet connected services.

SmartHome@ISC also will feature several educational sessions customized for the security professional who is looking to gain insight and knowledge into this new opportunity. Broad, general topics include identification and description of the new business opportunity, and product and technical knowledge on integration, networking and home entertainment systems.

Breaking Grounds
Home automation is an area that security dealers are seeing as an opportunity. In fact, the February 2007 issue of Security Products’ Integrated Home section featured a story on the growing cross vertical into home system sales. And most realize that the trend has hit it big if it’s front and center at ISC West.

Dean Russo, group vice president for the ISC portfolio of events, said that SmartHome was developed as a response to the interest of attendees. Russo estimates that about 21 percent of attendees expressed an interest in home automation.

”Dealers are increasingly expanding their business to the residential, non-security-related, low-voltage applications like home theater, home audio and home networking,” he said. “At ISC, we felt an opportunity to add more value to the show by adding a dedicated smart home area so that our dealer audience can find more information and work with vendors in this space at our show.”

Research firms like Parks Associates and Frost & Sullivan show great advances for the security dealer in this space. Security dealers are well aware of these benefits to their business, but what Russo said really ignited SmartHome was the participation of home automation vendors.

”This section took off when we went up to other vendors in the space who hadn’t participated as an exhibitor at ISC. We explained to them that this provides a vertical selling opportunity as a home automation vendor,” he said. “They look at the security installer as and added vertical to provide other channels of distribution.”

From the Manufacturer
Talking to the manufacturers that cater to primarily residential installations, SmartHome is a welcomed opportunity. Wilife, manufacturer of digital video surveillance solutions, had its first encounter with ISC West a year ago. Evan Tree, president and co-founder of Wilife, said that it was the company’s first time to attend a professional, dealer/installer show, but that he found the show to be very successful for the company.

”We just wanted to make people aware of our product and get an overall feel of what the market thought of the product, lük|werks,” he said. “We had a great reception. Consequently, we signed up a lot of resellers.”

And that was enough to encourage Wilife to attend this year’s show. Through feedback from its resellers, the company developed additional products that meet a broader portion of the dealer market. But this time around, you’ll find the company in the SmartHome@ISC exhibit area. In the past, the few home automation vendors that attended ISC were scattered around the show floor, not really in a dedicated area that catered to their expertise. This year, they are provided that dedicated area that’s designed to give them more exposure.

”The convergence of the digital home and security is an exciting place to be. With us primarily focused on digital video security, it makes sense,” Tree said. “Last year, we attended the show with our consumer product. This year, we have a professional product, allowing us to have a more traditional feel at the show.”

With the increased profitability in this market segment, there’s no reason why manufacturers shouldn’t feel right at home here. The two worlds of security and home automation are coming together, and that’s not such a bad thing.

As dealers who have already tapped into the home automation industry might tell you, it’s not as easy anymore to segregate residential services. Both home builders and homeowners alike are asking for a more complete, fully robust, automated solution. And security professionals should be poised to offer that to their clients.

What to Expect
Last year, ISC West introduced its Urban Area Security Pavilion and IP Institute. This year, SmartHome@ISC will join the portfolio of exhibits under the ISC banner. Launched with the dealer in mind, exhibiting vendors hope to score big.

”It will definitely open up more channels, and I can see us being at some shows in the fall,” Tree said.

And Russo anticipates the reactions from this year’s ISC West attendees. He believes that SmartHome helps the show represent broader segments of business opportunities for security dealers, and he feels that participation from important vendors in this area really solidifies its need in the security marketplace.

”A dealer working with residential clients armed with not only security, but also home theater surround sound and home automation controls, will give them a whole new arsenal of business that they can sell to their clients,” Russo said. “I think that attendees will be most surprised to learn how significant a business opportunity this creates for them.”

All in all, it would be worth it to take a peek at SmartHome. Who knows, home might be where your heart’s at, as well.