Savant, a manufacturer of smart home technologies, hosted its fourteenth annual dealer conference, the Savant Summit, in conjunction with the 2020 International Builders’ Show (IBS) from January 20-23 in greater Las Vegas, Nev. The company’s CEO and founder Robert Madonna presented the keynote address and shared highlights of a 2020 product roadmap, as well as key new strategic partnerships.
During the event, attendees were treated to more than 20 live product demonstrations, breakout education seminars, and the opportunity to spend time at IBS learning about the latest in residential building technology.
Following Savant’s 2019 product releases, which include 285 from Savant and 400-plus new partner products, the 2020 conference focused on continued innovation across all categories. Savant exhibited leadership in emerging categories including lighting, energy automation and wireless high-resolution digital audio, plus enhanced partnerships across the entire Smart Home marketplace.
New additions to Savant’s Partners in Excellence Program include an enhanced relationship with NETGEAR, Kohler’s Robern brand of premium vanities featuring tunable LED lighting and full integration with Ring’s new X Line.
Partnering with Ring X, NETGEAR
As part of the Savant Dealer Conference, Ring founder and chief inventor Jamie Siminoff spoke to attendees. Highlighting the first such relationship in the custom installation channel, Savant’s partnership integration with Ring, together with the newly unveiled Ring X Line, will deliver a unique experience to customers. Savant will deliver the Ring Video Doorbell experience within their smart home ecosystem, and integrators can expect to see Ring features such as a live view of Ring video, notifications and 2-way audio later in 2020.
Measuring Supply Chain Impacts on Home Entertainment
The home entertainment category is especially susceptible to the supply chain crisis because there are so many individual components required. Despite that ongoing problem, the once-forgotten “home theater” category continued its strong comeback in 2021 likely driven by the ongoing house-bound public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Download your copy today!Along with this product integration, Savant will be the first manufacturer to offer the newly announced Ring X line of hardware for sale through the Savant Store. The Ring X Line will be available for purchase in March 2020, with features designed specifically for the CI channel. Initially, Ring X will consist of seven devices across the entry and camera categories.
Savant Partnership with NETGEAR
Savant has enhanced its existing partnership with network products and services provider NETGEAR to offer the full suite of the company’s networking solutions to technology integrators. This arrangement will make more products and services available to integrators, enabling them to improve efficiency for any job size while creating new opportunities by offering superior networking capabilities along with exclusive, co-engineered solutions for the custom installation market.
The objective of the alliance between Savant and NETGEAR is to create networking solutions that are optimized for the Savant smart home ecosystem, streamlining design, installation and service processes for integration professionals.
Through this partnership, integrators will gain access to 24/7 system design and support services, increasing jobsite efficiency while ensuring client satisfaction.
Savant Smart Audio, Acquisition of NOON Home
At the 2020 Summit, Savant showcased an expansion of the AVB and WiSA-enabled Smart Audio product family, including a new 3-channel amplifier with onboard Savant control capability, the new high-performance free-standing bookshelf speaker designed by Cary Christie for exceptional sound quality and featuring capacitive touch controls on the top surface, and finally a AVB to WiSA Bridge, creating more connectivity options for integrators. These new audio products are slated for delivery later in 2020.
NOON Home
Announced on Jan. 21 during the Summit, Racepoint Energy has acquired the technology and team of NOON Home, including residential lighting control innovations that create new opportunities for integrators.
NOON offers a complete lighting control platform that can be discovered, configured and controlled with a single app. The acquisition is aimed at expanding both Racepoint Energy and Savant’s lighting control offerings, including the addition of NOON’s unique keypad style to the Savant keypad lineup.
West Coast Experience Center at Vegas Modern 001
In partnership with Blue Heron, a Southern Nevada-based luxury design/build firm specializing in custom homes and boutique communities, Savant announced a new west coast Experience Center coming soon to the Las Vegas Valley.
Products featured in Blue Heron’s newest Vegas Modern 001 showhome include an end-to-end lighting solution featuring control and fixtures, Savant’s user interface, Savant IP audio and speakers, Savant IP Video and Video Tiling, and advanced energy automation including solar, microgrid and flexible load management technology. The west coast Savant Experience Center is slated to open summer 2020.
