Home Schooling For VARs

A new training course is helping solution providers get their feet in the door to the lucrative home integration market.

Integrators said the transition from the commercial IT market to the home integration space is difficult because of the different standards, technologies and customer expectations in those areas. Also, a dearth of high-quality, vendor-neutral training courses is posing a challenge to solution providers.

>> Integrators say they appreciate that the class covers a wide range of products.

Home Controls, a distributor of low-voltage products for the home, is addressing some of those issues through its Residential Integrator School (RIS), a five-day course that teaches solution providers about the practical technology and business issues they'll face in the home market.

"It's quite a jump to go from a data-centric world to the home-automation world," said Corbin Hambrick, president of Home Synthesis, a Houston-based integrator that entered the home market last year after Hambrick took the course.

He said RIS helped him see the relevance of his IT networking skills to home installations. "I'm now using [those skills] in my integrations,having a PC running different parts of the home," he said.

Other VARs said they appreciated the depth and breadth of topics covered.

"The course teaches a lot and covers everything from security systems to distributed audio and from the design to the actual installations," said Scott Roe, president of Valley Technology Group, an IT and home integrator in Salinas, Calif.

Integrators also said they appreciate that the class covers a wide range of products, not just those distributed by San Diego-based Home Controls.

RIS also addresses everyday business issues, which vary greatly between the home and commercial IT integration markets. Topics include how to interview family members and plan solutions with them, bidding, negotiating and general project management techniques.

The next RIS course, scheduled for Sept. 22--26 in San Diego, will cost $900 for one student and $800 for additional students. The class is slated to be taught again from Nov. 3--7 and several times next year.