Napco Unveils iBridge Connected Home Dealer Program

Napco Security’s iBridge Connected Home dealer program is built around the manufacturer’s cloud-based security and home automation service.

Napco Security Technologies used ISC West 2014 to launch iBridge Connected Home, a dealer program for security and home automation dealers.

The program is based on Napco’s iBridge, a Z-Wave and IP hub that communicates with Napco’s own Gemini security panels to deliver interactive services.

Napco itself developed the cloud service that enables remote access and control of a customer’s home, including alarm, CCTV, and Z-Wave devices (lights, thermostats, locks, etc.).

About 200 dealers packed an educational session and reception sponsored by Napco at ISC to learn more about the program, which will “help you compete and get more market share,” said Napco sales director Brandt Phillips.

The program includes sales and technology training, customized marketing materials, consumer-facing Websites featuring the iBridge Connected Home graphics, demo kits, special events and a Silver/Gold/Platinum incentive program.

The iBridge Connected Home moniker will stand apart from the Napco brand, which is barely a footnote in the new iBridge literature.

Even so, dealers will maintain their own identities, with their own brands embedded in their customers’ iBridge app.

Most of the attendees at the Napco event appeared to be traditional security dealers looking to tap a broader market to keep up with competitors.

One of the presenters, David Morgan of Security Dealer Marketing, suggested dealers exploit the numerous TV, Internet and print commercials financed by mass-market providers by asking prospective customers: “Have you seen the TV commercials that show how you can control your home remotely from your smart phone?”

A few dozen dealers lingered to explore the demo and learn more about the program, and several signed up on the spot.

Julie Jacobson, recipient of the 2014 CEA TechHome Leadership Award, is co-founder of EH Publishing. She currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro in the areas of home automation, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. Julie majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cambridge University, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. She’s a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player with the scars to prove it. Follow her on Twitter @juliejacobson.

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