Control4 signs a strategic agreement with Cisco to deliver network-enabled automation platforms for connected smart communities and home energy deployments.
While called a collaboration, the deal is more complicated because Cisco is investing in Control4. The companies aren’t announcing the size of Cisco’s investment, but Cisco is the leading investor in Control4′s most recent $15 million funding round. According to an SEC filing, Control4 raised $15 million out of a planned $25 million from three new investors of which Cisco was one.
This collaboration between the two companies allows the integration of Control4 technology into Cisco’s Service Delivery Platform (SDP) and the introduction of Cisco-branded Control4 products.
Control4 will become a key member of Cisco’s ecosystem in Smart+Connected Communities and utility customers-- and deliver on the vision of Smart+Connected Communities and Cisco’s Home Energy Management Solution.
Cisco explains the distribution part of the deal as a non-exclusive agreement to provide Control4′s home operating system in projects with cities and utilities. Cisco's first client is the city of Incheon in So. Korea with connected homes that include Control4 home energy products, Cisco building automation technology and Cisco Telepresence.
Cisco will integrate the Control4 EMS 100 as an element of its offering to global utility customers. The Control4 EMS 100 is a bundled solution with an EC-100 energy controller, a 4.7" touch-screen with color interface that provides feedback on electricity consumption and costs, Control4 ADVANTAGE software, and a WT-100 ZigBee wireless thermostat.
Control4 also announced this month a deal to provide 20,000 home energy devices and software to Nevada utility. Control4 calls the deal "the first true rollout — not a pilot — of customer-driven demand response using home area network technologies."
Jesse Berst of SmartGrid News predicted Control4's attraction in 2009:
"Control4’s home energy management offering embodies a lot of great ideas, but above all it is the Trojan horse utilities need. It is something everyday consumers will eagerly invite into their homes, even though “scary” things like energy management and demand response lurk inside. Control4 has packaged energy management as just one more lifestyle application that runs on a device you’d love to have. If you own (or later buy) a Control4-compatible home entertainment system, the same in-home display that programs your thermostat and shows you messages from your utility also becomes a universal remote control on steroids."
It's the commercial interest from the world's giant utility companies that's drawing Cisco money into the Control4 pot.
