Cisco, Control4 to Deploy Home Control in ‘Really Broad Way’

Jesus, C4 just solidified their future.  Good for them. 

Good for dealers too?  Doesn’t seem like it from this article and the releases.

No, it will not be good for dealers.  Selling to the masses on that scale will completely change the focus of the company.  It would seem logical to spin off another company to take this on.

“all of which communicate via Wi-Fi to a smart meter in an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).” Does this mean that the people who are part of this energy management “collective” will also have their power use monitored, and eventually controlled by some third party(i.e. Gov’t)?

Control4’s “out of the box” approach has made it “the” app to have in any CE device. This announcement further solidifies the notion that success in today’s world largely depends on how well you play with others. How will dealers be affected by this? It is a completely different channel and should have little or no impact on dealers. My view is Control4 will be a stronger company with the ability to move ahead even faster with more resources. If the cable company offers a Cisco set-top box with Control4 embedded in it, that makes it easier for me to sell more stuff.

I see this as great news. 

Our industry needs an 800# gorilla to drive convergence and open standards.  Anyone who attended the World Expo 2010 saw that Cisco gets it: http://en.expo2010.cn/c/en_qy_tpl_58.htm

As for dealers, Cisco’s current channel partners aren’t strong in physical security, automated systems, energy management or CE devices.  If they aren’t partnering and bringing you deals today, they will be.

Wow, $25 Mil? Really?  After this many years of business and 1600 dealers they still need $25 mil in new financing?  If there are more companies out there w/ excess cash, my team and I will be glad to develop a product line for controls in homes and commercial businesses, Green, Leeds, future-proof, iPod/iPad and Android friendly for less than $25 mil.  Give me a call anytime.

Doug, this brings their outside funding to $100M +. If you consider that companies like iControl and uControl each raised $50M without selling a single product for at least 7 years I’d say the investments in C4 are pretty reasonable.

@Juli:
Well this is one way of seeing it and you are right. However lets think about the old model companies not being funded from the outside but rather through their own cash flow. It is getting even more impressive that a few can keep up with them and keep on innovating.
So, considering C4 being a Cisco company pretty soon and following the likes of Tandberg & Aironet, who’s next on their menu?

Harald, c4 is far from “being a Cisco company.” The funding round was $25M. Cisco led it. So I’m guessing they put in $15M. That’s like a box of Raisinets for them.

But you ask who is next for Cisco. I would guess something in the healthcare IT industry.

@Julie
I stand by my statement “being a Cisco company PRETTY SOON”. Lets talk over it again at CEDIA 2012; Food & Austrian wine is on me, OK?

I’m quite aware of Cisco’s balance sheet and last time I checked they had about USD 38 Bln cash on hand, so pretty much every company in our little industry or even ALL of them together (!) could be snatched up by them easily in an eyeblink.

You’re on, Harald!

I say C4 is more likely to do an IPO than to be acquired.

Sept. 2012 sounds about right.

Hold on, Harald. I was thinking we were still in 2010. I think CEDIA 2013 is a more likely time frame.

@Julie - Do not agree at all that Cisco will go into Healthcare, certainly not as a frontal assault.  That would would be a direct challenge to HP and that’s a fight Cisco does not and cannot pick IMHO. 

If anything I see them trying to bundle VoIP/Video Teleconferencing with Automation and control.  From that perspective they could “get into healthcare” by bundling solutions (Assistive scenario) and services (Monitoring and protection), but not a specific healthcare play, e.g. hardware dedicated to Healthcare. 

BTW - nice to see a thread that really evokes some think time and insight vs. ranting and raving wacko speak…

Crossing - I’m thinking more along the lines of infrastructure for telemedicine, not unlike Cisco’s telepresence play. See, for example: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2010/prod_011510b.html

@Julie.  You beat me to it.  Healthpresense was recently introduced: http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/healthcare/cisco_healthpresence_solution.html

@Rubicon: I agree that it won’t be a frontal approach to traditional healthcare products such as NurseCall, PACs,  pumps etc, but through partnerships and complementary infrastructure.

Cisco is all over the Healthcare industry but you would only know that if you are in the closets, data centers or board room.  When you think Cisco and Healthcare, you think: High Availability, mission critical LAN/WAN infrastructure for every application to ride on (PACs for example) (ethernet switching, routing), Security (firewalls, network access control, identity management), Wireless LANs, Collaboration (IP Phones, PBX, Voicemail, Contact Center/Call Routing, Business Video, Enterprise Social Software, E-learning, Digital Signage), Data Center (LAN/WAN, Security, Blade Servers, Virtualization, Cloud), etc.

The partnering that they are doing is very intriguing.  Julie is on to something.  See GE/Cisco partnership from yesterday’s news: http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/mobile-wireless/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219109