All-In-One For Less

Residential customers now want to do more than integrate PCs and sleek home products. Instead, consumers at various income levels are also showing interest in integrating more utilitarian devices and services.

Since designated installers and integrators have nailed mega-contracts with retail behemoths, such as Best Buy and Circuit City, other service providers are wise to sharpen their integration and troubleshooting skills. Aligning with a wide variety of home device manufacturers is a another good move, as is certification from industry organizations, such as the Custom Electronic DesignInstallation Association (CEDIA).

"The sleeping giant is waking up: middle class customers with homes ranging from $300,000," said Ilya Billig, vice president of business development for Lagotek, a Bellevue, Wash.-based residential technology systems company.

Van Baker, vice president and research director of Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner, said he has also seen the market swell recently. "Home integration is moving from the affluent to more middle-class purchasers. And it is beginning to include everything from lighting to sprinkler controls to home video surveillance systems," he said.

Catering to the Masses
Indeed, executives from companies that specialize in home integration products and services said they are now targeting a much larger audience.

Abbott's, a technology design group in Las Vegas, is one company looking at more ways to tap this burgeoning market, according to president Chuck Abbott. "We're starting to get more interest in lighting, environmental and shade control. All integrators seem to be moving into those areas," he noted.

Historically, Abbott's has aligned itself with builders in order to incorporate residential technology systems in initial housing blueprints. Despite the market downturn, Abbott said business has remained steady. "Builders want cooler things in the home that might help them sell. In that way there may be an opening for more participation from integrators," he said.

Lafayette, Colo.-based Electronic Solutions recently developed its "PlugPlay" line of home comfort products that allow consumers to control remotely motorized window coverings.

Even manufacturers of home staples such as garage door openers are getting into the broader, more advanced home integration market—and relying on resellers to jump-start that business. "For our home controls division, integrators are crucial for introducing new high-end products," said Yan Rodriguez, director of home networking and access systems for Wayne-Dalton, a Mt. Hope, Ohio-based company.

Among other advantages resellers bring to the table will be the ability to walk consumers through the different components of a solution, said Jason Liao, vice president of product development for OPPO Digital, a Mountain View, Calif.-based consumer electronics company.

"The reseller community can play a very important role in helping customers select, set up and understand all of these products," said Liao.

To be successful, however, resellers must keep up with this ever-changing market and be savvy enough to make the leap from corporate or consumer IT accounts into the broader field, said Daniel Kelley, director of marketing for D-Link Systems in Fountain Valley, Calif.

Kelley recommended resellers familiarize themselves with solutions that incorporate technology. Once these integrators have mastered the networking aspect of home integration, they will be in position to expand offerings. "They will take home networking to a whole new level," he said.