Ayla Networks Heads to Parks' Connections Conference With HVAC Platform

Ayla Networks will be among the IoT platform companies prospecting for business at the Parks’ Associates Connections connected home conference in San Francisco this week. Ayla's platform turns products into connected systems with a promise of quick time to market and cloud-based analytics showing how consumers use the products. “Nest was a game-changer,” Rod McLane, Ayla senior director-product marketing, told us. The connected Nest Learning Thermostat “prompted a lot of traditional manufacturers to sit up and take notice that they have to have a strategy” for the connected home market, McLane said. Ayla bills itself as a software, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service company that allows existing businesses to compete in the connected world and to be able to adjust quickly to make changes to any device or app as needed. In the home space, Ayla customers include water heater maker AO Smith, electric fireplace vendor Dimplex, Hunter Fan and United Technologies Electronic Controls’ brands Carrier air conditioning units and Kidde smoke alarms. Ayla’s strategy is to work with well-established manufacturers that are “good at what they do” but don’t have core expertise in connectivity. “It comes down to a build or buy decision,” said McLane. “They can hire engineers or buy an existing platform.” Value-added services available through Ayla enable companies to harness the data available from connected devices, said Wendy Toth, Ayla vice president-marketing and product management. Manufacturers can opt in to the services based on their goals. Toth said that through a link to customers that previously didn’t exist data analytics can tell manufacturers how their products are being used, where they're sold and what additional features users might want. Connectivity also enables products to be updated in the field, she said, and dealers and service reps can benefit from data monitoring services that report when a product needs maintenance or repair. Ayla integrates with the Zonoff platform that’s the foundation for Staples’ Connect offering, said McLane.