This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(February 2023) |
Company type | Private |
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Industry | Home automation |
Founded | 2003 |
Founders |
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Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Key people |
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Brands | Control4, Triad, Pakedge |
Revenue | $1.124 Billion (Snap One as of 2022) [1] |
Number of employees | 700 |
Website | www |
Control4 is a provider of automation and networking systems for homes and businesses, offering a customizable and unified smart home system to automate and control connected devices including lighting, audio, video, climate control, intercom, and security. [2] [3] The Control4 platform interoperates with more than 13,500 third-party products and it is available in over 100 countries. [4] In August 2018, it managed 370,000 homes. [3] The company is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Control4 was a publicly traded company (on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the stock symbol CTRL) from 2013 until 2019, when it merged with SnapAV. [5]
Founded in 2003 by Eric Smith, Will West, and Mark Morgan, Control4 debuted at the 2004 CEDIA Expo home technology trade show and released its first products later that year, as an early entrant in the home automation market. [6] [7] [8] Smith and West had previously created PHAST, an early home control system that was acquired by AMX in 1997; [9] and STSN, a provider of Internet service for the hospitality industry. [6] Control4 received funding from Foundation Capital, Thomas Weisel Venture Partners, Signal Peak Ventures, Frazier Technology Ventures, and Cisco Systems [10] prior to its IPO on August 2, 2013. [10] [11] CEO Martin Plaehn joined Control4 in September 2011. [12]
In August 2019, Control4 completed a merger with consumer technology designer and manufacturer SnapAV. [5] [13] John Heyman currently serves as CEO, and the Company was rebranded as "SnapOne."
Control4's home automation systems have been likened to an operating system for the home. [14] [15] The company offers products to manage climate control, home network, home security, intercom, multi-room audio, and smart lighting, offering a universal remote and voice control. [3] [7] [8] [16] It offers items such as a smart doorbell, smart outlets, security cameras, thermostats, centralized lighting panels, motion sensors, and KNX devices. [7] The systems can be controlled from the Control4 smartphone app, keypads fitted to the walls, a traditional remote, or a portable touch screen. [2]
In addition to its own products and services, Control4 supports more than 13,500 third-party products, [3] [4] including Amazon Alexa-enabled speaker devices, [4] the Google Nest smart home thermostat, [17] streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, [4] Sonos music system, [18] Apple TV, [7] and products from Sony, Sub-Zero, Roku, LG, Samsung, Bose, Denon, Honeywell, Yale, and Lutron. [2] [19] [20] With Control4, a homeowner could control "the ventilation in the garage, the music streaming to speakers in multiple rooms of his home, every light, the TV, the thermostat, even the Blu-Ray player in the guest house" from an iOS or Android device. [21]
Installation of the Control4 system is done through a network of dealers who install the hardware and configure and customize the software to unify the homeowner's technology. A Control4 controller acts as the "brain" of the home, connecting to the home network and allowing the electronic devices and systems in the home to work together. There are various controllers available, including the CA-1, which offers Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Wi-Fi connectivity, and the EA-series controllers, which include streaming audio and HDMI out. The controllers come with touch screen panels or keypads, with versions available on both iOS and Android, and with Amazon Alexa compatibility. [7]
In 2012, Control4 released its Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP), which makes products embedded with the code automatically discoverable on a Control4 network. [22] The company licenses the protocol to other vendors for their products, [19] with more than 7,500 SDDP-embedded products as of June 2019. [23]
In May 2019, Control4 debuted a new version of its operating system, Smart Home OS 3. [8] [24] The upgrade is designed to let users more easily customize and make changes to their Control4 Smart Home systems. [25] With the upgrade, Control4 added streaming of MQA files, making it the first home automation company to support the high-resolution audio format. [26]
In June 2019, streaming and download service Qobuz partnered with Control4 to bring hi-res music streaming to home automation installations, allowing Control4 users to upgrade to hi-res sound. [27]
Control4 sells products under three brands:
As of June 2019, Control4 was selling its products through nearly 6,000 authorized Control4 dealers, [23] in addition to partnering with home builders including Toll Brothers and Arthur Rutenberg Homes. [2]
Control4 has made several high profile acquisitions in the last decade, greatly adding to its lineup of products and services. In 2015, the company acquired Australian-based Nexus Technologies Pty., or more commonly called "Leaf," a high-end manufacturer of audio/video distribution products. [31] Control4 acquired cloud enabled network hardware manufacturer Pakedge Device and Software in 2016; its largest acquisition to date. In 2017, Control4 acquired Triad, a high-end audio products company. On January 10, 2018, Control4 acquired Ihiji, a provider of remote monitoring services. [32] In February 2019, Control4 acquired Neeo, a Switzerland-based company specializing in multi-device remote controls, for $11 million plus the assumption of $4.6 million in debt. [33] [34]
Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of electrical wiring equipment in North America. It produces electrical light sockets, receptacles and outlets, switches, dimmers and other lighting control systems, wire, power cables, power cords, wall and ceiling occupancy sensors, wall plates, datacom, and other electrical products.
Conexant Systems, Inc. was an American-based software developer and fabless semiconductor company that developed technology for voice and audio processing, imaging and modems. The company began as a division of Rockwell International, before being spun off as a public company. Conexant itself then spun off several business units, creating independent public companies which included Skyworks Solutions and Mindspeed Technologies.
AMX is an American manufacturer of video switching and control devices. It is currently owned by Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics and is part of the Harman Professional Division.
Insteon is a proprietary home automation (domotics) system that enables light switches, lights, thermostats, leak sensors, remote controls, motion sensors, and other electrically powered devices to interoperate through power lines, radio frequency (RF) communications, or both. It employed a dual-mesh networking topology in which all devices are peers and each device independently transmits, receives, confirm and repeats messages. Like other home automation systems, it had been associated with the Internet of things.
Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used primarily for residential and commercial building automation. It is a mesh network using low-energy radio waves to communicate from device to device, allowing for wireless control of smart home devices, such as smart lights, security systems, thermostats, sensors, smart door locks, and garage door openers. The Z-Wave brand and technology are owned by Silicon Labs. Over 300 companies involved in this technology are gathered within the Z-Wave Alliance.
Sonos, Inc. is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, United States. The company was founded in 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai. Patrick Spence has been its CEO since 2017.
ecobee is a Canadian founded home automation company that makes smart thermostats, temperature and occupancy sensors, smart light switches, smart cameras, and contact sensors. They were acquired by the American company Generac Holdings in 2021.
LIFX is a line of energy-efficient, multi-color, Wi-Fi enabled, digital addressable LED light bulbs that can be controlled via a Wi-Fi equipped device such as a smartphone or smartwatch.
This is a list of home automation topics on Wikipedia. Home automation is the residential extension of building automation. It is automation of the home, housework or household activity. Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC, appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.
HomeKit, also known as Apple Home, is a software framework and communication protocol developed by Apple Inc. that lets users configure, communicate with and control smart-home appliances using Apple devices. It provides users with a way to automatically discover such devices and configure them. By designing rooms, items and actions in HomeKit, users can enable automations in the home through a voice command to Siri or through the Home app. With HomeKit, developers are able to create complex applications in order to manage accessories at a high level.
Amazon Echo, often shortened to Echo, is an American brand of smart speakers developed by Amazon. Echo devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service Alexa, which will respond when a user says "Alexa". Users may change this wake word to "Amazon", "Echo", "Computer", and other options. The features of the device include voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, and playing audiobooks, in addition to providing weather, traffic and other real-time information. It can also control several smart devices, acting as a home automation hub.
Martin Plaehn is on the board of directors of SnapAV's parent company as of August 1, 2019 after the merger of Control4 and SnapAV. Prior to this date, he was the CEO and Chairman of the Board at Control4, a Salt Lake City, Utah based provider of home automation systems.
Logitech Harmony is a line of remote controls and home automation products produced by Logitech. The line includes universal remote products designed for controlling the components of home theater systems and other devices that can be controlled via infrared, as well as newer smart home hub products that can be used to additionally control supported Internet of things (IoT) and Smart home products, and allow the use of mobile apps to control devices. On April 10, 2021, Logitech announced that they would discontinue Harmony Remote manufacturing.
HomeSeer Technologies LLC is a technology company based in Bedford, New Hampshire, in the United States. HomeSeer makes home automation controllers and software, designed to integrate lighting, HVAC, security, AV and other subsystems in most homes. Additionally, the company maintains an online store of compatible home automation products and a free online community forum for users and dealers.
Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) is an American smart home technology provider and manufacturer of universal remote controls, IoT devices such as voice-enabled smart home hubs, smart thermostats, home sensors; as well as a white label digital assistant platform optimized for smart home applications, and other software and cloud services for device discovery, fingerprinting and interoperability. The company designs, develops, manufactures and ships products both under the "One For All" brand and as an OEM for other companies in the audio video, subscription broadcasting, connected home, tablet and smart phone markets. In 2015, it expanded its product and technology platform to include home automation, intelligent sensing and security.
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Matter is an open-source connectivity standard for smart home and IoT devices. It aims to improve interoperability and compatibility between different manufacturer and security, and always allowing local control as an option.
Charlie Kindel is an American tech executive and former chief product and technology officer at SnapAV. He formerly held roles with Control4, Amazon, and Microsoft. Much of his career has been spent focused on smart home products.
Home Assistant is free and open-source software for home automation, designed to be an Internet of things (IoT) ecosystem-independent integration platform and central control system for smart home devices, with a focus on local control and privacy. It can be accessed through a web-based user interface, by using companion apps for Android and iOS, or by voice commands via a supported virtual assistant, such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, and their own "Assist".
Josh.ai is an American artificial intelligence company known for developing the voice-controlled home automation system known as Josh. The company was founded in 2015 by Tim Gill and Alex Capecelatro. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
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