04.30.2007 — To say that Savant Systems is a different kind of company might be an understatement—both in terms of its product line and its operations.

The new Osterville, Mass.-based control and display manufacturer recently held its first-ever development conference in Amelia Island, Fla., where it refreshingly bared its engineering, marketing, product development and distribution plans to a group of about 40 key integrators.

While some industry manufacturers seem to develop products in a vacuum with little input from integrators—at least until the products appear at a trade show or on distributors’ shelves—Savant unveiled its yet-to-be-finished systems seemingly very early in the development process. The pre-beta display offered integrators who will potentially be carrying the line a chance to alter its design, capabilities and even pricing.

What those in attendance at the conference (including CE Pro exclusively) discovered was that the company is on its way to creating a Linux-based whole-house control system that is not only completely different in its physical form, but also claims to be programmable in a fraction of the time as other systems on the market.

Indeed, one integrator in attendance claimed he configured a whole-house control and multiroom audio system in “1/100th of the time” it would have taken him with traditional programmable systems. When completely released, the modular system will include whole-house control, a media server with client, touchpanels and a plasma. The system will be linked with Apple’s iTunes and a private Savant concierge Web service that will offer integrators a recurring revenue stream from downloads and other services.

All of this will be based on a completely open architecture platform that does not require code to be written to integrate with devices from other manufacturers. “It’s whole different way of doing things,” said Bob Madonna, CEO. Again, an understatement.

The company, which burst onto the scene at CEDIA Expo 2006 where it hosted a private concert by the Black Crowes, is currently in the midst of development with a fall target date for the actual launch.

Unique Product Design

One glimpse of the onscreen display, remote control and plasma and you know you are looking at a unique product. They are some of the most unique designs I have seen. Indeed the whole system is like a work of art. No wonder the alpha and beta product releases are called DaVinci (control products and touchpanels) and Beethoven (music server and media content).

The 2.4 GHz remote control’s design is not finalized, but it is round, about the size of a baseball cut in half. In iPod-like fashion, users drag their thumb around the face of the remote to move the icon on the screen with hardkeys also on the face. A recharging stand is in the works, but right now it requires two AAA batteries.

The onscreen interface looks like something from a Hollywood studio, with large icons that float on the display in a 3-D, circular pattern. The floating icons can be semi-transparent and manipulated while the homeowner is also viewing live programming. The remotes are fully programmable.

The plasma displays will have all the standard bells and whistles (1080p, HDMI, etc.) but also come with specially designed “artwork” that fills the screen when not in use. One spectacular design is a koi pond artistically designed using Asian themes.

“Why should you have a blank piece of glass in your home when you are not watching TV?” asks CEO Bob Madonna. “We want the TV to be a work of art when it’s not in use.” The plasma will also have a built-in CCTV camera for use with future telemedicine applications.

The brains of the modular system is called the Rosie. The system will be sold separately or in combo in the following hardware configurations.

The Rosie Server performs two major features: control of up to eight touchpanels, and an iTunes media server up to 2.5 TB (can control up to two).

Features include:

• Two (2) dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 processors
• Up to 32 GB DDR2 memory
• Up to 2.25 TB of data storage (RAID 5)
• Hot-swappable drives

There are currently four planned Little Rosie offerings:

1. Rosie Video Switch is an 8 x 8 HDMI 1.1 video switch and integrated controller. It includes the same control interfaces as the Rosie Controller:

• Eight (8) RS-232/422/485 serial control ports
• Six (6) infrared (IR) control ports
• Seven (7) general purpose input/output (GPIO) ports (12 volts)
• Four (4) contact closures

2. Rosie Control is the baseline standalone integrated controller that is offered with the correct mixture of common control formats:

• Eight (8) RS-232/422/485 serial control ports
• Six (6) infrared (IR) control ports
• Seven (7) general purpose input/output (GPIO) ports (12 volts)
• Four (4) contact closures

The Rosie Control can be used for control only systems or for control expansion. Furthermore, the Rosie Control can be upgraded to a Rosie Video Switch, Rosie Combo, or Rosie Audio by adding the appropriate module and/or modules. In addition, they can be interconnected.

3. Rosie Combo serves three functions by acting as a controller, A/V processor and switch, and media server. It is built upon a video processing and switching architecture that enables live video and control on the same display (in HD), and includes the following video inputs and outputs:

• Five (5) video input sources: (2) HDMI, (1) Component, (1) Composite, (1) S-Video
• One (1) video output: HDMI or Component

In addition to the processing, noise reduction and scaling itself, the Rosie Combo’s video processing capabilities include:

• HD video input and output up to 1080p
• Upscale and process input formats (down to 480i)
• Aspect ratio, stretch and zoom
• Color controls
• Contrast, saturation, and hue
• Built-in display calibration pattern and tools
• PIP and POP support

The Rosie Combo eliminates the need to purchase a standalone video processor and scaler, and offers integrated control, audio processing and media server capabilities.

4. Rosie Audio is an audio processing engine that supports most audio codecs found in high-end A/V receivers. Among its features are:

• Dolby and DTS surround sound processing
• Multi-zone audio
• iTunes-based media management and player
• THD+N 102db
• Dynamic range 115dB
• 24 bit 96K internal digital audio paths
• Six (6) stereo inputs + 4 S/PIDF inputs + up to nine (9) internal digital inputs from the internal media server. Users can play and distribute up to nine independent audio sources from iTunes.
• 7.1 output + four (4) stereo outputs or eight (8) stereo outputs only

For audio expansion, multiple Rosie Audio boxes can be linked to a Rosie Controller via Cat 5 and audio can be distributed between any of the boxes.

In order to get the cool onscreen displays, you need one Rosie Combo for every two plasmas. Touchpanels will come in 3.5-, 7-, 9-, 12- and 15-inch wall-mount sizes, along with a 13-inch wireless unit. The touchpanels designs are created using Photoshop.

Programming and Recurring Revenue

Beyond the look and feel of the products, the simplified programming is another selling point of the system.

“It is a high-reliability system architecture. This is absolutely critical,” says Madonna, who previously owned a telecom switching company that he sold for more than $1 billion several years ago. “Homeowners will depend on this system to work. An integrator should not have to take down the entire house so he can work on the DVD player in one room. With other systems, the minute you have to write one line of code, you have a potential problem with quality.”

For programming, integrators will purchase a fully licensed Apple computer fully loaded with the necessary design software, called Blueprint. Literally, using OS X, it’s a drag and drop system. Dealers will have remote access to download updates and conduct troubleshooting maintenance for clients if needed. To date, 500 products are profiled in the system, including products from Lutron, Vantage/Legrand, Aprilaire, Honeywell and more. The company is creating an outreach program called Excellence in A/V to attract other manufacturers to submit products for code profiling.

The Apple platform was raised as a concern by several integrators in attendance, namely because most are PC users. “There will be IT challenges and we can help you with those,” says Jim Carroll, president. “But you will not need to change your corporate environment surrounding this product to Apple.” He added that there is plenty of interoperability between OS X and PCs these days.

Several integrators in attendance, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the programming for their current whole-house control offerings is too labor-intensive. One dealer said that he estimated that he generated $650,000 in additional revenue in 2006 from his current control offerings, but he spent more than $350,000 in programming costs.

The recurring revenue part of the Savant scheme is another unique offering. Integrators may receive a percentage of every music or video download from iTunes. Likewise, they will earn income from VOD, movie rentals, movie tickets and other services ordered through the Savant Concierge.

The company plans to post white papers, cut sheets, manuals and FAQs on its Web site soon. Carroll says that Savant will have a co-op marketing program in place to design ads for integrators to place in local publications and that the company will also be supporting the brand through national advertising. While pricing for the system is still being developed, Carroll says the product will be sold directly to qualified dealers.

Concluding the event, Madonna said, “We are a privately-owned company and well funded. We are putting tens of millions of dollars into development. This is a partnership. We are an open company. We wanted to show you our beta product and allow you to talk directly with our engineers.”