APC Launches New Home Integrator Program

Called the AV Power Champions Program, the effort is modeled after APC's commercial enterprise partner program and includes support services; sales, marketing and education tools; and discounted demo units. Integrators also can participate in APC's AV Trade-Up initiative, which allows them to trade in any competitor's power product, no matter what its condition, and receive a discount on an APC product.

"This is a great way to offer dealers something more than product," said Kristen Sisson, APC's senior marketing manager for consumer products. "We want to communicate with them and help them be more educational for their customers."

West Kingston, R.I.-based APC doesn't require any sales quota from integrators to join the program. "They could just sell one system a year," Sisson said, adding that the program includes lead generation and personalized Web pages. "We want to bring them on."

Many home integrators, particularly those with commercial IT backgrounds, say they welcome any manufacturer program that sharpens their competitive edge and improves partner-vendor communication.

But Chris Butler, an installation manager for Symphonic Residential Systems in Calgary, Alberta, said his company is more interested in robust products that can handle large networked audio/visual jobs, which are beginning rival some IT installations in their complexity. Symphonic usually uses UPS products from Panamax, Petaluma, Calif., said Butler, who was scoping out the APC booth at the recent CEDIA Expo in search of more sophisticated gear.

"We're not a high-maintenance company. We don't need a lot of training, just a lot of information," Butler said, adding that Symphonic's jobs range from three- to seven-rack installations, priced at $500,000 to $1 million. "When clients are spending that amount, they don't mind spending an extra $20,000 or $30,000 to protect that equipment and keep it running."

At its CEDIA booth, APC introduced the S-20 Power Conditioner with battery backup, the Universal Transfer Switch, the C2 Power Filter and AV Pro Interconnects cables, all scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter.

The S20, an upgrade to APC's S-15 model, offers a built-in Web server for network manageability, enabling users to control and monitor the unit and connected components, including temperature and humidity monitoring. It also features a 28 percent larger power train and is compatible with Crestron, AMX and other A/V control systems. The S20 has a street price of $1,999. Additional batteries are $499, and a temperature humidity probe costs $59.99.

The Universal Transfer Switch, aimed at homes and small businesses, automatically transfers power loads from electrical equipment, including furnaces, lighting, well pumps and medical devices, to up to two backup sources. Most transfer switches are limited to one backup source, usually a generator. The new UTS can use a combination of a generator, a UPS, a portable inverter, solar and wind power, or a fuel cell. The product comes in six-circuit 120V and six-circuit 120/240V models (resale price of $299 each) and a 10-circuit 120/240V model ($399).

The C2 Power Filter ($99.99), designed to protect wall-mounted displays from surges and spikes, features two surge-protected outlets and status indicators. The new line of AV Pro Interconnects cables includes 46 models for home-theater and whole-home digital coax, optical toslink, composite video, S-Video, component video, DVI and HDMI applications. They range in price from $9.99 to $162.99.

The new products come as APC faces rising competition in the home and small-business markets. Tripp Lite, a Chicago-based maker of power protection gear, recently released three OmniSmart Full Isolation UPS systems for point-of-sale, networking, A/V and computer applications. It also introduced the HTRL15UPS digital UPS system and the HT7300PC Power Conditioning Center, both of which have won several industry awards.

Panamax also rolled out its Max In-Wall PRO series line of wiring products for protecting flat-panel displays and projectors. The company makes the popular MaxEX family of home-theater power conditioners, which cost $249.95 to $999.95.