Alarm.com: Difference between revisions

Alarm.com is a technology company that designs and develops a connected home platform with interactive, web-enabled software services for home security, automation, and energy management.  Since its inception in 2000, Alarm.com has become a significant player in the connected home space with more than 1 million households subscribed.^[1] Alarm.com is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, and its services are delivered exclusively through a network of thousands of licensed and authorized Dealer Partners in the United States and Canada.  Alarm.com also provides the technological backbone for a number of local and regional security dealers as well as nationwide dealers including FrontPoint,^[2] Guardian,^[3] Vector,^[4] and Vivint.^[5]

Alarm.com began as a project at the data warehousing and mining company MicroStrategy in 2000.^[6] The executive team at MicroStrategy observed a weakness in the home security services market, and created a business plan to introduce web-based technologies and services to the industry. Four years later they introduced the first wireless, interactive home security service.^[7] In February 2009, Alarm.com was acquired by venture capitalist firm ABS Capital Partners and became an independent, private company.^[8] In April 2012, Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), a leading provider of capital to growth-stage technology companies, made an investment in the company.^[9] In May 2013, as part of its expansion into energy management and smart grid technologies, Alarm.com announced its acquisition of EnergyHub.^[10]

Through a single application, accessible via the web and mobile devices, Alarm.com provides an integrated set of connected home services that include interactive security, video monitoring, and energy management. Subscribers can monitor, control and automate a range of inter-connected devices and sensors, receive notifications and alerts based on activity at their property, and personalize schedules and activity-based triggers for automation.^[11] Geo-Services allow subscribers to automate actions in their home based on the location of enrolled smart phones.^[12]

The Alarm.com mobile app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.^[13] There is also a version of the website for mobile browsers (m.alarm.com).

Alarm.com also designs a completely wireless image sensor that can be controlled and automated through Alarm.com’s interactive services. The image sensor uses passive infrared to detect motion in light or dark conditions, and captures images that can be pushed to the subscriber’s smart phone or other mobile device.^[14]

Interactive Security

Alarm.com offers remote access, control and automation of alarm settings, locks, and video and image recordings through the web, mobile devices, or tablets. Real-time updates about activity at the property as well as reminders to arm the system can also be pushed to mobile devices via smart phone notifications, email or SMS. Based on the subscriber’s preference, a searchable history of events at a home or business property is also preserved for review.^[15]

Alarm.com systems are marketed as tamper-proof because of their dedicated, cellular connection to the Alarm.com network.^[16] Older security systems could be disabled if the phone line was cut or otherwise disabled. A similar vulnerability exists in newer systems that connect through the internet.^[17]

Alarm.com’s patented “Crash and Smash�� technology guards against intruders from destroying the in-home panel (where the main communication device resides) before the system can trigger an alarm.^[18] If an armed Alarm.com panel suddenly stops signaling after a home entrance has been detected, then an alarm is automatically sent to the central station. Other security systems are incapable of triggering an alarm if the central panel is destroyed.^[19]

Two-way voice communication is integrated with the in-home security panel via a built-in microphone and speaker. When the alarm is triggered, the Alarm.com module in the panel sends a digital signal over a cellular network to Alarm.com’s Network Operations Center in Virginia. The signal is then routed over an encrypted IP connection to a central-station so that customers can speak directly to an operator.^[20]

Video Monitoring

Alarm.com offers video as a service so users can view live video streams or recorded clips from their computers, tablets or smart phones. Images and recording are stored securely off-site. Video recordings can be customized to automatically trigger when any monitored event takes place in the house, such as the front door opening, or a motion detection device alerting.^[21]

Video services support indoor and outdoor cameras that include High Definition, 720p resolution, as well as infrared and night vision capabilities.^[22]

Home Automation

Alarm.com’s platform of connected home services allows for personalized automation that integrates across security, video and energy management systems.^[23] Subscribers can set customized triggers and smart schedules that connect their security system with their video cameras, locks, lights, and thermostats.^[24] For example, users can automate lights to turn on when they open a particular door in their home, or they can lock a door automatically when they arm their security system. Thermostats can automatically adjust based on the geo-location of enrolled smart phones, motion detector activity within the home, or when the alarm system is armed or disarmed.

Energy Management

Alarm.com services include integrated energy management solutions. Subscribers can automate, remotely control and manage the lights, thermostats and connected devices and appliances in their home.^[25]

Described as “perhaps the smartest thermostat ever” Alarm.com introduced the “Smart Schedule” system in 2012 that “ learns the comings and goings of the family and adjusts the temperature automatically based on a household’s activity patterns.”^[26]

The Alarm.com platform also provides subscribers with energy management and monitoring data based on information from all connected devices in the home (down to specific appliances and devices). Reminders can be pushed through the mobile app so that subscribers can remotely turn off lights or adjust thermostats. By combining power usage data with home occupancy and activity data the Alarm.com platform suggests Smart Schedules to optimize automation settings for energy efficiency and savings.^[27]

Connected thermostats on the Alarm.com platform also allow subscribers to participate in their utility’s demand response programs. In July 2013, EnergyHub announced a demand response program with Southern California Edison in which Alarm.com subscribers can participate.^[28]

Alarm.com designs communication modules that integrate with a variety of home security system panels. The module communicates to Alarm.com’s Cloud based network through a dedicated cellular connection (both CDMA and GSM), and alarm alerts are sent from Alarm.com’s network to the central monitoring station through an encrypted IP connection.^[29]

Subscribers access Alarm.com’s Cloud based services through a single application via the web and/or mobile devices, to control, manage, monitor and automate connected devices throughout their home.

The Alarm.com platform integrates a wide variety of connected devices through wireless protocols like Z-wave and ZigBee, as well as Internet Protocol (IP). New types of devices, sensors and other hardware are easily integrated into the Alarm.com platform through a multi-tiered Application Programming Interface (API) called Platform Connect. Platform Connect supports direct integration, cloud-to-hardware integration and cloud-to-cloud integration to the Alarm.com Platform.^[30]

Licensed Security Dealers

Alarm.com services are delivered exclusively through a network of thousands of licensed and authorized Dealer Partners in the United States and Canada.^[31]

Security Panel Manufacturers

In addition, Alarm.com partners with home security panel manufacturers to integrate the Alarm.com communications module that enables interactive securiy and connected home services.^[32]

Connected Home Devices

Alarm.com also partners with manufacturers of a wide variety of hardware devices that include automated locks, lights, thermostats, and garage doors. Partners include Schlage, Yale, Trane, Lutron, and Liftmaster.^[33]

Alarm.com has been first to market in the interactive home security space with innovations like the first wireless interactive security solution, first nationwide GSM support, and the first native mobile apps.^[34] Patents protect Alarm.com services and products. One or more of the following patents may apply to Alarm.com services and products: US Patent Nos. 6,400,265; 6,442,241; 6,643,355; 6,661,340; 6,965,313; 6,973,166; 7,113,090; 7,619,512; 7,920,841; 7,920,842; 7,920,843; 8,022,807; 8,140,048; 8,214,494; 8,350,694; 8,350,697; 8,395,494; and 8,456,293.^[35]

• Alarm.com Home Security Homepage
• Alarm.com Facebook Page
• Alarm.com Twitter Page
• Bloomberg Businessweek Profile: Alarm.com, Inc.