One Month into ADT Pulse: Demand is High, Prices Mainstream

Nearly two years after Tyco subsidiary ADT said it would bring Web-enabled home automation to the masses, the security giant is ready to roll with a new security/home management service called Pulse.

The world’s largest security provider with more than six million accounts, ADT launched Pulse earlier this month through 350 branches in North America.

Pulse is the first credible effort by any provider to deliver home control to the mass market through a national network of installers, in the opinion of this author.

It melds ADT’s traditional alarm service with a remote home management system from iControl, allowing users to monitor and control lights, thermostats, door locks, surveillance cameras and other devices -- in addition to the ADT security system -- via the Internet.

As ADT tells it:

From almost anywhere, you can have the power to arm and disarm your home's security system. But ADT Pulse is more than just remote security — it's home automation, climate and light control, and video. And it's affordable, customizable and easy to use.

The product is hardly new in the home control space. What is novel about ADT Pulse is the muscle behind it, including the installation force, the call centers, the operational efficiency and of course the marketing might.

“By early Q4, we will hit with a big advertising and marketing push,” says Don Boerema, chief marketing officer for ADT. “We’ll be out there in a big way.”

Meanwhile, the company is already out in force and so far the response has been good, according to Boerema. In fact, he explains, the response has been so positive that ADT is not slashing the price of its offering to gain the lucrative recurring revenue contracts -- a common practice among mass-market security firms including ADT.

“Right now, there’s so much demand and we’re not even marketing it today,” says Boerema, adding, “There’s no need for subsidies right now.”

Referring to Xfinity’s (formerly Comcast) roll-out of a similar offering, Boerema explains, “Obviously, we have to look at the competition, but right now, there hasn’t been a need for it [subsidies].”

ADT charges $48 to $58 per month for the new service (long-term monitoring contract required), which includes professional security monitoring, system maintenance and remote access for the homeowner. In general, the iControl piece of the Pulse system adds about $10 to $20 to a typical ADT alarm contract.

Product and installation costs are extra.

The ADT Pulse System

Like all ADT offerings, Pulse starts with a standard security system, currently supplied by GE Security (Simon and Concord models) and Honeywell (Vista and Lynx).

The security system communicates via a hardwired serial connection to an Internet gateway – the “iHub” – that features a built-in Z-Wave module for communicating with compatible devices such as lights, thermostats, sensors, motorized drapes, door locks, garage door openers and more.

Z-Wave, a wireless mesh-networking home-control protocol, is utilized by more than 160 manufacturers in hundreds of electronic devices.