Comcast and Alarm.com Acquire Parts of Icontrol
Leading SHaaS (smart home as a service) provider Icontrol will be acquired by Comcast/Xfinity and longtime competitor Alarm.com.
As it was rumored earlier this week, Alarm.com and Comcast/Xfinity have agreed to acquire parts of Icontrol Networks.
Alarm.com will acquire two business units:
- Icontrol’s original Z-Wave- and security-centric “Connect” platform (used primarily by ADT, Icontrol's first significant customer in 2009)
- Piper, the DIY home-automation-in-a-camera solution (acquired from BlackSumac in 2014)
Comcast/Xfinity will acquire Icontrol's ZigBee-based “Converge” platform, used primarily by cable companies and acquired from Ucontrol in 2010.
Based in Redwood City, California, Connect provides an interactive security and home automation platform that powers several service providers' solutions including ADT Pulse with over 1.6 million subscribers. Piper, based in Ottawa, Canada, designs, produces and sells a Wi-Fi-enabled video and home automation hub.
The Converge software will power Xfinity Home touch-screen panel and back-end servers, allowing them to communicate with and manage security sensors in the home, as well as supporting home-automation devices like cameras and thermostats.
“The market for Internet of Things (IoT) services for both residential and commercial applications is rapidly expanding. With a growing number of companies and new devices entering the category, technology will increasingly define the space and enable the more than 15 thousand independent security dealers in the U.S. to participate in the smart home and business opportunity,” according to Alarm.com's announcement. “The Connect and Piper units from Icontrol offer technology infrastructure, talent, key relationships and new hardware devices that are expected to complement the Alarm.com platform and help accelerate innovation to keep Alarm.com's service provider partners ahead in a dynamic market.”
JJ's Take: What does this mean for the security and home automation market?
Alarm.com's Transaction Details
Alarm.com reports its transaction purchase price at approximately $140 million. The company says it “expects to fund the transaction with a combination of cash on hand and debt available under the Company's credit facility.”
“Alarm.com expects the acquisition to contribute to revenue growth and be EPS accretive on a non-GAAP basis for the full-year 2017,” according to the announcement.
The deal is still subject to government approval.
Hear more from Daniel Herscovici, SVP and GM, Xfinity Home:
Today we signed an agreement to acquire Icontrol Networks, an Austin, Texas-based company that creates technology and platforms for connected home security and the Internet of Things.
Icontrol has been an important technology partner for Comcast since the launch of Xfinity Home in 2010. The main business we are acquiring is Icontrol’s “Converge” software platform. That platform powers the Xfinity Home touch-screen panel and back-end servers, allowing them to communicate with and manage security sensors in the home, as well as supporting home-automation devices like cameras and thermostats.
Another company, Alarm.com, today announced that it would purchase the other elements of Icontrol’s business.
Icontrol has been innovating around the Internet of Things since it was founded in 2003, and built edge-based platforms and technologies that support connected home security for not just Xfinity Home, but for a number of leading MSOs. We look forward to continuing to serve customers using the Converge software platform and to growing Icontrol’s wholesale business by accelerating the development of new services and features.
As this business becomes part of Comcast, we will strategically invest in its technology and technologists, so that we can deliver new features, products and services to both individual Xfinity Home customers and enterprise-level Converge customers, faster than ever before.
The Icontrol employees in Austin who are joining Comcast will make up a new Comcast engineering center of excellence in Austin that can take advantage of the great energy and talent that city has to offer. That team will work closely with our engineers in Philadelphia and Silicon Valley to build simple, elegant and powerful connected-home and connected home security products for our customers.
We’re excited to welcome this impressive team of technologists into Comcast, and look forward to what comes next.
