Legrand Acquires Vantage

The pool of independent manufacturers in the custom channel is shrinking. In September, one of the original home systems vendors, Vantage Controls, was snapped up by Legrand, the $5 billion (2005 revenues) provider of low-voltage, electrical and data networking products based in Limoges, France.

Vantage will join the Legrand North America unit, which also includes On-Q (structured wiring and control), Pass & Seymour (electrical and network wiring), Wiremold (cable management), Ortronics (wiring connectivity), and Watt Stopper (energy management and lighting control).

"We're in two businesses: infrastructure for commercial and infrastructure for the home," says John Selldorff, president and CEO of Legrand NA, adding that the group is intent on "increasing our position in those two segments through [new] technology or channels."

With the acquisition of Vantage, Legrand gets both: high-end lighting control technology and high-end custom installers, the likes of which are not provided by Watt Stopper or On-Q.

There is some crossover in customers and products among these three subsidiaries. For example, Watt Stopper primarily serves the commercial lighting market, but has been shipping the Miro wireless lighting control system through residential integrators for about two years.

For its part, On-Q offers hardwired- and powerline-based lighting control systems under the ALC brand. Neither company, however, offers the depth of product that Vantage has when it comes to lighting control and other automation systems, whether wireless or hardwired.

"Right now we serve starter homes up to starter custom, but below the luxury market," says Doug Fikse, CEO of On-Q/Legrand. "Vantage becomes a core lighting competency. We can get our guys linked into Vantage. ... A lot of them [On-Q dealers] have two personalities. They do some high-end homes that On-Q is not appropriate for."

Fikse and the folks at Legrand and Vantage, though, make it clear that cooperation does not mean homogenization of the products or the channels. Vantage will maintain its dealer-direct model.

Selldorff maintains that the groups will be encouraged to work together, but "each business is targeted to customers that are different."

On-Q demonstrated the spirit of sharing at the TecHome Builder Expo earlier this year, when the company bunked up with Watt Stopper and Pass & Seymour.

During that show, On-Q national product manager Avi Rosenthal mentioned that, while On-Q was not creating multimedia outlets to match Watt Stopper's new dimmer form factor, On-Q had added wallplate colors that match the almond used for Pass & Seymour switches.

Ron Wilson, president of Vantage, says he looks forward to sharing resources with the new extended family. For example, he points to Watt Stopper, "which has probably the best occupancy sensors anywhere. The ability to sell those to our customers could be very powerful."

With 2005 sales of about $20 million, Vantage has posted sales growth averaging 15 percent a year since 2002. In the first eight months of 2006, sales were up by over 20 percent, says the company.

Vantage Goes Downscale

At first it seemed like a perfect marriage: On-Q/Legrand makes modestly priced lighting controls for the mass market. Vantage/Legrand targets the high-end marketplace.

But just one week after Legrand announced the acquisition of Vantage, that company introduced at the CEDIA Expo a new line of lighting controls for the mid market.

The system is yet to be named (right now, they're calling it Mid-Market Control) and the exact pricing has yet to be established.

But VP of sales Bob Long says the system is for homes in the $200,000 to $800,000 range, and the target price is roughly one-half to one-third the price of Vantage's current system.

Available in both hardwired and ZigBee-based wireless, the Mid-Market Control system can be programmed without a PC. Simply set the dimmers to the desired levels, and press a button to capture the scene.

A PC can be used for programming more advanced functions, such as scheduling. Once the scenes are set up by the integrators, consumers can easily alter the configurations.

The Mid-Market Control line incorporates a new faceplate design which can be engraved like other Vantage faceplates. Dimmers have an IR port on the rear for incorporating into IR-based control systems.

Right now the system just does lighting, but Long says, "Eventually, we envision a full control system including A/V."