Digital Home for the Rest of Us

Enlisting Windows

Exceptional Innovation, the company that built the home of the future for the CEDIA trade show in Denver, was launched by CEO Seale Moorer, whose own experience with a startup custom installation service and study of marketing data from companies such as Forrester Research convinced him that the time was right for mainstream system integration. EI's Lifeware combines control of everything from home entertainment systems to kitchen functions to heating/cooling, lighting, and security.

Lifeware has a simple user interface whose appearance is consistent whether seen on a widescreen TV, a computer monitor, or a small touchscreen. The software is heavily integrated with Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition software, so all of the menus and interface elements look almost identical whether you are managing music and movies or thermostats and security. The system is very flexible with file storage and access, too. You can store digital media on either a central server or Media Center PCs spread across your network, and it's all accessible from any Lifeware interface (PC, touch panel, PDA) in the home. So if you load a flash media card into a PC in your office, you can view the pictures almost immediately via the Media Center PC connected to a TV in your family room.

"So simple a child can use it" sounds like marketing hype, but it's an accurate description of Lifeware. "Consumers love it," Moorer says. "A short test drive is all it takes to convince them. Their only question is, 'When can I get it?'"

Flexible and Affordable

One of the main reasons people are warming up to home automation is that the prices of new systems have dropped dramatically. We are all getting used to the idea of managing our music and videos in more convenient and compelling ways. The emergence of iPods and ripping music has paved the way for media servers and wireless music systems, so the idea of managing our music and videos hand in-hand with our lights and thermostats doesn't seem so far fetched. At the end of the day, though, giving people an affordable, flexible system is what it's all about for these new companies. "Our mission at EI is to make it more affordable, less an art, more a science, and 100 percent reliable," asserts Moorer.

Control4 and Exceptional Innovation differ from traditional home-automation systems by giving home owners more control over day-to-day settings and features. If you want to set up an automated sequence to dim the lights and shut the drapes when a movie starts, it can be done using a menu-controlled interface. Both companies also sell a variety of on-site and remote services, so that dealers can connect to a system and make changes to it over the Internet. Although Control4's components are much easier to install than an AMX or Crestron system -- the company has been putting its products in places such as Tweeter and Home Depot for people with a DIY ethic -- professional installers still do most of the heavy lifting.

"When we started installing Control4, it took three weeks of programming and debugging, but now an average job only takes us about three or four days to complete," says Dorsey, who estimates his typical installation is on a $750,000 house, and costs $40,000.