Totally re-engineered Total Connect 2.0

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—In its traditional spot at the front of the ESX show floor, the Honeywell booth was crowded with dealers on June 8. Several Honeywell executives were at the booth and eager to show off Total Connect 2.0, the company's new technology platform that allows home and business owners to remotely manage their security systems and view live video via PCs, smartphones, tablets and other web-enabled devices.

Honeywell Security president Ron Rothman told Security Systems News the product meets the needs of today's home and business owners and is architected in a way to anticipate and serve the needs of tomorrow. Its two key capabilities are “real-time connection” and the ability to serve multiple locations. “The benefit we have is that we're really connected; [the data is encrypted and there's a real-time connection so] we're totally connected end-to-end.”

The package includes products, software and alarm communications services “with the same look and feel,” said Gordon Hope, general manager of Honeywell's AlarmNet business.

Hope demoed the platform and noted that it's “totally reengineered and revamped.” He said: “We challenged ourselves to develop a world-class human interface, which can support multiple applications, when we didn't even know what those applications would be ... and we believe we've achieved that.”

He noted that the Honeywell corporation is in a lot of different businesses—energy and hardware for example. “All of these applications could [in the future] reside on a single interface and across multiple locations. We raise the bar to make sure our products support the unanticipated needs and applications of the future.”

He also noted that the interface uses a family of icons, and strong use of color, which is “subtle but consistently applied.” The application is “very flat,” he said, meaning, “you never move to a different form, or a different screen. Everything is in front of you and you never lose where you are.”

Hope said that Honeywell engineers were tasked with developing a platform that supports multiple locations, all with a single sign-on. If you're the owner of ten regional stores, for example, “you want to log on once and see the status of all ten stores,” he said.

The real-time capabilities are designed to meet the needs of customers—both resi and commercial—who expect their interaction with technology to be quick, efficient and uncomplicated, Hope said.� “They want to be able to do multiple things in one session from one connection,” he said.

Honeywell says this new platform is easier to operate and install. It is pre-configured to work with Honeywell's LYNX and VISTA alarm controls. Its interactive dashboard has Flash-based graphics, enhanced navigation, and a simplified set-up process.

Home and business owners can remotely arm/disarm their security systems, view video from their surveillance cameras, receive real-time email messages and video alerts for both security-related events and non-security events.

“The new multi-site feature allows users to upload images of their locations, employees or family members and click on a photo to remotely check status. A hierarchal structure also allows users to efficiently manage these sites by letting the primary account holder add multiple users and customize access settings for each one. For example, users can set varying access rights for contractors, employees, cleaning crews, etc,” according to the company.

For more information about Total Connect Remote Service, visit www.mytotalconnect.com.