2GIG Technologies announces partnerships, brings new product to the market

MELVILLE, N.Y.--Security manufacturer 2GIG Technologies, a new company founded by Honeywell Security veterans Lance Dean and Scott Simon, had a slew of announcements this week including the delivery of its first product, "SuperSwitch," to some major alarm companies, as well as partnerships key to its flagship security system, "GoControl."

"SuperSwitch is our first release of a product to the marketplace," said Simon. "We have several patents pending on the it," he added. The product enables hard-wired sensors to be used with a wireless control panel. If, for example, a customer has "an eight-zone hardwired system, they can install a new wireless panel and use the SuperSwitch to convert the hardwired devices so they transmit wirelessly," Simon explained. "Dealers can save a lot of money by not having to replace the sensors when they upgrade to a wireless system."

This will also enable some companies to standardize on wireless panels, where in the past this was cost prohibitive.

The product was delivered to two summer-model companies, Pinnacle Security and Platinum Protection, both of Provo, Utah, this week. The companies' sales forces and technicians have already been trained on the product and will begin selling it next week.

"It gives us a simple solution that will enable us to add two-way voice over cell in a hardwired system. We're excited about it," said Chance Allred, partner at Plantinum Protection, which sold 65,000 accounts in 2008.

"I told Lance that if they could come up with a device that would take a hardwired zone and convert it to a wireless signal, it would be amazing," said Rod Halford, VP of installation for Pinnacle Security. "We couldn't couldn't get our hands on it fast enough."

During ISC West, Dean and Simon were ensconced off the show floor in a Venetian suite, showing off "GoControl" to a steady stream of visitors, and this week it announced  partnerships with TMobile and ZWave.

"We feel that the relationship with ZWave will enable us to offer services out the gate, and over the airwaves that their allow customers to lower their energy bills and manage their homes," said Simon.

Because the ZWave chip is built into the panel, "we will have the ability to partner with any of their partners [for in home lighting, thermostat control, cameras, wireless-enabled locks etc.], to add additional services to our product and product line," Simon said.

The TMobile partnership will "give us the flexibility to provide service at a reasonable price to our dealers," Simon added. Dean and Simon noted that dealers who have seen the GoControl product like the fact that it has a GSM radio built in. "It will allow them to offer two-way voice through GSM without having to use phone lines" and firmware updates over the air so that the dealer can update a customer's systems remotely without having to send out a service truck. Various add-on applications (such as a GPS app for kids and pets called "GoLocate") for GoControl will be available in a format "similar to the iTunes Store," Simon said. Likewise the color touchscreen panel, like an iPhone, can be updated to add features and applications.