Door and Window Company Pella Hits CES With Connected Home Product Line

It appeared that Pella Windows and Doors might have arrived a couple of weeks ahead of its annual appearance at the International Builder Show opening later this month in Las Vegas when we encountered the company’s booth at the Sands Expo during CES. But Pella is just the latest non-tech company hoping to ride the surging wave of the Internet of Things. Pella launched at CES its Insynctive technology, which it calls a “family of smart products for windows and doors designed to deliver security, comfort and convenience.” The line of smart home products includes window and door sensors, a garage door sensor, an entry door dead-bolt sensor, status indicator, bridge and motorized blinds and shades. “Our goal is to secure all the openings of your home,” a company spokeswoman told us during a booth tour. The company is offering dead-bolt lock monitoring through an integrated sensor that it builds into the door, she said. “Because we’re the manufacturer, we can integrate those things into the product so a consumer can get a window that already has that technology inside of it,” she said. The lock itself isn't electronic. The entry door is the company’s first foray into the space, she said. The Insynctic offering uses a bridge that’s compatible with communications platforms including Crestron, Nexia, Savant, Wink and Z-Wave, she said, and products are available through do-it-yourself and installer channels. The sensors offer a retrofit option and customers don’t need to own Pella products to use the sensors, she said. In the first iteration, a wall-mountable status indicator shows homeowners only that a window or door is open or closed, which the spokeswoman touted as an advantage for simplicity in a complicated technical world. When we pointed out a homeowner would want to know which door or window was open she said, “Eventually that’s where we will go.” Integration with hubs like Wink allow users to set up scenes. Opening the door could automatically turn on a light, she said. The company also added motors to its shading products so they can be operated by the Insynctive system, she said. Its shades include a standard solar charging option that enables the battery to recharge in the sun, and a wired charger option is available for areas without much sunlight, she said. To educate its dealers in technology, the company has been holding training sessions for the past eight months, which include research on competitors such as Lutron and Hunter-Douglas on the shade side. On why Pella has entered the smart home business, she said, “People now are going to want more and more to be connected, and that includes windows and doors."