HomeLink from Gentex Unifies Smart Home Lifestyles
At the International Builders Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Gentex will showcase its new smart home platform called HomeLink in booth #W3619.
Gentex will feature its new HomeLink smart home platform at the International Builders Show (IBS), which takes place in Las Vegas in booth #W3619.
ZEELAND, Mich.—At the International Builders’ Show (IBS), Gentex Corporation announced the launch of its HomeLink Smart Home Solutions.
The company says its latest solution is a comprehensive, curated suite of smart home products all controlled and monitored by a single app. The goal is to help unite the worlds of car connectivity and home automation into a single, seamless ecosystem.
“Over the years, we’ve been expanding HomeLink’s functionality in order to continually enhance its appeal, utility, and value to our automaker customers and end users alike,” says Gentex Neil Boehm, chief technology officer, Gentex Corporation. “The addition of smart home and security devices to our product offering is a natural evolution of the HomeLink platform.”
Gentex emphasizes that it is a technology company and a long-time supplier of electro-optical products for the global automotive, aerospace, fire protection, and medical industries. Continuing, the company notes that it is best known for supplying nearly every major automaker with connected-car technologies and advanced electronic features that optimize driver vision and enhance driving safety.
HomeLink Unites the Car and Home Spaces
Gentex’s HomeLink product is a popular car-to-home automation system, which consists of vehicle-integrated buttons for operating garage doors, estate gates, home lighting, and a myriad of additional home automation devices. HomeLink is offered by automakers on hundreds of vehicle models around the world, with an estimated 110 million units on the road today, according to the company.
Moving into home environments, the Mich.-based company claims that today’s smart home and security market is fragmented, with many consumers frustrated by compatibility issues and the challenge of managing multiple device platforms. To alleviate these issues and provide a seamless user experience, Gentex states that it is partnering with Alarm.com, a large smart home and business security company that offers security, video, intelligent home automation, energy management, and wellness solutions.
“One of the biggest pain points in setting up a smart home is getting all the individual devices to work together,” comments Boehm. “By partnering with Alarm.com, HomeLink Smart Home Solutions will now include Alarm.com’s comprehensive suite of integrated products engineered to work together, professionally configured to be controlled and monitored from a single app.”
To further bridge the worlds of car connectivity and home automation, Gentex is developing the HomeLink Smart Home Connector, which when installed in the home, will allow HomeLink Smart Home Solutions customers to control home automation devices from their HomeLink-equipped vehicle. Gentex plans to add the HomeLink Smart Home Connector to its HomeLink Smart Home Solutions product lineup later this year.
Gentex points out that it is currently working with home builders to provide smart home packages for new home construction, as well as providing options directly to consumers. From the HomeLink website consumers can either purchase starter HomeLink Smart Home Solutions packages for DIY installation, or work with a HomeLink consultant to build a custom package and have it installed professionally.
Managed and organized by the National Association of Home Builders, the International Builders’ Show (IBS) is the largest annual light construction show in the world. This year’s show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, February 27-29. Gentex’s IBS exhibit can be found in the LVCC West Hall, booth W3619.
In addition to the launch of HomeLink Smart Home Solutions, Gentex’s IBS booth will feature an overview of the company’s commercial and residential fire protection products, including PLACE, a new line of smart home products that blends safety, comfort, and security features into one sophisticated system.
The PLACE portfolio of smart-home solutions is being designed to address the safety requirements of various home spaces. The base Any Space unit can be used throughout the home to provide smart smoke and carbon monoxide detection and Wi-Fi connectivity for space-specific alerts. Genetec adds the system’s versatility is further demonstrated through specialized units for the kitchen, nursery, and garage, each equipped with additional safeguards like gas and VOC detection, room-monitoring cameras, intercoms, and temperature and humidity sensing.
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