Crestron announced matching keypads ($300), dimmers ($320), outlets ($50) and keystones plates ($40) in the Horizon series. In addition to controlling lights, the keypads can dim lights, play music sources, adjust shades and control connected devices, said the company. The dimmers, which operate on Crestron’s infiNET EX wireless mesh network, are installed using wires in the wall.

Crestron is opening a training center in Duluth, Georgia, it said Monday. Instructor-led classroom courses will teach design, installation, configuration and programming of Crestron systems and are available to Crestron dealers and the company's A Plus, government support services, enterprise and service providers. Courses are to begin March 23.

Integrations with Ring and Netgear are among the new partnerships and product plans Savant outlined at its late January dealer conference, the company emailed in a Thursday summary. Ring’s partnership with Savant is its first in the integrator channel, it said. Savant, the first manufacturer to offer the Ring X hardware line -- designed for the custom integration channel -- will sell seven Ring X entry and camera products through the Savant Store. Later this year, Savant control systems will have access to Ring Video Doorbell features, including live view, notifications and two-way audio, said the company. Savant expanded its partnership with Netgear to include company’s full line of networking products. The companies will also co-engineer solutions optimized for Savant’s ecosystem, including streamlining design, installation and service processes for integrators. Savant integrators will have access to Netgear's 24/7 design and support services, it said. Under its partnership with Southern Nevada custom home builder Blue Heron, Savant announced an upcoming experience center due to open in the Las Vegas area this summer. The Vegas Modern 001 show home will feature Savant IP audio and speakers, user interface, and IP video and tiling; lighting control; and energy automation for solar, micro grid and flexible load management technology.

Nortek will “aggressively pursue” single-room custom installation control via a customized bundle sold through six members of the PowerHouse Alliance, it said Thursday. Six PowerHouse members that passed required training for the Elan EL-SC-100-SR system controller and EL-HR1 handheld remote control system are Davis Distribution, Electronic Custom Distributors, Mountain West Distributors, STV, Ultimate Integration and Pioneer Music. Elan’s single-room solution targets a similar entry-level home control customer as Control4’s EA-1 bundle ($600) with controller and handheld remote. None of the alliance members carries a Control4 solution, a spokesperson emailed us. The PowerHouse bundle includes remote access to a customer’s system via the cloud, without a subscription fee, with Z-Wave compatibility in “a few months,” said the company. Homeowners using the Elan single-room control system can use one remote to manage most of a room's media and entertainment; the Elan mobile app controls and automates household lighting, temperature, and door lock systems. The entry-level system doesn’t support voice control, the spokesperson said. The $999 price enables PowerHouse Alliance and its dealers to meet the needs of the many customers looking for an affordable, single-room system, a "new opportunity" for group members, said Executive Director Dennis Holzer. Elan's Direct CI dealers begin offering next week different versions of the new controller bundled with other accessories.

Savant sister Racepoint Energy bought Noon Home, it said Tuesday. The addition shores up Racepoint’s portfolio of intelligent energy management offerings with a smart lighting solution, it said. Noon’s lighting control platform can be discovered, configured and controlled via one app, and its keypad style will be added to Savant’s keypad lineup, said Robert Madonna, CEO of Racepoint and Savant.

BlackWire Designs bowed a driver for the Control4 platform to eliminate the need for service calls to power cycle devices that have gone offline. The Service Call Killer driver monitors the connected status of components controlled by residential or commercial Control4 systems, said the company, and automatically issues a command to power distribution units to power cycle the outlet it’s connected to when a device falls offline. "Service calls not only increase operational expenses for integrators, but they also impact the user experience due to system downtime,” said BlackWire owner Kevin Luther. That’s frustrating for installation companies and homeowners “when all that’s required is unplugging a component and plugging it back in to solve a simple connectivity issue.”

SnapAV added a $600 handheld remote to its Control4-brand product line to combine the benefits of hard buttons and a touch screen for intuitive home control, it said Tuesday. Buttons give customers fast access to functions and activities they use most, Charlie Kindel, SnapAV chief product and technology officer, told journalists on a Friday pre-brief. The Neeo Remote, designed by Swiss engineers and built from machined aluminum, is meant to convey a luxury experience that’s also durable, said Kindel. Control4 bought Neeo in February (see 1902050045), before its acquisition by SnapAV in August (see 1908010013). The handheld's buttons control power, mute, home and navigation functions; an on-screen keypad allows customers to type in a channel number directly. The combination of touch screen and buttons makes Neeo an ideal universal remote control for entertainment “because anyone in the home can intuitively use an icon-driven touchscreen,” Kindel said. A former Amazon executive who headed up the Alexa team, Kindel reinforced the need for different types of user interfaces in the smart home: “Customers want choice, and they’re always going to have scenarios where all of these modalities interact,” including voice, he said. Spotlighting Control4's latest OS 3 operating system, Kindel said household members in an OS 3-powered home have "one-touch control and at-a-glance views of virtually every device through voice with Alexa and Google Assistant, the Control4 App, a Control4 touch screen, a TV on-screen display and with the Neeo remote." The Neeo combined with the $500 EA-1 controller gives customers control of a single-room entertainment system for $1,100, plus installation. Despite the affordable price, the company isn’t interested in a do-it-yourself offering: Control4 is “steadfastly committed” to its professional installers, Kindel said. As customers adopt more smart technology in their homes, and the number of controlled devices goes up, their expectations for how much integration they want rises at the same time they're experiencing "smart home fatigue," he said. Homeowners, even those comfortable with technology, want control professionals to install their systems so they don’t have to be IT managers of the home, he said. Neeo will be sold exclusively by the 7,000 Control4 dealers, though customers will be able to install the device themselves, if their system is running OS 3, without a visit from a dealer. Control4 will continue to offer its SR-260 remote control ($330) and other interfaces.

Do-it-yourself solutions will cause shifts in the residential security market, blogged Parks Associates Wednesday, predicting more than 2 million U.S. broadband households will have a self-monitored system by year-end. Some 23 percent of self-monitored systems are fee-based, collecting an average $9 per month, while 22 percent include home control. By 2024, average monthly fees will drop to $8.50, and 34 percent of DIY services will include home control add-ons, it said. Though smart home features “tip the scales toward acquisition,” market drivers and inhibitors for home security are the same they have been for years, said analyst Dina Abdelrazik. Parks believes artificial intelligence could create alternative approaches to home security systems and monitoring that would attract a broader customer base: AI and machine learning can reduce false alarms, sense anomalous activity, perform video analytics, and provide video verification and surveillance, said the analyst. An AI-based system would require a “full alignment of AI-enabled hardware, system software, and intelligent call center services,” she said, saying vertically integrated players are in the strongest position to deliver because they can optimize an entire system, assure quality control and user experience and “monetize each component.” Three-quarters of self-monitored security systems are self-installed said Parks, and among the 27 percent of broadband households with security, 23 percent, or 23.9 million, have professional monitoring.

Josh.ai announced new partner integrations with Comcast, Ketra and Samsung ahead of CEDIA Expo, beginning Wednesday in Denver, along with a virtual TV remote control for Apple devices. Comcast integration provides control of live TV using voice and the Josh app, allowing customers to ask for channels by name or number; functionality also includes the ability to navigate the Comcast guide and menu, play, pause, fast-forward, rewind and select content, said Josh. Integration with Samsung IP TVs lets users control power and volume and change sources, it said. A TV remote built in to iPhone and iPad apps enable a “natural and intuitive touch experience for control,” it said. The company added “concise mode” to its offerings, a one-word confirmation when it’s controlling certain devices: rather than telling a homeowner the living room lights are now on, it will just say, “ok." Josh.ai’s new native integration with Lutron’s Ketra lighting system enables homeowners to adjust color temperature and hue of lights via voice or app, it said. A new Sonos feature lets users auto-discover and control favorite pre-defined playlists, it said. Josh.ai also updated its privacy and security features, announcing new features around permissioning so customers and integrators can specify more granular user roles, said the company. All data Josh.ai gathers is used to improve the customer experience, said the company, but users have the option to disable all data gathering and delete specific logs.

RTI developed a driver for internet control of select 2018 and 2019 LG AI ThinQ TVs, it said Wednesday. The driver is designed to simplify integration of LG TVs into RTI automation and control systems. Integrators will be able to give clients one-button access to external sources and up to 10 webOS apps on LG TVs, it said. The networked solution eliminates the need for integrators to run additional IR emitters or serial cables, it said.