Digitally Speaking: HAI Crossing The Threshold

Throughout its 19-year history, New Orleans-based Home Automation Inc. (HAI) has been at the forefront of home security and automation. HAI President Jay McLellan spoke with associate editor Michael Gros about new products, the impact OF Windows XP Media Center Edition and research HAI is conducting into next-generation HVAC wares.

DC: What new products should we expect to see from HAI?

McLellan: One of the roadblocks to a lot of IT guys getting into the convergence space is the security focus of most automation systems. Many integrators see the products and say, 'I need a security license for this.' Therefore, we're working on a version that ties into [Windows XP] Media Center. It will be an easier product to work with, available in the first quarter of next year. This is a long-term plan for us, specifically in recognition of the IT crowd getting into Media Centers and digital connectivity. We'll have a once-click HAI Home menu to allow the consumer to get into security and automation controls. You can start to watch a movie, then jump over to this menu, set your lights and security exactly how you want. It brings together the things that most people want to control in a home.

Another area we're up to: For 30 years in the low- cost/cost-effective home automation marketplace we have had X10 or products based on X10. That, to me, has been a little bit of an Achilles' heel for home automation. It's wonderful for low-cost control to turn on the Christmas lights, but it becomes strained when a professional installs 30 to 40 switches in the home and needs all of them to work all the time. UPB, Universal Powerline Bus, is a new technology that we believe will change all that. It's a digital method for transmitting control over powerlines [and] has been tested in commercial and residential environments. Our installers who have already worked with it, and in houses where they're having problems with X10, they put this stuff in and it works. [Those products] will appear on the market in the November time frame.

DC: What is your company doing in the HVAC area?

McLellan: HAI has received two grants to do research on this, and we're developing a prototype which involves varying the temperatures a little bit based on humidity and outside temperature conditions. Another area of research is ensuring or notifying the homeowner that the system is running at peak efficiency. Most thermostats have a filter reminder. It tells you when to change the filter but doesn't go beyond that, such as what's happening with the entire system. Things happen to systems that don't kill them but reduce their efficiency. You just think that the cost of energy is going up, but you don't know that it really is because the system is not running effectively. We're also trying to bring the owner more into the picture, to allow him to see at a glance, on a touch-screen display, what's going on.

DC: Are there any new product areas that HAI and its integrators will be getting into?

McLellan: An area which is becoming popular for custom installation is distributed audio, and it's an area we're interested in as well. A lot of the systems on the market attempt to control via infrared all your source equipment. That works, but it requires a lot of programming to set up. We like getting all of our music from a Media Center system. It's an area we're very interested in for the 2005 time frame. We're also looking at selling touch screens to control the system, select music. It's a good step for HAI. Two ways that will happen: We will partner with players in the industry like Russound and Nuvo [Technologies], but ultimately we will offer a different flavor, a different version that HAI would be involved in. We would like to partner as well as participate.

DC: How would you define your main differentiator as a vendor to attract integrators?

McLellan: It's always been important for us that our systems are reliable. They work independently but talk to each other. The other area we have success with is marketing, creating a desire and interest in the consumer. Instead of our partners having to sell something, it's good when a consumer says, 'I've heard of HAI; put one in.' It's an easier job for our partners to sell it, rather than pushing it on the consumer. We have the right materials, a clean Web site, [and] make equipment and ideas and product easy to get. That's any professional installer's dream come true.