Comcast, Alarm.com acquire parts of Icontrol to boost smart-home offerings

By Jenny McGrath June 23, 2016

comcast and alarmcom acquire different parts of icontrol piper home security — Icontrol Networks

Even if you don’t have Comcast service, you could one day have home security or smart-home products from the company in your house. Comcast and security company Alarm.com have each acquired parts of Internet of Things company Icontrol.

Alarm.com announced it’s getting the company’s enterprise home security business, Connect, as well as Piper, its DIY home security system. Meanwhile, Comcast is acquiring the home security and home automation solutions Icontrol provides to other cable companies, like Cox and Charter.

“By bringing the core of Icontrol’s assets inside of Comcast, we’re able to further invest in Xfinity Home infrastructure products,” Charlie Douglas, Comcast’s executive director of corporate communications, told Digital Trends. “We’ll be able to control and think more strategically about the decisions Icontrol has in terms of their product road map and their innovations that they’re working on, particularly in the areas of the connected home and home security.” He cited Icontrol’s team of engineers as another reason Comcast wanted to acquire the company.

Douglas says nothing changes for customers today but added, “We’re making a big investment in our business, our Xfinity Home business, and we’re making investments in the future, and we’re excited about the innovations Icontrol engineers are dreaming up and that we will then be able to put into a product road map, so that we’ll be able to roll out products and services.”

Steve Trundle, president and CEO of Alarm.com, said in a statement: “This acquisition will enhance our research and development scale so that we can continue to deliver long-term value to our partners through innovative technology. We look forward to welcoming the Icontrol team and to building upon the solid relationships within their customer base.”

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Jenny McGrath is a senior writer at Digital Trends covering the intersection of tech and the arts and the environment. Before…

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